The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Narnia)

[Throughout the years, I have written a number of reviews that have never been published online on Amazon. These writings comprise two types of reviews: unfinished reviews, abandoned during various stages of composition, and completed reviews that for life reasons were never posted. Of the later type, back in September 2001 I wrote a cache of work, a full sixteen reviews of several different C. S. Lewis books which have never been released. I am publishing these reviews now for the first time, over a decade after they were initially written. Mike London 10-3-2012]

"The Voyage of the Dawn Treader", because of the nature of the book, is the most episodic of the Chronicles. Essentially, Caspian and his crew are on a quest to recover the seven lords that were supporters of his slain father. It is also the one most explicitly tied to any of the other works, with its quest spoken of directly in Prince Caspian. The quest to find the seven lords leads all of the crew on multiple adventures across various islands. The main children characters are Lucy and Edmund Pevensie from the first two books of the old order, and a new character, their cousin Eustace Scrubb. The children are transported through a picture of a ship, and find themselves in the water where Caspian promptly recovers them, and so the quest begins.

On the Lone Islands, where we first encounter the slave market in the Narnia books, is the first real adventure. As Ford in his Companion to Narnia points out, whenever slavery is present in the books it shows a society who is rapidly devolving. We also get the practical ethics introduced where, although not being truthful, Caspian instructs his men to give the impression that there is an entire fleet of Narnian ships that will overtake the islands if Gumpas the governor does not surrender peacefully.

A subplot of the book, and I have encountered some who think this is the real meat of the book, involves Eustace Scrubb, a very annoying young boy. One of the key themes in Lewis's fiction is that of evil dehumanizing, and here it happens quite literally. Because he behaves like a beast, Eustace actually turns into a dragon. This turning into a dragon makes Eustace realise that his behaviour toward the crew has been entirely unfair, and he even has blinded himself so much that he thinks, before he is turned into a dragon, that Caspian and the Pevensies will leave him. We also get that jab at vivisection that Lewis so hates, for Eustace loves animals, but only if they are pinned down on a piece of paper, and when he actually meets talking animals he hates them. It is to Reepicheep's great honour that he is the one who spends the most time with Eustace when he had been metamorphosized into the dragon, for their relationship was one of constant animosity caused chiefly by Eustace's severe lack of disrespect and the whole episode with the guarded water.

One of the most interesting things Eustace says in this pre-Aslan stage of his evolution is, by giving Lucy the cabin, it degrades women because it implies that they are not as hardy as men are, although is real reasoning is selfish, which may be interpreted as a jibe by Lewis directed against those who wish to do away with traditional behavior of giving respect to females.

Eustace's baptism by water makes a very significant contribution to the overall theme of the Chronciles. Like Rabadash from the Chronicles and Bottom from Shakespear, much of Eustace's actions is that of a beast. A very consistent theme in Lewis is that evil dehumanizes its practitioner. Eustace also is very blinded to his own inadequacies. Lewis uses this in a humourous way with Puddleglum and his statement about how he never brings people down, but here with Eustace his blindness toward his weaknesses are sad and causes only harm and loneliness. One critical thing to note, however, that loneliness only occurs to Eustace after he is a dragon, because before he was into this beastly ways he only thought of other people to pester and to torture.

For Eustace to be healed, he must submit his dragonish ways to Aslan and be cleansed. He cannot do this thing himself, even though he tried, and giving up the sin nature inherent to man does indeed hurt tremendously, but it is the only way to truly be united with Aslan. This tearing away of the sin nature with its very intense pain would be the baptism by fire. However, it could also be argued that this was the baptism by water, because after this Aslan throws him into the water. I personally believe this is both baptisms.

After this baptismal experience with Aslan we get the first attempt by Eustace at doing something brave, which is to help fight against the sea serpent. Lewis says, while ruining one of Caspian's swords, was a very brave thing to do. He has had the experience with Aslan, and although his behaviour has changed much to the better, it is this attempt of fighting the sea serpent that Eustace first makes that really gigantic leap into the full commitment of aiding and helping his fellow travelers.

Lewis brings up the theme of greed as well as power on Deathwater Island. Here, it is discovered that there is indeed a pool that can turn things to gold, but only after a scuffle between Caspian and Edmond and a rebuke by Aslan himself is it made clear that they should leave the island and should not use it to obtain wealth, and the memory itself becomes confused in their minds on exactly what happened during that hour by some enchantments.

Next are the Island of the Dufflepuds, who, scarily enough, can be taken as representations of how we must appear to God at times. They are quite foolish and almost impossible to have a rational conversation with, but Lucy must make them visible because of their lack of bravery. Lucy, going up to the room with the magic book, must deal with the element of the magician, who, because of the Duffers' portrayal of him, make him appear as a hostile being which is not the truth after all.

It is the book, however, that gets Lucy into trouble, for she falls for the temptation of knowledge, but does not fail when the temptation for beauty over Susan's comes into her mind. The love for story also appears here, as she encounters a magical story that is the best she ever read but cannot, oddly, remember it. The magician then aids the crew after Lucy says the spell to make the Duffers, hence renamed the Dufflepuds, and they continue on their voyage.

The rest of the book, after they find the last three lords on Ramandu's Island, because very sublime, with the water sweetening and growing lilies blanketing the very surface of the seawater. Lucy also encounters the sea beings, of which, like their counterparts in Perelandra, we never truly get an explanation for, and it is my belief that Lewis does this quite deliberately to show us that we do not know everything and are not meant to know everything. The book ends with the children having a glorious encounter with Aslan himself and the most direct statement for the purpose of Narnia, which is Aslan drew them in so they may know him here for a while and then know him better in their world.

Overall, this, along with "The Silver Chair" and "The Last Battle", are my top three favorite in the Narnia series.

*(These reviews covered all seven books of "The Chronicles of Narnia", the three novels of "The Space Trilogy", "The Abolition of Man", "The Four Loves", "A Preface to Paradise Lost", a revised version of my 2000 review of "Till We Have Faces", "Surprised By Joy", and "The Screwtape Letters".)
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[This is a brief paper I wrote about how Lewis imparted truth to his characters and am including the text here as bonus content to the review proper:]

Lewis has his characters experience truth in a number of ways. The five works this essay will look at are "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe", "Prince Caspian", "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader", "The Silver Chair" and "The Last Battle". Not all of the truth the characters encounter are what the characters wanted.

In the first book, LWW, we have Edmond who has become a traitor. Edmond does not wish to believe that the Witch is bad, because she can supply his fix. This is one of the biggest truths that Lewis imparts to his young readers: addiction blinds you to the point of where your only god is the addiction itself and you will do anything it takes to get whatever you are addicted too. Edmond is a classic case of addiction, and if this were a work for adults it would have been quite appropriate to make his addiction drugs. When the Beavers are discussing Aslan, Edmond does not like the conversation. He feels this could pose a threat to getting his fix of Turkish Delight. Like drugs, this addiction ruins ordinary pleasures, and Lewis says at the beginning of Chapter IX that memories of bad magic food spoils the taste of regular food. He is so focused on his addictions that Edmond no longer cares about real life, and he will do anything possible to get it, even selling out his brother and sisters to the White Witch, which in everyday life could be a man who will let his family go hungry or will not pay the rent because he cannot get his cocain if he takes care of the basic needs of his family. Even in this degraded state of mind, Edmond gets a realisation of the cruelty of the White Witch, for what he craves the most she will not give him. For truth to come to Edmond, he must accept this terrible fact of his being a traitor and Aslan must die for him. Aslan and Edmond have a talk afterward, which, although we are not told what is said, Lewis does tell us that Edmond never forgot that conversation and he is truly a changed boy.

In Prince Caspian, Lewis gives us another boy who is struggling to discover truth. Caspian learns from his Nurse that there is an older Narnia where Talking Animals lived and there were dwarfs and tree and water people and various creatures who claimed Narnia has their home. His Uncle Miraz, however, denies this and sends his nurse away to be replaced by a Dr. Cornelius, who, as it turns out, is a half-breed of dwarf and man. It is notable that he is the only named example of interbreeding, although, according to Ford, Caspian's nurse may also have dwarf blood in her. Caspian must decide which "truth" he will believe, and because of his relatively good sense he chooses to belief the stories about Old Narnia. This ties into Lewis's theme about the longing for the truth. I highly doubt that, if a person is on Aslan's side (although Caspian is not to begin with), he/she will long for something in a deep spiritual sense and it not be the truth. Lewis talks of this in his Pilgrim's Regress, and it is God's prime instrument in conversion. People long for something true, and unless they are deceived by Satan, they will find their answer in Jesus Christ. It is also important to note the relationship between Dr. Cornelius and Prince Caspian. God wants to use you to help awake and feed that desire for God in someone else's life, and that is why He tells us to go make disciples of men. One reason Lewis chose Dr. Cornelius as a half-breed is to illustrate we are not to perfection yet, but we are progressing toward it, and also one reason the dwarfs intermarried was so the were not killed. Sometimes, as Christians, we cannot be open about our religion but must seek God to know who we should share it with. Of course, this does not apply to America yet, for we have tremendous religious freedom. As the world progresses, however, I fear that will change. Once you discover truth, then you are accountable to that truth and must help fight for it, which Prince Caspian does, and then becomes King Caspian.

Eustace Scrubb also encounters truth for the first time. Much of the first half of the novel Eustace is a perfect ass.

Jill also encounters truth in The Silver Chair. At the opening of the novel, she learns the appropriate ways to approach God, and these ways are not Satanic, as the dark magic she suggested to Eustace as a method of getting into Narnia was. She also learns in that opening scene with her and Aslan more of the nature of God. You cannot put God in a box, and Aslan will make no promises to her what he will do, but she does not doubt his word when the Lion tells her that there is no other stream. Throughout there rest of the novel Jill learns that no matter what God says, you must do as he asks, even if it seems that you will be killed or seriously harmed or seemingly impossible, and she also learns that, through the giants of Harfang, God will take care of you even if you err, but there will be unnecessary complication if you do not do it his way.

Perhaps the most interesting of all, and certainly rather an anomaly as mostly the examples given are good characters becoming better, but in The Last Battle we have one of the central bad guys learn that there really are supernatural forces, even though he did not believe in them. Farsight, the Eagle, notices that Rishda Tarkaan is very surprised about what is in the stable and of Shift's destruction. His discovery of the truth, however, is horrific. Tash, the god he has called on but does not believe, has come to gather his lawful prey, and Rishda is shocked that Tash even exists. Lewis uses this character to illustrate to his readers that you should be careful in what type of belief system you invoke, for the worship of Tash was a cultural practice that Rishda practice not in belief but because it the culture, and he really does not believe in anything.

These are some examples of the numerous ways in which truth comes to Narnian characters.

This is the best of the Narnia series but anything by C.S. Lewis is worth reading, especially his books on faith.