Musings on Midrash and Narnia

The Jewish canon includes many works of midrashic literature composed of sayings of the Sages on the bible. Some midrashim are halakhic, deriving law from the nuances of the biblical text. Others are aggadic, analyzing and amplifying the stories and sayings of the bible. A characteristic of the midrash is to tell stories, some fantastical, about biblical figures. Some of the most famous of this genre are the story of Abraham destroying the idols in his father's shop and subsequently being thrown into the fiery furnace by the evil King Nimrod. Another is the argument that broke out amongst the mountains concerning upon which God should give the Torah to the Jewish people. Much ink has been spilled about whether these stories are "true." In my humble opinion they are all true, they are imbued with religious themes and teach morality and ethics, but they may not record historic fact.   

At the behest of my kids, I have been reading "The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel," and, yesterday, I started thinking again about stories and specifically children's stories. I tend to enjoy books and movies geared for middle-school aged children and teenagers. Perhaps it's just that I don't want to grow up. Or perhaps I don't want to lose the wonder, joy, and dreams endemic of childhood (as we discuss here).

All properly raised children (as opposed to the likes of Eustace Clarence Scrubb) dream of magic and riches  - finding a world behind a wardrobe and being crowned king, or discovering they have a silver aura making them the fulcrum of human history. As we grow older, we enter the "real world" and accept that these things are not going to happen... 

And by doing so we render a disservice to children. Of course no child will be visited by a giant who tells them they are a wizard, but every child can become a savior. And while no one has neighbors who are actually celestial beings fighting against the darkness of IT, every child can become a champion of goodness. 

As we analyze the Chronicles we have noted the fundamental religious and moral themes that Lewis has incorporated into the stories. This makes the Chronicles true despite their actual impossibility. 

Or maybe I've just watched too many Disney movies...