My daughter is writing a paper comparing oppression in Narnia under the White Witch and the Telemarines to oppression under Stalin, Hitler, and Mao. I am helping her use the state library’s databases, since the paper needs to use “peer-reviewed journals” as sources for the research.

I don’t think she really had any idea how horrible the real world can be. We’ve found articles detailing cannibalism in labor camps, articles describing some of the tortures used on dissidents and intellectuals, and articles about the callous, ideology-driven things done to peasants. That sort of thing is glossed over, but in evidence, in Narnia. I’m curious to see if the research will deepen her reading and her imagination.