Fantasy is literary genre containing supernatural elements, and appeals readers by unfolding plots step by step. With the development of fantasy literature, a term “the secondary world” appeared to describe the imaginary world the author creates where impossible things happen through magic or supernatural power reasonably.

It’s hard for some scholars to classify Fantasy Literature and Children Literature because some representative works, for example, Harry Potter series , are so popular and easy for children readers to read. Actually there is no exact line between these two genres so that fantasies are regarded as too simple for adults, not only in words but also in theme. There is a misunderstanding. First, not all stories describing a world where exists magic power shall be fantasy. The short-length story with flat characters and predictable plots, exactly, is more common to be called “fairy tale”. It is mostly simple in theme and word so that easy for children’s entertainment, for example, Snow White. Second, not all the fantasies are written only for children. Though some of them are simple, they are full of round characters and multiple themes, which unfold plots systematically and unpredictably. And they are longer. This kind of fantasy occupies a large part of Fantasy Literature in quantity and popularity. Therefore, it’s no worry about adults having no proper fantasy for reading.

Instead, a key to a larger treasure house of fantasy is at adults’ hands. Taking The Chronicles of Narnia series as an example, the use of religious symbols, the historical profundity, images of the prototype are worthy for elder readers to study. We adults can read fantasy to discuss more deep implications. Besides moralizing and entertainment, what can readers dig out? Whether it be realistic literature, romance or fantasy, different means of expression are showed, but core of these literature is the same. Fantasy is an epitome of real life and a reflect of human spirits under the cover of magical and imaginary world.

There are some different perspectives to be taken in appreciating fantasy works. But it’s hard to make a full coverage of works studied in an undergraduate thesis. So it’s appropriate to explore the theme by comparing two representative works because themes can reflect a work’s content precisely and help readers understand what core message the writer intends to express effectively. There are a lot of themes expressed in fantasy, with the common ones being friendship, love, growth, justice and evil, from which the theme of justice and evil are selected as the research subject in this paper.

Humans are born to be taught right and wrong. This division of moral also be brought in literature field, especially in fantasy. In fantasy, the characters are usually been divided into two groups: one maintains truth and justice, one holds evil power and conspiracy. This pair grows to so many masterpieces, like Harry Potter by J.K Rowling, The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien, The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S Lewis. Why do this topic thrive in these works rather be discarded during centuries? Few people will notice its position because it appears in ever fantasy ordinarily. That is the question: what is its vitality based on? Why are writers never bored with some particular themes including justice and evil when developing stories? Fantasy is an epitome of real life and a reflect of human spirits. This classic theme directs to an ultimate question of the life: Why do readers classify things as right and wrong? What is the line between them? It’s an no-exact-answer topic related from psychology, ethics to anthropology. This paper will explore this topic’s charm from a literature perspective.

After literature research, it’s obvious that some topics have been researched for many times. As for Harry Potter, In China, a scholar named Gao Yuanyuan (2006) studied the book in the view of hero, she pointed out, “Harry is a hero experiencing growth and trouble, but actually he was an ordinary boy in nature.” Zhao Xuejia(2018) studied Harry’s growth experience by exploring is psychological changes. He claimed this series as classical initiation novels. Scholar Li Shiying(2016) studied the theme of love, adventure and justice. In abroad, the study of Harry Potter is about growth, love friendship and teamwork. As for The Chronicles of Narnia, the paper analyzes the theme of justice and evil through by using prototype theory. Also an author analyzed the images between The Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter.

In conclusion, scholars have many studies on the theme of love, growth and heroism, but pay little attention to the theme of Justice and Evil particularly. Besides, the study of comparing The Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter is little, and still confined to image analysis. Last but not least, deeper study of theme in two books should be more emphasized.

2. 研究的基本内容与方案

The paper takes the theme of Justice and Evil between The Chronicles of Narnia series and Harry Potter series as the study subject. First, the paper will make a introduction of fantasy, pointing out the resent situation of adults’ misunderstanding to fantasy. Second, the paper will probe into these two series’ themes respectively by analyzing the creation background, content, form and etc. Third, the paper would conclude their main their differences and similarities in the theme of Justice and Evil. The goal of exploring this theme is to help adults build more interests in fantasy, have a better understanding of fantasy and appreciate its profound cultural value and deep reflection on life.

In order to achieve accuracy, the method of literature research, comparison, literature analysis will be used in this paper.