My church book group read The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis in January and when we met, we watched the movie adaptation to discuss how they compare.
I should say at the outset that I have read the Chronicles of Narnia many, many times over the past 20+ years and that has probably somewhat prejudiced me towards the books. I don’t think any movie adaption will sufficiently do the books justice.
Published in 1952, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the 5th book in the Chronicles of Narnia series, but the third book featuring the Pevansie Children. They first discovered the magical land of Narnia in the book The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, and then returned in Prince Caspian.
Below is a brief background and outline of the story before we consider how it compares with the 2010 Disney adaptation. I will then share some of my favourite highlights from the book. In another post, I’ll discuss its biblical references and what we can learn from the characters and events.
The Pevansie Children in Narnia
As mentioned, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevansie first discovered the magical land of Narnia by entry through a wardrobe. There they found a land in the grip of an evil enchantment by ‘the white witch’, who made it ‘always winter and never Christmas’. It will become significant so it’s worth mentioning here that Edmund betrayed his siblings to the evil queen and only by the sacrifice of the lion Aslan, king of Narnia, could he be redeemed, and Narnia saved. After defeating the witch, the children ruled Narnia as high kings and queens before returning to their own land.
Prince Caspian saw the children return to Narnia many years after their reign. They were tasked with helping Caspian and the oppressed Narnian’s against the Telmarines under the evil king Miraz. This would be the last time in Narnia for Peter and Susan; however, Lucy and Edmund were promised they would get to go back.
The novel
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader picks up the story after Caspian has established peace in Narnia. At his coronation, Caspian swore an oath that he would sail east in search of the seven Narnian lords who served his father and were banished under the rule of the Telmarine king Miraz. They also had hopes that if they sailed far enough, they would discover Aslan’s country which is said to be at the utter East. Meanwhile, back in our world, Edmund and Lucy are staying with their cousin Eustace Scrub, who makes life miserable by bullying them.
Longing for the day they could return to Narnia, they are discovered by Eustace in a little room admiring a painting of what looked like a Narnian ship, when they are magically drawn into Narnia, along with their cousin Eustace. Edmund and Lucy are delighted to be back in Narnia, but Eustace complains constantly. The first islands they come across are the Lone Islands which they discover has a flourishing slave trade, despite the practice being outlawed in Narnia. There they find the first Lord, Bern, and establish him as governor and Duke of the Lone Islands. The second island is significant for Eustace, here he takes a gold bracelet and awakes to find himself turned into a dragon. Aslan frees him from his enchantment, and he starts to become a changed person. The second lord is assumed to have died there as the bracelet Eustace found belonged to him. Deathwater Island contained a pool that turned everything to gold and where another lord was found to have fallen in. The fourth island, Duffers Island, is home to the charmingly amusing Duffers who Lucy releases from an invisibility spell and befriends the magician of the island. Dark Island is where they rescue Lord Rhoop who has been tormented there by nightmares that come true. At the island of the star, or Ramandu’s Island, they find the remaining three lords in an enchanted sleep to be awoken if the ship sails to the end of the world and leaves one of the crew behind. Reepicheep is the one who is left behind to journey on to Aslan’s country. At this point Edmund, Lucy, and Eustace return to our land.
Plot differences between the book and the movie
The movie takes a slightly different approach. While the quest to discover the missing lords is essentially the same, the primary focus is the defeat of evil in the form of green mist. The mist is first discovered on the Lone Islands where a selection of unfortunate inhabitants are rowed out into the ocean as a sacrifice to the mist. Also different to the book, Bern is a prisoner who had to be rescued, rather than rescuing the Narnian’s and becoming established as governor.
At Duffer’s Island the magician explains that to Caspian and the Pevansee’s that in order to defeat the evil they must regain all the swords of the seven lords and lay them upon Aslan’s table at Ramandu’s Island.
The ordering of the islands is slightly different. After the Lone Islands the Dawn Treader visits Duffer’s Island, Deathpool Island, then the island where Eustace becomes a dragon, then Ramandu’s Island and finally Dark Island.
It is at Dark Island where the major action for the battle of good over evil takes place, involving fighting a sea serpent and the crews battling inner demons as the mist whispers temptations in their ear. It is here the white witch appears as an apparition to tempt Edmund. In defeating the mist, Eustace, still a dragon, overcomes his cowardice and saves his Narnian friends. He encounters Aslan who transforms him back into a boy and sends him on to Ramandu’s island so he can lay the last sword at the table. The mist then disappears, the darkness dispels and reveals the rowing boats of the those sent out as a sacrifice from the Lone Islands now all safe and well.
While it makes for a more dramatic story telling, I didn’t really like the plot of the mist and the collection of the swords. I felt it detracted from the idea of going on an adventure just for the sake of it and the chief end which was arriving at Aslan’s country. Perhaps it was felt that the green mist would add some kind of unifying cohesion to what is otherwise separate adventures.
Personal highlights
Relationship between Reepicheep and Eustace.
I first fell in love with Reepicheep in Prince Caspian when he lost his tail and for the love that his followers bore him, were ready to cut off their tails in solidarity with their chief, had not Aslan healed him. For such a small creature, he is full of gallantry, valour, and honour, the first to volunteer to fight. Reepicheep possesses a love of Aslan, and his chief desire was to get to his country. He is gracious to his enemies and despite Eustace swinging him by the tail, Reepicheep befriends Eustace, and comforts him as a dragon.
“he [Eustace] was almost afraid to be alone with himself and yet he was ashamed to be with the others… On such occasions, greatly to his surprise, Reepicheep was his most constant comforter. The noble mouse would creep away from the merry circle at the campfire and sit down by the dragon's head”
2. Light-hearted humour in the books
Eustace’s childhood
Eustace’s parents are negatively described as ‘vegetarians, non-smokers and teetotallers’. Eustace was unprepared for Narnia for having read the wrong sort of books “They had a lot to say about exports and imports and governments and drains, but they were weak on dragons.”
Governor of the Lone Islands
The wicked governor Gumpas was displaced for corruption. This is the description of officialdom in the Lone Islands
“Behind a table at the far end with various secretaries about him sat his Sufficiency, the Governor of the Lone islands… He glanced up as the strangers entered and then looked down at his papers saying automatically, “No interviews without appointments except between nine and ten p.m. on second Saturdays” ... “Nothing about it in the correspondence” said the governor. “Nothing in the minutes. We have not been notified of any such thing. All irregular. Happy to consider any applications-”
Dufflepuds stupidity.
The magician complains of their laziness and gives some amusing examples:
“A few months ago they were all for washing up the plates and knives before dinner: they said it saved time afterwards. I've caught them planting boiled potatoes to save cooking them when they were dug up. One day the cat got into the dairy and twenty of them were at work moving all the milk out; No one thought of moving the cat.”
Furthermore, they are always in agreement with their chief and encourage him even in his error.
“Why, bless me, if I haven't gone and left out the whole point,” said the Chief Voice.
“That you have, that you have,” roared the other voices with great enthusiasm. “No one couldn't have left it out clearer and better. Keep it up, Chief keep it up.”
Highlights also include appearances of Aslan himself, the descriptions as they approach his country and the account of Eustace returning to a boy, but I’ll say more about that in my next post.
____________________________________
Copyright
Reepicheep and Eustace: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/43/98/53/439853fb7e2d2a88667ee79f775c3ace.jpg
Duffers: https://www.facebook.com/CampNarniaAdventureAwaits/photos/a.589225924425118/2114396458574716/?type=3
Comentarios