In my last post I gave an overview of the book and movie adaptation of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. In this post, I will discuss a series of extracts from the book and what lessons can be drawn from the characters and any light they shed on the bible.
1. Lucy’s compassion on Eustace
Eustace was ill-prepared for Narnia and was over-dramatic in feeling sorry for himself. Despite having bullied the Pevansie children back at home, Lucy feels sorry for him and tries to help
“Caspian now suggested they might like to be shown over the ship before supper, but Lucy’s conscience smote her and she said, “I think I really must go and see Eustace. Seasickness is horrid, you know. If I had my old cordial with me I could cure him.”
The bible teaches us to love our enemies and do good to them (Matt 5:43-44; Luke 6:27-36) treating others how we wish to be treated (Matt 7:12).
2. Eustace’s conversion
On one of the islands, Eustace, wandering off to avoid work, found a gold bracelet among a pile of treasure. After slipping it on his arm he fell asleep. When he awoke he discovered that he was a dragon. This led to a time of self-discovery and sorrow over his past behaviour
“He [Eustace] could get even with Caspian and Edmund now-
But the moment he thought this he realised that he didn't want to. He wanted to be friends. He wanted to get back among humans and talk and laugh and share things. He realised that he was a monster cut off from the whole human race. An appalling loneliness came over him. He began to see that the others have not really been fiends at all he began to wonder if he himself had been such a nice person as he had always supposed. He longed for their voices. He would have been grateful for a kind word even from Reepicheep…
It was, however, clear to everyone that Eustace’s character had been rather improved by becoming a dragon. He was anxious to help…
The pleasure (quite new to him) of being liked and, still more, of liking other people, was what kept Eustace from despair…
Repentance and realisation are the crucial first steps towards receiving forgiveness and restoration.
Eustace could not get rid of the scales himself. Only Aslan could do this. Here is Eustace telling Edmund about his encounter with Aslan:
“…So I scratched away for the third time and got off a third skin, just like the two others, and stepped out of it. But as soon as I looked at myself in the water I knew it had been no good.
“The lion said… “You will have to let me undress you” I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat on my back to let him do it.
“The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt.”
“… And there was I as smooth and soft as a peeled switch and smaller than I had been. Then he caught hold of me—I didn’t like that much for I was very tender underneath now that I’d no skin on—and threw me into the water. It smarted like anything but only for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started swimming and splashing I found that all the pain had gone from my arm. And then I saw why. I’d turned into a boy again.”
This is a beautiful illustration of conversion and baptism. It was impossible for Eustace to change himself. Only God can cleanse and takeaway sin.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Cor 5:17)
Eustace’s conversion also points to the Apostle Paul. As Saul of Tarsus, he persecuted the Christians as Eustace bullied Edmund and Lucy. He was confronted by the Lord Jesus and blinded, only to regain his sight when he received the Holy Spirit and was baptised. “Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again” (Acts 9:19)
The conversation between Eustace and Edmund continues.
Eustace did not know that it was Aslan who dealt with him. He revealed how much he hated the name of Aslan pre-dragon.
“Aslan!” said Eustace. “I've heard that name mentioned several times since we joined the Dawn Treader. And I felt – I don't know what – I hated it. But I was hating everything then. And by the way, I'd like to apologise. I'm afraid I've been pretty beastly.”
“That's alright,” said Edmund. "Between ourselves, you haven't been as bad as I was on my first trip to Narnia. You were only an ass, but I was a traitor."
“Well, don't tell me about it, then,” said Eustace. “But who is Aslan? Do you know him?”
“Well – he knows me,” said Edmund. “He's the great Lion, the son of the Emperor-beyond-the-sea, who saved me and saved Narnia. We've all seen him. Lucy sees him most often.”
There are several things to say about this conversation:
Edmund, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, has a rather poor start. He falls under the influence of the white witch and betrays his friends. After Aslan redeemed him, he is crowned Edmund The Just. He lives up to his title in his fair treatment of Eustace and doesn’t judge, remembering what he was saved from.
Eustace, is already showing signs of a new character, in keeping with the injunction Aslan gave to Edmunds siblings in The Lion the witch and the wardrobe, "Here is your brother, and- there is no need to talk about what is past." Eustace doesn’t need to know Edmund’s sins, they are between him and Aslan. He too doesn’t judge.
Knowing versus being known. Edmund does not answer the question ‘Do you know him?’ with ‘Yes, of course, I do!’ (although that would be true) He makes an important distinction between knowing Aslan and being known by Aslan. In the same way, what matters most is that God knows us. That we can know God at all is a work of grace. We can only know God because he first knew us (Gal 4:9; 1 Cor 8:3; 1 John 4:19). The bible also speaks of a danger of thinking we know God when really we are far from him. The scariest words in the Bible are ‘away from me, I never knew you’ (Matt 7:21-23. See Gospel Coalition article for more).
Lucy’s close relationship with Aslan. Edmund, almost as a throw-away comment says ‘Lucy see’s him most often’. In the books and movies, Lucy has a particularly close relationship with Aslan, she is always overjoyed to see him and rushes to hug him. It is Susan and Lucy who accompany Aslan when he is about to be killed on the stone table by the evil queen and they are the first to see him when he is raised to life, much like the women at Jesus’ tomb (John 20:11-18).
3. Sanctification
Eustace went through a character transformation after being restored as a boy.
“It would be nice, and fairly true, to say that “from time forth Eustace was a different boy” To be strictly accurate, he began to be a different boy. He had relapses. There were still many days when he very doesn't. But most of those I shall not notice. The cure had begun.”
The goal of Christians is to become more like Jesus. This is a gradual and continues process until we die. We are new creations (2 Cor 5:17) and must therefore put to death the things that belonged to our old nature (Col 3:5). We no longer live for ourselves but Christ (Gal 2:20). Our goal is to be kept blameless until Christ appears (1 Thess 5:23). The bible is also honest about this being spiritual warfare between the sinful nature that remains and sometimes we will fail (Romans 7:18-19).
4. Themes of light and darkness
When the Dawn Treader reached Dark Island, they were totally encompassed in blackness. Furthermore, it is a place where nightmares come true.
“Lucy leant her head on the edge of the fighting top and whispered, “Aslan, Aslan, if you loved us at all, send us help now.” The darkness did not grow any less, but she began to feel a little – a very, very little – better… There was a tiny speck of light ahead, and while they watched a broad beam of light fell from it upon the ship. It did not alter the surrounding darkness, but the whole ship was lit up as if by searchlight…” [From the beam an albatross appeared] “It's called out in a strong sweet voice what seemed to be words though no one understood them. After that it spread its wings, rose, and began to fly slowly ahead, bearing a little to starboard. Drinian steered after it not doubting that it offered good guidance. But no one except Lucy knew that as it circled the mast it had whispered to her, “Courage, dear heart,” and the voice, she felt sure, was Alan’s, and with the voice a delicious smell breathed in her face.”
In Narnia, only Aslan, had the power to dispel the darkness. In the Bible, Jesus describes himself as the light of the world and all who follow him will never walk in darkness (John 8:12). David says that no darkness is too dark to hide from God’s spirit for it is as light to him (Psalm 139:7-12). Light shines and exposes sin (Eph 5:13). Aslan convicted Caspian and Edmund when greed and rivalry got the better of them in Deathwater Island. Even Lucy was rebuked by Aslan in the magicians island for her vanity and covetous desire for beauty. “In all of these instances, the sight of the Bright and Shining Lion leads to repentance and restoration, scattering the darkness of sin and disobedience.” (Joe Rigley, Live Like a Narnian, p78)
The description of the approach of Aslan’s country is an increase in light:
“Now, the light grew no less - if anything, it increased – but they could bear it. They could look straight up at the sun without blinking. They could see more light than they had ever seen before. On the deck and the sail and their own faces and bodies became brighter and brighter and every rope shone… Everyone on board was filled with joy and excitement, but not an excitement that made one talk. The further they sailed the less they spoke, and then almost in a whisper. The stillness of that last sea laid hold on them.”
The brightness as they approach the end of the world is a description of the brightness of heaven, where there will be no need for light, for God will be the light (Rev 22:1-5)
5. Longing for heaven
Reepicheep had a single-minded devotion to finding Aslan’s Country:
“My own plans are made. While I can, I sail east in the Dawn Treader. When she fails me, I paddle east in my coracle. When she sinks, I shall swim east with my four paws. And when I can swim no longer, if I have not reached Aslan’s country, or shot over the edge of the world into some vast cataract, I shall sink with my nose to the sunrise.”
At finally arriving at the edge of the kingdom he was described as “quivering” with happiness to sail on into the land he longed to get to.
What is my attitude to heaven? As Christians, it is something that we should be longing for. Heaven is our home; it is a better country to be desired (Heb 11:14-16), earth is temporary, as a tent (2 Cor 5:1-8). Isaiah paints a beautiful picture of what it will be like (Isaiah 65:17-25).
6. Finding Aslan in our world
The children, when they finally reached dry land, saw before them a Lamb who invited them to join him for breakfast of the most delicious roasted fish they ever had. When Lucy enquired if this was the way to Aslan’s country he answered:
“Not for you,” said the Lamb. “For you the door into Aslan’s country is from your own world.”
“What!” said Edmund. “Is there a way into Aslan’s country from our world too?”
“There is a way into my country from all the worlds,” said the Lamb; but as he spoke his snow white flushed into tawny gold and his size changed and he was Aslan himself, towering above them and scattering light from his mane.
“Oh, Aslan”, said Lucy. “Will you tell us how to get into your country from our world?”
“I shall be telling you all the time,” said Aslan. “But I will not tell you how long or short the way will be; only that it lies across a river. But do not fear, for I am the great Bridge Builder…”
Lucy, distraught at not seeing Aslan again is comforted by the knowledge that she can see him in their own world:
“But you shall meet me, dear one,” said Aslan.
“Are – you there too, Sir?” said Edmund.
“I am,” said Alan. “But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.”
‘I am’ has particular significance. In the bible it is the personal name that God gives to Moses (Exodus 3:14) and the name that Jesus identifies with in John 8:58.
I was pleased that line about knowing Aslan by another name was included in the movie adaptation as it is clear, from the other stories, particularly The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, that Aslan represents Jesus. In the bible, Jesus is presented as both lion and lamb. The sacrificial lamb that was slain to take the sins of the world and as lion of Judah, the strong conquering king. (Rev 5)
There are many more things that could be said but I hope this has given you a flavour of the richness of exploring the world of C.S. Lewis and the challenge of applying something the biblical truths it illuminates in our lives.
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