The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

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The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Recent hardcover cover
Author	C. S. Lewis
Illustrator	Pauline Baynes
Country	England
Language	English
Series	The Chronicles of Narnia
Genre(s)	Fantasy
Publisher	Geoffrey Bles
Released	1952
Media Type	Print (Hardcover, Paperback)
ISBN	NA
Preceded by	Prince Caspian
Followed by	The Silver Chair

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a fantasy novel by C. S. Lewis. It is the third book in The Chronicles of Narnia, and the fifth in chronological order. It was originally published in 1952.

By English typographical conventions, both book titles and ship names are italicized when written. Since "Dawn Treader" is part of both, it should in theory be put in Roman text to signify this. To avoid confusion, the entire title will be italicized in this article.

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Christian parallels 3 The Holy Grail 4 Chapters 5 Differences between British and American editions 6 Film, TV or theatrical adaptations 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Plot summary

The two younger children from the previous stories, Lucy and Edmund Pevensie, are sent to the house of their obnoxious cousin Eustace Scrubb for a holiday. While with their cousin the Pevensies see a painting on the wall of a Narnian ship at sea. The three children are pulled through the painting into the world of Narnia. They fall into the ocean and are fished out of the sea onto the Dawn Treader.

Once safely on board, Lucy and Edmund are greeted by their friend Caspian (now King Caspian) who has undertaken a quest to find the seven lost lords of Narnia. Eustace, however, does not have the enthusiasm of the Pevensies. Among the crew members on the ship is Reepicheep, a brave talking mouse. At the second island they arrive at, Eustace leaves the group to avoid doing any work. He runs into a dragon's cave and is turned into a dragon in his sleep, presumably because of his greed. As a dragon, he repents his actions and uses his strength to help the rest of the crew with tasks such as hunting for food or pulling up a tree for a mast. Shortly before they leave the island, Aslan takes visits Eustace during the night and turns him back into a boy. Remembering his experiences, Eustace is much nicer to everyone after that.

Once on the ship they travel to different islands, including the Lone Islands, Dragon Island, Burnt Island, Deathwater Island, the Duffers' Island, the Island Where Dreams Come True (also known as the Dark Island), and finally the Island of the Star.

During their trip they manage to find all seven lords on various islands. Two of them are dead, two of them are alive, and three of them are in a deep sleep on the Island of the Star. The only way to awaken them is to sail to the edge of the world and leave one member of the crew.

They continue sailing and find lilies in the sea and merpeople and the water turns sweet. Caspian says that he has seen Aslan, the great lion. Aslan told Caspian that Reepicheep, Edmund, Eustace, and Lucy must go to the end of the world.

Lucy, Edmund, Eustace and Reepicheep venture in a small boat through an ocean of flowers. They eventually reach a wall of water that extends into the sky. Reepicheep paddles his coracle up the waterfall, and is never again seen in Narnia.

After Reepicheep goes on, 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 them home to their world.

[edit] Christian parallels

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 Ramadu the imagery of Aslan`s table is also used. 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 reason Lewis provides for the children's adventures and, indeed, his most direct statement of the purpose of the Narnia novels for the young reader.

Additionally, it can be viewed that Eustace's turn from a brat into the post-dragon person, realizing how bad he was and becoming a hero, is much like the "saving" of born-again Christians.

The act of Eustace bathing in the pool after being turned back from being a dragon could be seen as baptism.

Perhaps, as well, there is an allegorical connection between the character of Eustace and the account of Saul's conversion in the Book of Acts.

[edit] The Holy Grail

Parallels may also be drawn with the Arthurian legend of the Holy Grail. Three knights set off for the grail—Galahad, Percival and Launcelot—of whom Launcelot turned back in sight of the Sangrail, 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."

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 (cf. Enoch the patriarch and Elijah the prophet).

[edit] Chapters

The Picture in the Bedroom On Board the Dawn Treader The Lone Islands What Caspian Did There The Storm and What Came of It The Adventures of Eustace How the Adventure Ended Two Narrow Escapes

The Island of the Voices The Magician's Book The Dufflepuds Made Happy The Dark Island The Three Sleepers The Beginning of the End of the World The Wonders of the Last Sea The Very End of the World

[edit] Differences between British and American editions

Prior to the publication of the first American edition of Voyage, Lewis made the following changes to chaper 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.

[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

• The BBC produced a TV miniseries of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1989); it was combined with the previous film and released as Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. (see The Chronicles of Narnia (TV miniseries)).
• BBC Radio produced a radio play based on the book in 1994.
• Focus on the Family released a longer version as part of its complete production of all the Chronicles of Narnia.
• Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media are likely to release The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in the 2009-2011 time period.

[edit] References

• Ford, Paul (2005), Companion to Narnia, Revised Edition, SanFrancisco: Harper, ISBN 0-0607-9127-6

[edit] External links

• Dawn Treader model photographs
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader at Narnia Fans
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader at Narnia Confidential
• NarniaWeb: Narnia movie news
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database