LITERARY ANALYSIS
Unrest in Voyage of the ‘ Dawn Treader ’
by Tyler Hatcher
IN THE LAST BATTLE , Jewel the unicorn tells Jill that she and Eustace and the Pevensies have only ever seen Narnia in times of trouble . ‘ Oh , this is nice !’ said Jill . ‘ Just walking along like this . I wish there could be more of this sort of adventure . It ’ s a pity there ’ s always so much happening in Narnia .’
But the Unicorn explained to her that she was quite mistaken . He said that the Sons and Daughters of Adam and Eve were brought out of their own strange world into Narnia only at times when Narnia was stirred and upset , but she mustn ’ t think it was always like that . 1
In other words , they haven ’ t known Narnia in times of peace . They come when Narnia is in some sort of imminent danger . This is more obvious in some of the stories of Narnia than others . In The Lion , the Witch and the Wardrobe , Narnia is under the power of the White Witch , and the children come as part of Aslan ’ s undoing of that power . In Prince Caspian , Narnia is once again in the clutch of an enemy : Miraz the Telmarine . Near the end of Caspian ’ s reign , Narnia again approaches unrest in The Silver Chair as Caspian lies on his deathbed and his heir , Prince Rilian , is nowhere to be found . Additionally , if Jill , Eustace , and Puddleglum had not rescued the prince when they did , Narnia would have been overrun by the Witch and the Underlanders . In The Magician ’ s Nephew , Digory and Polly play a role in establishing and protecting Narnia from its first foe , Jadis . Eustace and Jill return in The Last Battle as Tirian is bound to the tree and Narnia is being overturned by a greedy ape and vicious Calor- menes . Even The Horse and His Boy fits into this scheme . Though not from our world , help from outside Narnia comes once again as Shasta and his friends prevent Rabadash and the Calormenes from taking Archenland and then Narnia by surprise .
Notably , there is one book missing from the above . The one story that at first appears to be an exception to Jewel ’ s statement is The Voyage of the ‘ Dawn Treader ’. In all the other stories , there is either a clear and current enemy or some coming threat , something which is causing or will soon cause Narnia to be “ stirred and upset ”. And yet , towards the beginning of The Voyage of the ‘ Dawn Treader ’, Caspian himself notes that Narnia is in a time of great peace and prosperity such that he is quite comfortable leaving Cair Paravel for a time : “‘ You don ’ t suppose I ’ d have left my kingdom and put to sea unless all was well ,’ answered the King . ‘ It couldn ’ t be better .’” 2 And , while there are many dangers over the course of the voyage , there are none that particularly threaten the kingdom .
So , is The Voyage of the ‘ Dawn Treader ’ an anomaly ? Is it an exception to Jewel ’ s statement ? It could be argued that the unrest which threatens Narnia is the potential loss of her king . Caspian is the first king that Narnia has had for many , many years . And , it is the first time Narnia ( or more particularly , Narnians ) have been able to live peacefully and prosperously since Caspian the Conqueror arrived with his Telmarines . Additionally , Caspian as of yet has no heir of his own , and , as Aslan says , “ you could be no true King of Narnia unless , like the Kings of old , you were a son of Adam and came from the world of Adam ’ s sons .” 3 Only a
1 C . S . Lewis , The Last Battle ( New York : HarperCollinsPublishers , 1984 ), 99 .
2 C . S . Lewis , The Voyage of the ‘ Dawn Treader ’ ( New York : HarperTrophy , 1980 ), 20 .
3 C . S . Lewis , Prince Caspian : The Return to Narnia ( London : HarperCollins Children ’ s Books , 2009 ), 190 .
4 THE COMMONS