Comparing Child Protagonists in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Ursula Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea Kaela Shelby College

Both C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Ursula Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea tackle the idea of the child-protagonists having to go on a type of journey to defeat their respective foes and partaking in a search for their self-identity in the process. However, these ideas are taken on in very different ways as Lewis uses more Biblical implications to suggest the synonymy of finding one’s self-identity with rejecting sin and finding the path to Christ, whereas Le Guin puts a more secular, introspective spin on the search, suggesting that one should confront themselves to discover who they really are. Delving into the characters of Edmund, Peter and Ged, the concept of change and turning points reflect the implications of the messages about self-identity that both authors sought to convey.

In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, each of the four children undergoes a journey of self-discovery upon entering the realm of Narnia, some more evident than others. The most obvious character that has a notable journey of self-discovery is Edmund. In the beginning of the novel, Edmund comes across as a selfish, defiant, attention-seeking and greedy bully. Granted many of these traits stem from middle-child syndrome and...