UNX Book Club: The Voyage of the "Dawn Treader"

Like The Odyssey crossed with Se7en, this voyage through the outskirts of Narnia pits the two youngest Pevensie children and their obnoxious cousin Eustace against temptations of the flesh and exposes them to others who didn't fare so well. In fact, I'm surprised C.S. Lewis chose to make a reference to Ulysses and the sirens at the end, considering the rest of the book paid homage to that story. It's almost like breaking the fourth wall; it's like when Jubilee fell in love with Robin during the Marvel vs. DC crossover.

Basically, this is a direct sequel to Prince Caspian, which the UNX Book Club read over a year ago (my, how time flies in Narnia). Prince Caspian must track down the seven (!) lost lords of Narnia, who defected during his wicked Uncle Miraz's reign, or something. Their travels bring them across an island of slaves (retreading a theme from A Horse and His Boy, which was published later, I believe), to an island chock-full of enchanted gold that turns its bearers into dragons, a tempting pond that turns its occupants into gold, a tower of tempting spells, a Stone Dagger that enchants its wrathful bearers into endless slumber, and a land in which dreams literally come true -- to frightening effect. There's also a bit of lust thrown in there, with our heroes discovering an underwater society of sexy sea people. And, furthering the Se7en comparison, the book ends with a riveting finale in which Edmund finds Lucy's head in a box.

Okay, maybe it's not a perfect fit, but themes of sin and temptation prevail, namely their ability to pull a traveler off of his or her path. The island of actualized dreams in particular reminded me of Lewis's description of Hell in The Great Divorce; it's a place where people get what they want and are fine with it, albeit slightly miserable, even if they can't admit it. There was a bit more despair in this book, but overall, this theme we see here is that succumbing to temptation generally makes one feel bad. My favorite portion of the book has to be when Lucy reads the book of magic spells and chooses to eavesdrop on her friends -- and hears some things she wishes she hadn't in the process.

And, for those who try to ignore the Christian imagery in these books, Eustace is literally thrown into a pond by Aslan at one point in this book and emerges as a better person. I liked Eustace; he filled the gaping, antagonistic void left in Edmund's wake.

I also chuckled at Lewis's mockery of "progressive" parenting, embodied by Eustace's "very up-to-date and advanced" parents. Say what you will about Lewis, but the dude deserves props for making fun of vegetarianism way back in 1952. Dude was definitely ahead of his time. 

Edited by sixhoursoflucy - 10-Nov-2010 at 6:04am

This book was both shorter and longer than I remembered. It was shorter in that I seemed to remember the second half being much longer. It was longer in that I seemed to remember the first half being much shorter. I think this says more about the different elements of the story being more memorable than others-I remembered the dragon bit, but didn't remember the dreams bit.

Hello again fellow book clubbers! Evan, I loved The Great Divorce by Lewis! Mostly because it's the best description of Heaven (and Hell) that I've read so far from a Christian, being much more exciting than the normal boring place that many Christians describe it to be. (playing harps all day long and sitting on clouds comes to mind) The absence of fulfillment and joy in Hell (which is on Earth in The Great Divorce) was also very striking and realistic. More on TVOTDT later..

Originally posted by Savant This is the book where I really lose my interest in the series. First, the real heroine Susan is mostly missing.

I don't think I agree with most of your points, but this...and pardon my French, but how the &*#@ do you arrive at the conclusion that Susan is the series' "real heroine"? Holy crap. Victimize, much?

I pretty much agree with Savant. This book also manages to be one of the most boring, and continues to judge females on their appearances. Caspian's instant feelings for his star-bride are never considered shallow, though Susan's desires for parties and social life are considered frivolous in later books.  Also, Caspian goes from being a rather rebellious and adventurous young man in his own story to becoming  a rather bland character in this installment of the series.

Or character development.