48 pages • 1 hour read
C. S. LewisThe Horse And His Boy
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1954A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Literary Devices
Chapter Titles
Lewis uses the practice of titling his chapters in his children’s books. This literary device allows the author to foretell in a few words what the reader can expects in the coming chapter. Lewis, however, in the scant words of each chapter’s title, can euphemistically and casually set the stage for the stressful, often dangerous excitement the characters are going to experience in the upcoming chapter. An early example of this is the title of Chapter 2: “A Wayside Adventure.” In this chapter, two riders on two horses fly for their lives from a pair of seemingly ravenous lions who draw closer to them with every step. After they escape with their lives, the four serendipitously discover that all are bent on heading for freedom in Narnia. Given the tumultuous events of the chapter, the title is comparatively bland and understated. As the book progresses, readers begin to understand that cryptic chapter titles will not begin to capture the surprises, dangers, and excitement the children will face.
Direct Address
Lewis frequently takes the reader into his confidence using casual comments and asides. This is akin to an instructor or teacher reading an engaging text to a group of school children and pausing during the reading to make a personal comment on the narrative. A good example of this comes at the end of Chapter 2, when Aravis strikes a pose and begins to recite the story of her escape from her father’s house. Lewis explains that this way of speaking is quite formal and it is akin to the way “English boys and girls are taught essay writing. The difference is that people want to hear the stories, whereas I never heard of anyone who wanted to read the essays” (36). Lewis uses this technique to breathe a moment’s calm into the narrative, much as an intense dramatic play or movie has a slapstick moment of “comic relief” to avoid keeping the audience on pins and needles.
Genre
Lewis was a professor of literature and was well-acquainted with the genres of myth, allegory, fable, and parable. It is worth noting that the first Narnia book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, was an allegory: a restatement of a basic story or world view. In that book, Lewis gives a fanciful retelling of the sacrifice of Aslan that became necessary to spare the life of King Edmund for a sinful action he had committed. All the Narnian books that follow, however, are fables. The traditional definition of a fable is that it is a short, moralistic tale featuring animals. The overarching literary definition of a fable is that it continues to develop a nuanced world view. In the case of this story, both definitions of a “fable” hold true. Lewis’s book adds layers of theological meaning onto a well-developed but simple tale. On the other hand, this book is also a simple story about talking animals that ends with a simple, clear moral: if you set out to find that place where you really belong, you may find something much more important.
Related Titles
By C. S. Lewis
