Architectures of the Moral Self: A Psycho-Spatial Reading of Kohlberg’s Developmental Stages in C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia

Jasper Benarji¹, Gadamsetty Surya²

¹Assistant Professor, Department of English, Soundarya Institute of Management and Science – SIMS, Soundarya Nagar Sidedahalli, Nagasandra Post, 296, 9th Cross Rd, Prakruthi Layout, Siddeshwar Layout, Soundarya Layout, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560073, India. jasperben7467@gmail.com

²Soft Skill Trainer, Amity School Communication Enhancement and Transformation, Amity University Bangalore, Bengaluru, Karnataka – 562110. surya.gadamsetty@gmail.com

Abstract

This work looks at C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950), Prince Caspian (1951), and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952) – using Lawrence Kohlberg’s model of moral growth. Instead of treating fantasy only as hidden lessons, it suggests Narnia becomes a kind of outer mirror for inner change in children like Lucy, Edmund, Susan, and Peter Pevensie. As they move through forests, battles, and seas, their choices reflect shifts from rule-following out of fear toward deeper personal ethics. Through terrain and trial alike, Lewis turns adventure into quiet training for conscience. Alongside this path, differences between boys and girls matter less than shared experience; decisions shape character more than identity ever does.

Keywords: Children’s Literature, C. S. Lewis, Lawrence Kohlberg, Moral Development, Psycho-Spatial Mapping, Gender Parity