The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: Chapter 11 “The Dufflepuds Made Happy”

C.S. Lewis Read-Along, Vol. 3, Issue 12

Background: Lucy’s perspective on her situation changed when she found the proper context. Her knowledge gained wisdom. We all need that, but we often aren’t sure how to get it. C.S. Lewis says reading, especially old books, gives us new insights into our circumstances.

Foreground: While the Dufflepuds saw themselves as being “uglified,” Lewis rightly understood that sometimes we go through negative situations—even painful ones—so that God can get our attention and transform us into who He has created us to be. Whether we see it at the time, that is Him loving us in the best way possible.

Quote: “‘Do not look so sad. We shall meet soon again.’ ‘Please, Aslan,’ said Lucy, ‘what do you call soon?’ ‘I call all times soon,’ said Aslan; and instantly he was vanished away and Lucy was alone with the Magician.”

Join with others to gain full access to the Lewis read-along (including this one), the latest news on Lewis, Tolkien, and adaptations of their works, and the full archives, including The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian read-alongs.

Pauline Baynes illustration

Background: “The Dufflepuds Made Happy”

In the previous chapter, Lucy laments the decorations in the hall of the magician’s house. The “strange signs painted in scarlet on the doors,” empty-eye hole masks lining the walls, and bearded mirror all basically gave her the creeps as she tried to find the room containing the magic book.

After encountering Aslan and meeting the magician Coriakin, Lucy takes a different view. “Lucy noticed how different the whole top floor looked now that she was no longer afraid of it. The mysterious signs on the doors were still mysterious but not looked as if they had kind and cheerful meanings, and even the bearded mirror now seemed funny rather than frightening.”

What changed? All the decorations remained exactly the same, but Lucy had new knowledge that changed the context. Knowledge without context can be worse than useless; it could be harmful.

When he was an atheist, C.S. Lewis knew that many cultures had a dying and rising god myth. Out of context, he determined this meant that Christianity was false. J.R.R. Tolkien and Hugo Dyson helped give him the proper context so that fact now had an entirely different meaning. Rather than disproving Christianity, those other myths pointed to Jesus being the One Truth Myth.

Because this was such an important issue for Lewis, he often focuses on the idea of perspective. We’ll come back to it again in the next chapter, but it goes beyond the Narnia books.

“The man who is contented to be only himself, and therefore less a self, is in prison. My eyes are not enough for me, I will see through the eyes of others.”
— C.S. Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism

In the Ransom trilogy, Lewis uses alien planets to challenge perceptions based on limited knowledge. Specifically, when Ransom lands on Mars, in Out of the Silent Planet, he wrongly assumes the hrossa are similar to earthly animals based on their appearance. He has an even greater transformation in his attitude toward the sorns. He spends much of his time terrified of what they might do to him, but that changes when he meets one. “‘Ogres’ he had called them when they first met his eyes as he struggled in the grip of Weston and Devine; ‘Titans’ or ‘Angels’ he now thought would be a better word.”

Our ignorance often produces faulty understandings of others, our circumstances, surroundings, and more. We’d do better to refrain from making judgments until we learn more. But how do we do that when we are so limited in our own context? C.S. Lewis would tell us to read.