Loss of Innocence Theme in The Wars and The Chronicles of Narnia Essay Sample

"Wake up to reality! Nothing ever goes as planned in this accursed world. The longer you live, the more you realize that in this reality, only pain, suffering, and futility exist." (Masashi Kishimoto episode 334). Like many things in the world, The effects of war always cause harm to the innocent. In that chaos, we lose who we are and what we could become. The loss of innocence is an impact that has a crumbling effect mentally and physically on the child.  These ideas of loss of innocence are both studied in The Wars by Timothy Findley and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by Micheal Apted and Andrew Adamson. Some people miss out on certain childhood experiences because of uncontrollable situations that occur while they are young. The after-effects of war put premature children into situations they have not been prepared for. In the end, these circumstances lead to one accepting death. 

War plays a major role in the loss of innocence of our heroes. It is the starting point of our heroes' changing phase. “War was a deadly serious and heaven-sent chance to become a man.”(The Wars chap23). Clifford is eager to let go of his childish innocence. Like Robert, he believes that his path to manhood is to become a war hero. This shows that the ongoing war can wipe out the innocence of a child. This is ironic from Clifford because, in the previous chapter, he was riding his horse and singing nursery rhymes with Robert. Furthermore in the novel, Robert is ready to face his second act of war.  “Robert’s first shot fails to kill the horse.” (chap 27).  The act of shooting the horse is traumatizing for Robert as he panics and loses control of his reflexes. He panics and shoots the horse repeatedly until Joyce pulls him away. He also nearly kills Regis and other horses. War has forced him to do something against his belief: He refuses to kill animals even if they are injured but he almost ended up killing one of his comrades by accident since he had never pulled the trigger. Similar to the novel, the impact of war causes our hero to go through emotional and stressful events. Our 4 heroes are left to make hard decisions and run from home. “ Hurry up, and get into the bunker” (The Chronicles of Narnia 8:32). The war and bombing is the first sign of loss of innocence that we see. Even though he is a kid, Peter is stuck dreaming about becoming a soldier like his friends at school and gets a sense of duty. Our heroes learn the hard value of labor. War not only affects him mentally but also physically.

Secondly, the after-effect of war is what scars the children and affects them mentally. During this stage, the scars caused by the after-effects of war will trouble his mind and make him think irrationally.  ‘They went through the dike, sir I think they are dead” (chap 3). Robert gets the news that the Orderly died drowning with his horse because he had given him the wrong directions. Robert learns this new feeling called guilt. It is something he has never felt before. Some characters are too afraid or in pain due to the damage inflicted to them by the scar and causing them to take their own life. “Rodwell had shot himself”(part 3 chap SUNDAY, 5)  Rodwell was such an innocent man and killed himself after losing his animals to bombardment. Rodwell's suicides hows the devastating psychological effects that war can have on a person. Rodwell refused to lose his innocence and decides to take his own life instead of changing. Like the novel, we can see that the after-effects of war affect people in the same way. “ We used to have fun” (1:24:24) Susan realizes the changes that have happened to them like; their freedom has been taken away from them and that they were now engulfed in a war. Arrived at this point Susan was slowly losing her innocence. The after-effect of war can have a significant effect on someone's life and it can even go to change their reality.

Following up the after-effect is the denial of reality. The denial of reality is when our hero realizes that what he believed in was false. He believes that bad things can happen to good people, and about his sexual education.  “He was quite dead and had been for more than an hour. It was Clifford Purchas.”( chap 7 part 5) Clifford was found dead by Robert. Clifford was a good friend of Robert and did not think that Clifford would die because of how nice he was. Another example is when Clifford went into a tavern. “ There’s a man just there. He’s dead I think.” (chap 4 part 2)Robert, Poole, and Levitt arrive at a field full of dead bodies floating in the mud. Robert had a romantic view of war.  Robert is instinctively afraid to sleep and is unsettled by the sounds and smells around the shelter. Unlike Robbert, our four heroes end up embracing this new reality of theirs even after some complication. “There are going to find the lion, Aslan” (1:12:00). In this case, Edwin does not believe in the world he has traveled into and does not think that giving away his family location for chocolate is a bad thing. He is actually at war with the queen. He does not believe that he left his real world due to war to join this other one and get into another war. Since he is still a child, he believes that this is a dream he is living. The denial of reality causes our heroes to make terrible decisions that would, later on, affect them in a bad way.

Both the novel and movie show that prematurity is a bad thing because it puts the child into an unknown situation that forces him/her to make a decision leading to their or someone's death. “Juliet decides to slip a Pin the Tail on the Donkey game under Major Terry’s door as a prank” ( part 4 chapter 2). In this case, little Juliet is forced to mature and stop playing childish pranks to an officer as he yells at her due to the stress caused by the war.  Furthermore, she is put in an uncomfortable situation. “ Juliet picks daffodils to take to Captain Taffler”(part 4 chap 3). She enters the room and sees the captain on his knees with his injuries and blood. Juliet, knowing that Taffler did not want to live, feels both guilty and glad that she called for help. Unfortunately, she learns that he could not be saved and she is left traumatized. On the other hand, the group of kids is divided. As some want to fight in the war and try to accept their faith which would lead to their death, the other two girls think that it would be more mature to leave and go back home since they did not cause this problem. “We have to stay and fight, it is our duty” (50:00). Peter wants to take leadership for once over his sister. He thinks that he has matured enough and that so should his brother Edmund. Because he was called a prince and the man of the prophecy he feels like it is his time to shine since he couldn't join the actual army back in their world. Even after his sister warns him against joining the war by his judgment and the guilt of not fighting by his father forces him to join this quest. The desire to be premature and do what is right according to Juliet and Peter is the reason why some kids end up having traumatizing events happening to them in their early life because of their curiosity and their sense of playing the “hero” which can lead to their death. 

In the end loss of innocence is deemed bad because it brought our main character to his inevitable death due to them being stuck in unimaginable situations and the hard decision they had to make at their young age thinking they had no other options. ‘‘If an animal had done this—we would call it mad and shoot it,’’ Part 5 Chapter 8  This is important because Robert thinks that he is right for killing the injured captain because he will slow them down and eventually get them killed. Robert has lost his mind and cannot think straight anymore. “The men find Robert, the horses, and the dog in the abandoned barns” (chapter 13 part 5). Robert is willing to risk his life in solidarity with the horses and dog. Because he knows it is the end for him. Robert has succumbed to madness due to all the killing he had done and the mistakes that lead to his friends' death. Roberts ends up dying to the fire trapped inside the barn refusing to live to let animals alone what's again.  “Let's do this for Narnia” (1:31:35). Similar to the novel, the 4 kids are ready to fight in the war regardless of the consequences. Unlike Robert Peter is quite excited about this battle and getting a couple of blood on his hands. Susan and the youngest sibling Lucy are also not afraid to kill anymore since they have accepted their fate. This leads to Edmun being stabbed by the enemy queen and unfortunately dies. Peter feels guilt because he blames himself for letting Edmund participate in the war. Due to his prematurity, Peter was ready to accept any casualty and even death in battle but realize that he was not as he loses his brother. Edmund, who was still young, followed the steps of his elder sibling out of envy and too much pride, thinking he knew what he was doing.

In conclusion, we can say that the after-effects of war put premature children into situations they have not been prepared for. In the novel and movie, both main characters go through the phase of loss of innocence by going through the tragic event known as war. Both characters are being forced to premature cause the death of their friends and in the end their own. In the end, these circumstances lead to one accepting death. “An unstable force, lacking in intelligence or sapience, requires a guide to show you purpose”( Madara). We are born into this world as children without the knowledge to know what is right from wrong. Without this, life will just be like a journey without a real goal.