The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: Chapter 15 “The Wonders of the Last Sea”

C.S. Lewis Read-Along, Vol. 3, Issue 16

Background: Reepicheep says his heart’s desire is to sail to the end of the world and reach Aslan’s Country, but he continues to allow his concern for honor to crowd out what should be his primary goal. C.S. Lewis often challenged his readers to keep our priorities straight.

Foreground: Lewis said the primary idea of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is “the spiritual life (especially Reepicheep).” This final chapter gives us an accurate picture of sanctification and the signposts that help us along the way.

Quote: “The King took the bucket in both hands, raised it to his lips, sipped, then drank deeply and raised his head. His face was changed. Not only his eyes but everything about him seemed to be brighter. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘it is sweet. That’s real water, that. I’m not sure that it isn’t going to kill me. But it is the death I would have chosen—if I’d known about it till now.’”

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Pauline Baynes illustration

Background: “The Wonders of the Last Sea”

C.S. Lewis understood Paul’s words to the church in Rome: “For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do” (Romans 7:19 CSB). Lewis frequently wrote about the need to overcome wrong desires and even secondary desires for what should be our ultimate desire.

In “The Wonders of the Last Sea,” Reepicheep still suffers from the same misdirected passion. In the last chapter, Reepicheep tells Ramandu that his “heart’s desire” is to travel to the end of the world and never return. But he jeopardizes that goal the moment he sees someone challenge his honor.

In Prince Caspian, “The High King in Command,” Aslan tells Reepicheep, “I have sometimes wondered friend, whether you do not think too much about your honor.” Though he is maturing, we’ve still seen that throughout The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. To borrow from the writer of Hebrews, defending his honor is the “sin that so easily ensnares” Reepicheep (Hebrews 12:1).

We see that once again in “The Wonders of the Last Sea.” Reepicheep is on his way to the world’s end, but the moment he sees a king and knights of the sea people shake their spears, the mouse dives overboard to confront them.

On the cusp of reaching his life’s goal and seeing the realization of the prophecy spoken over him when he was a child, Reepicheep endangers it all to answer a potential challenge to his honor and pride.

Honor is never treated as a bad thing in Narnia. Lewis lauds the chivalrous tradition. But honor is not the best thing. As such, it becomes a hindrance to Reepicheep’s true desire. In Mere Christianity, Lewis tells us to be thankful for the good things in this life, but to recognize them as “a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage.”

In The Weight of Glory, he says that despite what he may think about the temptations we face, the problem is that our desires are too weak.

“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Reepicheep is too easily pleased with the opportunity to confront someone potentially challenging his honor. He jeopardizes what he really wants to chase after these secondary things. Helping people avoid this fate was a focus for Lewis.