Forewarned is forearmed. I was given The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as a Sunday School prize (more a tribute to a retentive memory than a devout belief), so I was expecting Christianity and got it! I was 11 or so, and more than fly enough to spot allegory when I saw it, though I saw it in less detail then.

But is it an error on Lewis' part that the lamppost stands on the opposite side of Narnia to Caer Paravel? If it represents the light of Christianity in Narnia, why is it not nearer the city?

Silver Telperion and Golden Laurelin stood outside the Western Gate of Valmar, city of the Valar. Galathilion, a non-luminous copy of Telperion, grew in the centre of Tirion, City of the Noldor in Valinor. One of its' seedlings (Celeborn) was in Tol Eressea, and a seedling named Nimloth was given to Elros and planted in Armenelos when Numenor was founded. Isildur stole a fruit from Nimloth and brought it to Middle Earth after Numenor fell, where he planted it in Minas Ithil. When Sauron seized Minas Ithil, Isildur again carried away a sapling, and after the War of the Last Alliance, he planted it in Minas Anor (Minas Tirith). Two other saplings were planted to replace dead trees.The third tree, though dead, remained in place until Kng Elessar and Gandalf found another sapling after the Fall of Sauron.

Going on a bit, I know, but the White Tree in Tolkien serves as a symbol for many things central to the cause of Good. The final proof that Aragorn is indeed the rightful King. The symbol of alliance and friendship between the Edain and the Eldar. A symbol of forgiveness between the Valar and the Exiles of Tol Eressea. Of the Calaquendi in Middle-Earth. Of unity between Eldar Kindreds in Valinor. And so on. The White or Silver Tree is at the centre of so much, and always at the centre of a key city. A symbol above all of continuity, the unbroken line of those who stand against the Darkness

The lamppost? As far away as you can get from the places of power, in an uninhabited waste.

Is Lewis saying that noody can or will live too close to the Light? That the Lght has no place in the houses of Kings and Queens? That it can only be truly found in the forgotten places?

Or is the lamppost the counterpart of the Narnian apple core that Digory planted in his garden? The core that grew into a tree that was blown down, and whose wood was made into a wardrobe? So that the two together provide passage between Earth and Narnia.

Just a thought.