The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Summary

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the third Chronicle of Narnia to be published. Edmund and Lucy Pevensie are spending the summer holidays with their aunt and uncle in Cambridge, where their cousin Eustace Clarence Scrubb, a priggish, bullying boy raised on modern notions, makes them miserable. A painting of a ship on the wall of a spare bedroom comes to life, sea water pours out of the frame, and all three children are swept into the sea of Narnia and hauled aboard the Dawn Treader. On board is King Caspian, three years after the events of Prince Caspian, sailing east to find the seven lords his usurping uncle Miraz had sent away: Revilian, Bern, Argoz, Mavramorn, Octesian, Restimar and Rhoop. With him are the captain Lord Drinian and the valiant talking mouse Reepicheep, who hopes to reach Aslan's country at the eastern end of the world. In the Lone Islands, nominally Narnian, Caspian, Lucy, Edmund, Eustace and Reepicheep are seized by the slaver Pug; Caspian is bought by Lord Bern, and together they depose the corrupt governor Gumpas, abolish the slave trade, and make Bern duke. After a long storm the ship lands on an island where Eustace, slipping away from work, falls asleep on a dead dragon's hoard with greedy thoughts and wakes as a dragon, a gold bracelet biting into his foreleg. Lonely and changed, he helps the crew, and Aslan at last leads him to a well, strips off his dragon skin layer by layer with his claws, and bathes and clothes him; the bracelet belonged to Lord Octesian. A sea serpent nearly crushes the ship. On Deathwater Island a pool turns everything to gold, including Lord Restimar. On an island of invisible voices, Lucy enters the magician Coriakin's house to read the spell that makes the clumsy one-footed Dufflepuds visible again, is tempted by a spell for beauty, eavesdrops on her friends by magic, reads a story of refreshment she cannot afterwards remember, and sees Aslan. Near a Dark Island where dreams come true they rescue the terrified Lord Rhoop, guided out by an albatross that whispers to Lucy in Aslan's voice. On Ramandu's island the last three lords lie in enchanted sleep at Aslan's Table; Ramandu, a retired star, and his daughter explain that the spell will break only if someone sails to the world's end and stays there. Through sweet, bright water and a sea of lilies, Caspian is turned back, while the three children and Reepicheep row on to the edge of the world. Reepicheep sails up the great wave in his coracle, and the children meet a Lamb who becomes Aslan and tells them he has another name in their world. Geoffrey Bles published the book in London on 15 September 1952, illustrated by Pauline Baynes.

Plot or Argument

• Chapters 1-2: The picture and the ship

  Eustace's priggish home life in Cambridge; the painted ship comes alive and the children are swept aboard the Dawn Treader, where Caspian explains his quest for the seven lords and Reepicheep his hope of the utter East.

• Chapters 3-4: The Lone Islands

  Captured by slavers, Caspian is bought by Lord Bern; they overthrow the governor Gumpas, end the slave trade, and make Bern Duke of the Lone Islands.

• Chapters 5-7: The storm and Dragon Island

  Eustace's diary records the storm and water rationing; on the island he becomes a dragon, finds he is cut off from the others, and is undragoned by Aslan; Edmund tells him he was worse.

• Chapter 8: Two narrow escapes

  The sea serpent attacks the ship; on Deathwater the crew find Lord Restimar turned to gold, and Caspian and Edmund quarrel over the pool's power until Aslan appears.

• Chapters 9-11: The Island of the Voices

  The invisible Dufflepuds force Lucy to enter the magician's house; she reads in the Magician's Book, sees Aslan, meets Coriakin, and the Dufflepuds are made visible and content in their own way.

• Chapter 12: The Dark Island

  The ship enters a darkness where nightmares become real, rescues Lord Rhoop, and is led out after Lucy prays to Aslan and an albatross appears.

• Chapters 13-14: Ramandu's island

  Three lords sleep at Aslan's Table after quarrelling there; Ramandu and his daughter explain the spell and the voyage to the world's end; most of the crew choose to go on, while Pittencream stays behind.

• Chapters 15-16: The Last Sea and the very end of the world

  The water turns sweet and full of light, the Sea People are glimpsed below, and Caspian, rebuked by Aslan, turns back. Lucy, Edmund, Eustace and Reepicheep go on through the lilies; Reepicheep crosses the wave and the children meet the Lamb who is Aslan.

Characters

• Lucy Pevensie, protagonist

  Youngest Pevensie, brave and faithful, tempted in the Magician's Book and closest to Aslan.

• Edmund Pevensie, protagonist

  Once a traitor himself, now a just king who befriends the changed Eustace.

• Eustace Clarence Scrubb, cousin

  Sneering, self-pitying boy whose greed turns him into a dragon and who is remade by Aslan.

• Caspian X, King of Narnia

  Young king sailing east to find his father's seven friends.

• Reepicheep, chief mouse

  Courteous, fearless talking mouse who longs to reach Aslan's country.

• Lord Drinian, captain

  Steady captain of the Dawn Treader.

• Aslan, the great Lion

  Son of the Emperor-beyond-the-Sea, who undragons Eustace and appears at the world's end as a Lamb.

• Lord Bern, lost lord

  Lord who settled in the Lone Islands and is made their duke.

• Lord Rhoop, lost lord

  Lord rescued from the Dark Island after years of living nightmares.

• Coriakin, magician

  Star set to govern the Dufflepuds as a kind of penance.

• Ramandu and his daughter, star and his daughter

  A retired star renewed each morning by a fire-berry, and the daughter Caspian later marries.

• Gumpas, governor

  Lazy, corrupt governor of the Lone Islands who tolerates the slave trade.

Lessons

• Becoming a new person

  Eustace becomes a dragon by sleeping on a hoard with greedy thoughts, and he cannot tear off the dragon skin by his own efforts; only Aslan's painful claws can do it. The scene shows that real change comes as a gift that has to be accepted, and that afterwards the change still has to be lived out day by day.

  • Why can't Eustace peel off the dragon skin by himself?
  • What is different about Eustace after Aslan changes him, and what stays the same?
  • Why does Edmund tell Eustace that he was worse?

• Courage with courtesy

  Reepicheep is the smallest member of the crew and the bravest. He fights Eustace to teach him manners, comforts him when he is a dragon, and goes willingly to the end of the world.

  • How does Reepicheep treat Eustace before and after he becomes a dragon?
  • Is Reepicheep ever too proud of his honor?

• Temptation in small things

  On Deathwater, Caspian and Edmund quarrel over the gold-making pool, and in the magician's house Lucy is tempted by a spell for beauty and by the spell that lets her hear what her friends say about her. The book treats envy, greed and curiosity as ordinary dangers that Aslan steps in to stop.

  • Why does Aslan appear in the magician's house just as Lucy wants to say the beauty spell?
  • What does Lucy learn from overhearing her friend talk about her?
  • Why do Caspian and Edmund start to quarrel at the pool on Deathwater?

• Longing for Aslan's country

  Reepicheep's whole voyage is aimed at the utter East, and the ending shows the children that Aslan is also present in their own world under another name. The book teaches that the deepest longing points beyond any place on a map.

  • Why is Reepicheep happy to leave everyone behind at the end?
  • What does Aslan mean when he says he has another name in the children's world?

Context

Lewis wrote the Narnia stories in the years after the Second World War, when Britain still lived under rationing. The voyage form draws on old tales of sea journeys to wondrous islands, from Homer's Odyssey to medieval voyages to the earthly paradise, which Lewis knew as a scholar of medieval and Renaissance literature. Eustace's family, with their progressive school and fashionable opinions, are the book's comic picture of a modern outlook Lewis distrusted.

Composition

Lewis wrote the book in 1950, soon after Prince Caspian. Geoffrey Bles published it in London on 15 September 1952 with illustrations by Pauline Baynes, and Macmillan issued it in New York the same year. It is dedicated to Geoffrey Corbett, the boy later adopted by Lewis's friend Owen Barfield. Lewis revised the American text, most substantially at the end of Chapter 12, but since 1994 HarperCollins editions have followed the original British text.

Reception

The book has remained one of the most loved of the Chronicles, especially for Eustace's transformation and Reepicheep's farewell. It was adapted for BBC television in 1989, together with Prince Caspian, and as a feature film directed by Michael Apted in 2010.

Comparisons

• prince-caspian

  The direct predecessor: the seven lords were banished by Miraz, whom Caspian overthrew there, and Reepicheep's tail, restored by Aslan in that book, gives him his place on this voyage.

• the-lion-the-witch-and-the-wardrobe

  Edmund's betrayal and rescue in the first book is the key to his kindness to Eustace here; Lucy's cordial from Father Christmas returns, and the Stone Knife lies on Aslan's Table.

• the-silver-chair

  Eustace's next adventure, in which the changed boy returns to Narnia with Jill Pole to seek Caspian's lost son Rilian, born to Ramandu's daughter.

• the-odyssey

  Both are island-by-island sea voyages with monsters, magicians and enchantments, but Odysseus sails west toward home while the Dawn Treader sails east toward Aslan's country.

• the-hobbit

  Lewis's friend Tolkien also tied dragons to greed for gold; Eustace's sleep on a dragon's hoard and Thorin's obsession with Smaug's treasure make a close pairing.

• the-pilgrims-progress

  Like Christian's journey to the Celestial City, the voyage is a picture of the spiritual life, with perils along the way and a crossing at the end into the true country.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• Eustace's diary in Chapter 5 and how the same events look when the narrator tells them.
• The gold bracelet: who owned it, why it hurts, and what happens to it after Eustace is changed.
• Every time Aslan appears, often only for a moment: in the magician's house, on Deathwater, in the Dark Island, and in the cabin's golden lion's head.
• How the water, the light and the food change as the ship sails into the Last Sea.

Key terms and names

The Dawn Treader

Caspian's ship, with a dragon-shaped prow and a purple sail, built for the voyage east.

The seven lords

Friends of Caspian's father whom Miraz sent away to explore the Eastern Seas. Finding out what became of them is the purpose of the voyage.

Reepicheep

The Chief Mouse of Narnia, who joins the voyage hoping to reach Aslan's country in the utter East.

Dufflepuds

Silly one-footed creatures on the Island of the Voices who made themselves invisible and need Lucy's help to become visible again.

Aslan's Table

A long table on Ramandu's island where a feast is laid every day and the three sleeping lords lie.

The utter East

The end of the world, where the sea meets the sky and Aslan's country lies beyond.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension How do Lucy, Edmund and Eustace get into Narnia at the beginning of the story?
2. Comprehension How does Eustace turn into a dragon, and how does he become a boy again?
3. Comprehension Why does Lucy go into the magician's house on the Island of the Voices, and what does she find in the book?
4. Interpretation Eustace tried to scratch off the dragon skin three times, but it kept growing back. Why do you think Lewis made Aslan be the one to take it off?
5. Interpretation On the Dark Island, dreams come true. Why is that frightening instead of wonderful?
6. Interpretation Caspian wants to go on to the end of the world, but Aslan tells him to go back. Why is going back the right thing for a king to do?
7. Big Question Aslan tells the children they came to Narnia so they could know him better in their own world. What do you think that means for you?

Faith Connections

• Ephesians 4:22-24 (Scripture)

  Paul tells believers to put off the old self and put on the new. Eustace cannot shed his dragon skin by himself, but when Aslan tears it away he is bathed and dressed in new clothes.

• John 21:9-13 (Scripture)

  The risen Jesus makes a fire on the shore and gives his disciples bread and fish for breakfast. At the end of the world the Lamb invites the children to a breakfast of fish cooked over a fire on the grass.

• Hebrews 11:13-16 (Scripture)

  The faithful were strangers on earth, longing for a better, heavenly country. Reepicheep sails the whole voyage longing for Aslan's country and goes over the wave gladly.

• C. S. Lewis, letter to a young reader (1961) (Great Conversation)

  Lewis explained to a child who asked about Narnia that The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is about the spiritual life, especially in Reepicheep.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: The voyage east is a picture of the Christian life: the travelers meet temptations to greed, envy and vanity on island after island, and each time they are rescued by Aslan rather than by their own strength. Eustace's change shows that the old self cannot be removed by one's own effort, and Reepicheep's longing shows that the journey's goal lies beyond the world. So the book argues that a person grows by being remade and by keeping the eyes fixed on Aslan's country, and that Aslan is present in our world too.

Rhetorical device: contrasting narrators. In Chapter 5 Lewis lets Eustace tell the storm in his own diary, full of complaints about the others, so readers can see how self-pity bends the truth before the narrator tells the dragon story plainly.

Debate: Resolved: Caspian was right to obey Aslan and turn back instead of going to the end of the world.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Choose two islands from the voyage and explain what each one tests in the travelers, and who passes or fails the test.

Comparison with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: Edmund in the first Narnia book and Eustace in this one both start out selfish and are changed by Aslan. Compare how each boy goes wrong and how Aslan rescues him.

Medical Lens

The Dark Island in Chapter 12 is the book's one sustained study of fear: it is the place where dreams come true, meaning not wishes but nightmares, and Lord Rhoop, rescued after years there, is so shaken that he begs never to be asked about it; at Ramandu's island he is granted dreamless sleep. Readers interested in anxiety and nightmare can find in the episode a vivid children's picture of terror that feeds on imagination, though it is presented as enchantment rather than illness. Smaller sickroom details appear elsewhere: Eustace's seasickness and complaints in his diary, the water rationing during the storm, Lucy's cordial from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, used to ease his sickness, and the painful tightness of the gold bracelet on the dragon's swollen foreleg, which the cordial cannot relieve. Reepicheep sits with the lonely dragon and comforts him, a small picture of companionship in suffering.

• Chapters 5-6

  Eustace's diary records seasickness, the storm, and the rationing of fresh water; he is caught stealing extra water at night.

  Nursing Caregiving
• Chapter 6: The Adventures of Eustace

  The gold bracelet bites into the dragon's foreleg, and Lucy's cordial does not ease the pain.

  Pain
• Chapter 12: The Dark Island

  The crew enter the island where dreams come true and flee in terror; Lord Rhoop is rescued after years of living nightmares.

  Dreams Nightmares Neurosis Anxiety

Creative Prompts

• Fiction

  Write two pages of Eustace's diary from the days after he was undragoned, as he begins to change how he writes about the others.

• Classroom

  Draw a sea chart of the voyage from the Lone Islands to the world's end, labeling each island with what happened there and which lord was found.

• Dialogue

  Write the conversation between Reepicheep and the dragon Eustace on one of the nights he sits with him on the island.

• Essay

  Compare the Dark Island with the Island of the Voices: which island tests the crew's courage, and which tests their character?

Further Reading

• The Silver Chair, C. S. Lewis

  Eustace returns to Narnia with Jill Pole.

• Planet Narnia, Michael Ward

  Argues that each Chronicle is shaped by one of the medieval planets.

• The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis, Alan Jacobs

• The Voyage of Saint Brendan, Anonymous (trans. John J. O'Meara)

  Medieval voyage tale of wonders on islands across the western ocean.