The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Blog 1

In re-reading this children’s fantasy classic, I found it so rich, deep and interesting that I’ll have to break it into 2 separate blogs to do it justice.

Why Eustace is a Bully

As I re-read my second favorite book from the Chronicles of Narnia, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, I found myself oddly empathizing with Eustace!

Lewis portrays Eustace as the bully and nag, who makes everyone else miserable. At least at first.

Yet, as I read about his parents, who seemed to be rigid and formal, and his strange hobbies he had developed as an only child, I realized that he must be a very lonely child. This was further impressed by reading his diary entries along the way. He has an, “everyone is against me,” sort of mentality, coping with reality by pretending that he is better and smarter than everyone.

Lewis writes that the first time Eustace feels lonely is when he wanders off on one of the islands, but I read that as an awakening to a feeling that was there all along, only Eustace couldn’t feel it per-say because he had other ways of coping that were covering it up.

This may seem like a strange way to read a children’s fantasy novel! However, I think it is quite relevant, especially in today’s age of technology and anxiety, where children experience large degrees of loneliness and lack of essential care.

I don’t excuse Eustace’s response to this, of bullying and picking at those around him. However, in an odd, psychologically need-fulfilling way, I think this is his attempt to connect.

If he can get a rise out of the other person, he is satisfied. Why? It gives him power. But it also shows that the other person sees him, notices him, and is reacting to him. This can be validating to someone who has no siblings, no friends, and is neglected by their parents. Food for thought.

The Story

The story takes place several years after The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and is only a year after the children helped a young Prince Caspian take back his kingdom in Narnia from book II (Prince Caspian). There is a noticeable absence of Peter and Susan, who are older and doing other things when Edmund and Lucy get swept off to Narnia on another adventure.

Quest

The story reads like an epic. Lewis loved old, classic literature, and I’m sure that epics such as The Odyssey inspired him.

The quest the children (and subservient adults, in a role reversal) are on is to find Prince Caspian’s late father’s friends who Caspian’s Uncle Miraz had driven away. Caspian nobly hopes:

“to find my father’s friends or to learn of their deaths and avenge them if I could.”

It is noted that there is another, higher hope for the quest, held by Reepicheep, the diminutive yet heroic mouse:

“Why should we not come to the very eastern end of the world? And what might we find there? I expect to find Aslan’s own country. It is always from the east, across the sea, that the Great Lion comes to us.”

Bullying

“Eustace Clarence disliked his cousins the four Pevensies, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. But he was quite glad when he heard that Edmund and Lucy were coming to stay. For deep down inside him he liked bossing and bullying…”

As mentioned, Eustace plays a pivotal role in the book. Hence, bullying becomes a main topic. Eustace bullies those who are smaller than himself to make himself feel more powerful. One such instance is when he sees Reepicheep tail hanging down and is tempted to swing him around by it. However, the valiant Reepicheep is not one to be bullied, and

“the next thing Eustace knew was two agonizing jabs in his hand which made him let go of the tail…”

Reepicheep then challenges Eustace to a duel to settle their dispute. Of course, Eustace cowardly declines, insisting it was just a joke. The bully is found out for his true cowardice and his attempted humiliation of another becomes his own.

Bravery and Cowardice

This brings me to another theme I picked up on, which was the dichotomy between bravery and cowardice.

As the crew aboard the Dawn Treader draw near to an Island of darkness they find a stranger in the water who comes aboard with a warning that they shouldn’t go to the Island, for it is where bad dreams come true.

The crew succumb to fear and dread, attempting to steer away from the Island. Their minds become muddled by their fear and they begin to despair. In the midst of it all, Lucy cries out to Aslan, who responds to her call by telling her to be brave.

At the end, when one of them must sail on, to the end of the world, the valiant and now beloved mouse, Reepicheep, decides he will be the one to go. For, he reasons, he will reach Aslan’s country that way.

To Be Continued…In the meantime, if you want to grab you own copy you can do so here: