The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
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The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Cover of first edition (hardcover)
Author C. S. Lewis
Illustrator Pauline Baynes
Country England
Language English
Series The Chronicles of Narnia
Genre(s) Fantasy, children's literature
Publisher Geoffrey Bles
Publication date 1952
Media type Print (Hardcover, Paperback)
Pages 223 pp
ISBN N/A
Preceded by Prince Caspian
Followed by The Silver Chair

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis. Written in 1950, it was published in 1952 as the third book of The Chronicles of Narnia. Current editions of the series are numbered using the internal chronological order making Dawn Treader the fifth book.

See the Note on typography below about the italics in the book's title.

Contents

Plot summary

The two youngest Pevensies, Lucy and Edmund, are staying with their cousin Eustace Scrubb while Peter is studying for his university entrance exams with Professor Kirke, and the Pevensie parents and Susan travel through America. Edmund, Lucy and Eustace are unexpectedly drawn into Narnia through a painting of a ship and land in the ocean near Caspian's ship, the titular Dawn Treader.

Caspian (now King Caspian) has undertaken a quest to find the seven lost Lords of Narnia, as he had previously promised Aslan. Lucy and Edmund are delighted to be back in Narnia, but Eustace is less than enthusiastic. Reepicheep is also on board, as he has vowed to find the seas of the "utter East".

They first make landfall at the Lone Islands, which are nominally Narnian territory, but have fallen away from Narnian ways--among other things, they participate in the slave trade. Caspian, Lucy, Edmund, Eustace and Reepicheep are captured, as they cross Felimath, by a slave trader in order that they may be sold as slaves. A man "buys" Caspian before they even make it to the slave market. He turns out to be the first lost lord, Lord Bern, and acknowledges Caspian as his King when Caspian reveals his identity. Before they leave the island, Caspian re-claims it for Narnia, overthrows the greedy governor, and replaces him with the Lord Bern, whom he names Duke of the Lone Islands.

At the second island they visit, Eustace leaves the group to avoid doing any work. He hides in a dead dragon's cave to escape a sudden downpour. The dragon's treasure arouses his greed, and he fills his pockets with gold and jewels and puts on a large golden bracelet but as he sleeps, he is transformed into a dragon, though one with the memories and personality of Eustace. As a dragon, he becomes aware of how bad his previous behaviour was, and uses his strength to help make amends. Aslan turns Eustace back into a boy, and as a result of the visit, Eustace becomes a much nicer person. When Eustace, as a boy, is finally able to take off the bracelet, Caspian recognizes that it belonged to another lord, Lord Octesian; presumably either the dragon killed Octesian and added the bracelet to its hoard or possibly the dragon was Lord Octesian.

In addition, they visit Burnt Island, Deathwater Island (so named for a pool of water which turns everything immersed in it into gold, including one of the missing lords), the Duffers' Island and the Island Where Dreams Come True. This last island, where nightmares become real, is never seen, but is where they find a crazed Lord Rhoop. At last, they come to the Island of the Star, where they find the three remaining lost lords in an enchanted sleep. The fallen star inhabiting the island, Ramandu, informs them that the only way to awaken them is to sail to the edge of the world and leave one member of the crew behind, at the World's Edge.

The Dawn Treader continues sailing into an area where merpeople dwell and the water turns sweet rather than bitter and salty. At last the ship can go no further as the water has become too shallow, Caspian orders the boat to be lowered and announces that he will be going to the world's end with Reepicheep. The crew argue with him, saying that as King of Narnia he has no right to abandon them. Caspian goes to his cabin in a temper, but returns and says that Aslan appeared in his cabin and told him that Lucy, Edmund, Eustace and Reepicheep would go on but everyone else would return to Narnia.

Lucy, Edmund, Eustace and Reepicheep venture in a small boat through an ocean of flowers until they reach a wall of water that extends into the sky. Reepicheep paddles his coracle up the waterfall, and is never again seen in Narnia, thus fulfilling Ramandu's prophecy. Edmund, Eustace, and Lucy walk in a strange land where they find a lamb. The lamb turns into Aslan who tells them that Edmund and Lucy will not return to Narnia and that they should learn to know him by another name in their own world. He then sends the children home. An afterword type section at the end of the book reveals people marveling at Eustace's change in character. It also reveals that Caspian marries Ramandu's daughter.

Commentary

The role of Aslan as a Christ-like figure is developed further; he appears at the end as a lamb, a Biblical image for Jesus; on the isle of Ramandu the imagery of Aslan's table is also used, and most specifically as the appearance of Christ to his Disciples after the Resurrection, on the shores of Galilee, even down to Aslan's greeting and invitation having near-identical wording. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is unique in that it contains what might be called the "John 3:16" of the Chronicles of Narnia. When asked by Edmund whether or not Aslan exists in their world he replies:

"I am... 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."

This is arguably the most succinct and precise evidence of a possible parallel between Narnia and the Bible. Also, this once more evidences the Christian parallels: Aslan (Jesus) ruling His Country (Heaven, which is all worlds combined), his father, the Emperor over the Sea (the sea being time and the universe) being King of All (God). One is reminded of the medieval Legend of Brendan, in which a sea voyage is undertaken in order to find the Earthly Paradise.[1] Located at the end of the world it may, like Aslan's Country, be reached by travelling eastward, though only if one has God's blessing. The Early South English Legendary furthermore recounts how beyond the Earthly Paradise lies a sea which separates it from its Heavenly counterpart, a sea which the travellers may not cross.

Parallels may furthermore be drawn with the Arthurian legend of the Holy Grail. Three knights set off for the grail—Galahad, Percival and Lancelot—of whom Lancelot turned back in sight of the Grail, while Galahad and Percival both partook of the Grail. Galahad was subsequently raptured, while Percival returned to the realm of mortals.

In a similar vein, three groups on the Dawn Treader were on quest to seek the uttermost East, where Aslan's Country is rumored to be. Caspian, King of Narnia, was turned back due to Ramandu's daughter, whom he wishes to marry; and because he is reminded that, as King of Narnia, he has a responsibility to his country, in sight of the Last Sea. The Pevensie children and Eustace met with Aslan, and were returned to their own world in England. Reepicheep, Chief of the Talking Mice, was the only voyager on the Dawn Treader entirely without fear, and disappeared into the waters of the Utter East, where in the words of C.S. Lewis, "...he vanished, and since that moment no one can truly claim to have seen Reepicheep the Mouse. But my belief is that he came safe to Aslan's country and is alive there to this day." His story might be parallel to that of the Prophet Elijah, who rose to Heaven instead of dying.

Reepicheep is indeed encountered there in the closing chapters of The Last Battle, making him presumably unique in the history of Narnia in having been bodily assumed into Aslan's country while still alive (compare Enoch the patriarch and Elijah the prophet).

In the thirteenth chapter, titled The Three Sleepers, the words of one of the three Narnian lords echo Dante's Inferno, Canto XXVI, in lines given to Ulysses.[2] The words of the lord (probably Lord Argoz) as he quarreled with his comrades are: "We are men and Telmarines, not brutes. What should we do but seek adventure after adventure? We have not long to live in any event. Let us spend what is left in seeking the unpeopled world behind the sunrise." Later, as Caspian and his fellows attempt to awake the lord, he echoes the same words: "Weren't born to live like animals. Get to the east while you've a chance-- lands behind the sun".

The corresponding lines in the Inferno are:

"O frati", dissi, "che per cento milia / perigli siete giunti a l'occidente, / a questa tanto picciola vigilia d'i nostri sensi ch'è del rimanente / non vogliate negar l'esperïenza, / di retro al sol, del mondo sanza gente. Considerate la vostra semenza: / fatti non foste a viver come bruti, / ma per seguir virtute e canoscenza".

Like Ulysses, Lord Argoz is trying to encourage his shipmates to sail yet farther to an unknown land. Both seek "the unpeopled world" (il mondo sanza gente) "behind the sun" (di retro al sol) and both claim that they were not made "to live like animals" (a viver come bruti). Their ultimate motivations differ, however; Ulysses' is to seek virtue and knowledge (per seguir virtute e canoscenza), while Argoz' goal is "adventure after adventure".

When the Dawn Treader reaches the East, Caspian attempts to abdicate as King of Narnia. His crew and Edmund argue against this, saying "a king may not pleasure himself with adventures as though he were a private citizen." Later Aslan appears to Caspian in his cabin and makes it clear he is to continue in his duty as King. In his book Companion to Narnia, Paul Ford speculates that Lewis may have been venting his frustration with the abdication crisis of Edward VIII in 1936.

Michael Ward, in his book Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis, argues that Lewis constructed the story out of the imagery associated with Sol (the Sun) as it was understood within pre-Copernican cosmological thought.

Also, Eustace's transformation from boy to dragon and back to boy again is symbolic of Christian salvation and baptism. The taking off of the dragon skin being taking off the sins of his former life, the pond being the baptismal water, and Aslan being Jesus, helping him take away the sins of his former life.

Differences between British and American editions

Prior to the publication of the first American edition of Voyage, Lewis made the following changes to chapter 12 "The Dark Island". When HarperCollins took over publication of the series in 1994, they decided to use the British edition as the standard for all subsequent editions worldwide. (Ford 2005)

British Edition Pre-1994 American Edition
¶¶1-2 In a few moments [...] warm, blue world again. And all at once everybody realized that there was nothing to be afraid of and never had been. They blinked their eyes and looked about them. The brightness of [...] grime and scum. And then first one, and then another, began laughing.

‘I reckon we’ve made pretty good fools of ourselves,’ said Rynelf.

 ¶1 In a few moments [...] warm, blue world again. And just as there are moments when simply to lie in bed and see the daylight pouring through your window and to hear the cheerful voice of an early postman or milkman down below and to realise that it was only a dream: it wasn’t real, is so heavenly that it was very nearly worth having the nightmare in order to have the joy of waking; so they all felt when they came out of the dark. The brightness of [...] grime and scum.
¶¶3–6 Lucy lost no time [...] Grant me a boon.’ ¶¶2–5 Lucy lost no time [...] Grant me a boon.”
¶7 ‘What is it?’ asked Caspian. ¶6 “What is it?” asked Caspian.
¶8 ‘Never to bring me back there,’ he said. He pointed astern. They all looked. But they saw only bright blue sea and bright blue sky. The Dark Island and the darkness had vanished for ever. ¶7 “Never to ask me, nor to let any other ask me, what I have seen during my years on the Dark Island.”
¶¶9–10 ‘Why!’ cried Lord Rhoop. ‘You have destroyed it!’ ‘I don’t think it was us,’ said Lucy. ¶8 “An easy boon, my Lord,” answered Caspian, and added with a shudder. “Ask you: I should think not. I would give all my treasure not to hear it.”
¶11–12 ‘Sire,’ said Drinian, [...] the clock round myself’ ¶¶9–10 “Sire,” said Drinian, [...] the clock round myself.”
¶13 So all afternoon with great joy they sailed south-east with a fair wind. But nobody noticed when the albatross had disappeared. ¶11 So all afternoon with great joy they sailed south-east with a fair wind, and the hump of darkness grew smaller and smaller astern. But nobody noticed when the albatross had disappeared.

Main Characters

Film, television, or theatrical adaptations

Future film adaptation

Michael Apted is directing The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, a sequel to The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Andrew Adamson, director of the series' first two films, and Mark Johnson are slated as co-producers. Apted grew up reading the novels.[3] Ben Barnes will play King Caspian,[4] Skandar Keynes plays Edmund Pevensie,[3] Georgie Henley plays Lucy Pevensie,[3] Will Poulter will play Eustace Scrubb, [5][6][7] Eddie Izzard voices Reepicheep,[8][9] and Liam Neeson voices Aslan.[10] It is intended for release on May 7, 2010.[11]

Filming will begin in Fall 2008. Most of the shoot will take place in Playas de Rosarito, Baja California, and some other filming will be done in Australia.[12] Jan Roelfs will be production designer,[13] and Isis Mussenden, who designed the costumes for the previous two films, is in negotiations to return.[14] David Arnold will compose the music,[15] whilst Dante Spinotti will be cinematographer.[16] Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who adapted Prince Caspian and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, will return to adapt the third film,[17] alongside Steven Knight.[18]

Note on typography

By English typographical conventions, both book titles and ship names are usually italicized when written. Since "Dawn Treader" is part of both, it should in theory be put in Roman text to signify this, but the title would then not be distinct from the context. To avoid confusion, the entire book title is italicized in this article, and the ship name only when mentioned separately from the book title.

References

  • Ford, Paul (2005), written at SanFrancisco, Companion to Narnia, Revised Edition, Harper, ISBN 0-06-079127-6
  1. ^ The 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia on Saint Brendan
  2. ^ A Narnian Ulysses
  3. ^ a b c "Director Apted plans "Voyage" to third Narnia film", Yahoo! (2007-07-20). Retrieved on 2007-07-20. 
  4. ^ Dan Jolin (April 2008). "Ben Barnes is Prince Caspian", Empire, pp. 96. 
  5. ^ Will Poulter Cast as Eustace Scrubb at www.narniaweb.com (accessed 22 June 2008)
  6. ^ It's luvverly Cockney sparra Keira at www.dailymail.co.uk (accessed 22 June 2008
  7. ^ Will Poulter Cast in Narnia 3 at www.comingsoon.net (accessed 22 June 2008
  8. ^ PuppetMaster (2008-02-12). "Voyage of the Dawn Treader Begins Production", MoviesOnline. 
  9. ^ Peter Dinklage plays Trumpkin,"Seeing Prince Caspian in NYC", NarniaWeb (2008-05-05). Retrieved on 2008-05-05. 
  10. ^ PuppetMaster (2008-02-12). "Voyage of the Dawn Treader Begins Production", MoviesOnline. 
  11. ^ Edward Douglas (2008-04-19). "Dawn Treader Starts Shooting in October", ComingSoon.net. Retrieved on 2008-04-21. 
  12. ^ Marc Graser (2008-07-02). "'Narnia' to be found in Mexico", Variety. Retrieved on 2008-07-02. 
  13. ^ Paul Davidson. "Dawn Treader Voyage Set", IGN. Retrieved on 2007-06-08. 
  14. ^ Heather Newgen (2007-07-30). "Prince Caspian Audio Interviews". Retrieved on 2007-07-31. 
  15. ^ "David Arnold confirmed as Bond 22 composer", MI6.co.uk (2007-10-09). Retrieved on 2007-10-09. 
  16. ^ "Voyage of the Dawn Treader Crew Listing", NarniaWeb. Retrieved on 2007-09-03. 
  17. ^ Michael Cieply (2007-06-17). "Two Screenwriters With No Complaints", New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-06-23. 
  18. ^ Carol Beggy; Mark Shanahan (2008-05-13). "Knight's fantasy job", The Boston Globe. Retrieved on 2008-05-13. 

External links

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