Nelson+Passage

"Aslan?" said Mr. Beaver. "Why, don't you know? He's the King. He's the Lord of the whole wood, but not often here, you understand. Never in my time or my father's time. But the word has reached us that he has come back. He is in Narnia at this moment. He'll settle the White Queen all right. It is he, not you, that will save Mr. Tumnus."  "Is—is he a man?" asked Lucy.  "Aslan a man!" Mr. Beaver said sternly. "Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. Don't you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion—the Lion, the great Lion."  "Ooh!" said Susan, "I'd thought he was a man. Is he—quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."  "That you will, dearie, and no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver; "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."

This passage from the story near the beginning of Chapter 8 is the first explanation of Aslan, the god-like Lion who was the leader of Narnia. C.S. Lewis throughout the Chronicles of Narnia makes a comparison to the Bible. Aslan is Jesus Christ, and is son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea which can be compared to God the father in the Bible. This comparison is followed through later in the story when Aslan is killed but then comes back to life, like Jesus Christ.Right now in the story Lewis is keeping it vague who Aslan is to have the reader create their own image of Aslan before he is completely described. Once the reader realizes that Aslan's actions are similar to the actions of Jesus you can assume that the book and possibly the rest of the Chronicles will continue to be similar to the Bible.

Nick Nelson