THE BEGINNING OF THE END: AN ECOCRITICISM ANALYSIS ON CLIVE STAPLES LEWIS’ THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LAST BATTLE

Abstract

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle was written by Clive Staples Lewis in 1956. It is the last novel in The Chronicles of Narnia series. In the last battle, lewis brings The Chronicles of Narnia to an end. Narnia has experienced a long period of peace. But, suddenly this condition change when an ape named Shift manipulates the Narnians using lion skin to present Aslan. Shift orders the Talking Beasts to work as slave for the Calormenes, and to cut down Talking Trees for lumber. In the end of story, the real Aslan comes to Narnia and calls Father Time to make natural disaster in Narnia world. So, there are some environmental issues which are represented clearly in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle. I use Ecocriticism theory by Greg Garrard to analyze the problems that occur from the story of the novel. There are three problems to discuss in this research. The first is about representation and treatment to the nature and the animals. The second is about natural disaster which make Narnian world destroyed. The last is about ideological position of the author. The result of this research show environmental issues which appear in the novel such as, huge deforestation in Narnian forest, exploitation toward animals, and the apocalypse. Clive Staples Lewis as the author has ideologies that give influences to his literary work. Lewis criticizes the environmental issues through the story in his novel with the representation of exploitation and natural disaster.