“The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” Conclusion
C.S. Lewis Read-Along, Vol. 3, Issue 18
Our third C.S. Lewis read-along, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, has come to an end. Thank you to all those who joined the adventure and set sail with us.
Below are links and summaries for each read-along issue. You’ll also find links to the 70 written works and podcasts I used, including 33 resources from Lewis himself.
If you missed out, become a paid subscriber today to gain access to all the archives at The Wardrobe Door, including The Voyage of the Dawn Treader read-along, as well as the read-alongs of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian.
I’ve removed the paywall for the introduction article, but the chapter-by-chapter analysis remains for paid subscribers only.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Introduction — Lewis finished The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, his third Narnia book, in just three months. But like almost every Lewis work, the roots go back much deeper, and these stretch across the Irish Sea.
Chapter 1: “The Picture in the Bedroom” — In Christ, Lewis had found healing and the real solution for all his longing. But in Narnia, Lewis found a way to work out those healings and longings and to create fictional children who overcome their internal challenges sooner than he did.
Chapter 2: “On Board the Dawn Treader” — Lewis’ life was marked by a longing he never understood until he became a Christian. Throughout his fiction and nonfiction, Lewis uses this longing to help others find the true destination of their lives. Reepicheep serves as an example of one leaving his honor behind to seek something, somewhere, Someone much greater.
Chapter 3: “The Lone Islands” — As a 16-year-old who has been king for three years, Caspian is still learning how to lead. His immaturity causes him and his friends to be captured by slave traders, but he continues to grow and learn. It’s only after we’ve matured that we know what we don’t know. This mistake better prepares Caspian to lead in the future.
Chapter 4: “What Caspian Did There” — In having the governor of the Lone Islands defend slavery on the grounds of progress, Lewis reveals that “progress” without a defined moral direction can be used to defend anything. When we are headed down the wrong road, the most progress you can make is by turning around and going back in the opposite direction.
Chapter 5: “The Storm and What Became of It” — What makes the Narnia books compelling is that they capture both the magical and the mundane villains. We find witches and monsters but also brats and bores. Lewis felt the best place to start when creating a literary villain was in his own heart.
Chapter 6: “The Adventures of Eustace” — Through his own fantasy adventure, Lewis makes the case for reading fiction and fantasy. Those stories don’t give us more encyclopedic knowledge and information, but they do prepare us for encounters with the supernatural as well as natural but unexpected adventures.
Chapter 7: “How the Adventure Ended” — When we stumble toward God beginning to be a different person, He is pleased and proud as our Father. But He will not leave us there. He has promised to make us perfect as He is perfect. Eventually, Eustace will be a different boy, just as we will be different people. Thankfully, God never gives up before we see Him face-to-face.
Chapter 8: “Two Narrow Escapes” — Greed, as with most other sins, can easily mix with pride and become all the more spiritually deadly. The only solution is to look up and beyond ourselves to the One who outshines our pride.
Chapter 9: “The Island of the Voices” — In much of his writing, Lewis wants us to recognize that there are indeed enemies all around us that we cannot see but who are no less out to destroy us. His insistence on this traditional Christian doctrine was one of the initial sparks of what became the flame of his influence.
Chapter 10: “The Magician’s Book” — Lucy serves as an example of a flawed character who gives in to temptation. She barely resists one temptation before hurdling head-first into another, bringing about lasting consequences. Nevertheless, there is grace to be found, and it starts with a story.
Chapter 11: “The Dufflepuds Made Happy” — 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. Lewis says reading, especially old books, gives us new insights into our circumstances.
Chapter 12: “The Dark Island” — Because Lewis dealt with terrible nightmares as a child, he was always concerned that his stories would help children deal with their fears and not provoke them. This led him to make the most substantial post-publication edit to any book in The Chronicles of Narnia to “The Dark Island.”
Chapter 13: “The Three Sleepers” — What does it mean for a Christian to believe in Christ? For Lewis, this doesn’t mean a leap of blind faith. Instead, it means a careful consideration of the available evidence, but it still requires faith because confirmation can only come after trust.
Chapter 14: “The Beginning of the End of the World” — Because of his own experiences, Lewis spent much of his adult Christian life helping people recognize the deception behind the reductionist perspective that sees things and people as only what they are made of. He wanted to help others see creation as enchanted.
Chapter 15: “The Wonders of the Last Sea” — 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. Lewis often challenged his readers to keep our priorities straight.
Chapter 16: “The Very End of the World” — Lewis wrote The Chronicles of Narnia after having specific mental pictures. Once he began writing, however, he saw the stories as opportunities to help convey truths about Christianity.
Further up and further in
Here are all of the resources used during this read-along.
Works by C.S. Lewis:
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader — C.S. Lewis
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe — C.S. Lewis
Prince Caspian — C.S. Lewis
The Silver Chair — C.S. Lewis
The Horse and His Boy — C.S. Lewis
The Magician’s Nephew — C.S. Lewis
The Last Battle — C.S. Lewis
Till We Have Faces — C.S. Lewis
Out of the Silent Planet — C.S. Lewis
Perelandra — C.S. Lewis
That Hideous Strength — C.S. Lewis
The Great Divorce — C.S. Lewis
The Screwtape Letters — C.S. Lewis
Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life — C.S. Lewis
Mere Christianity — C.S. Lewis
The Weight of Glory — C.S. Lewis
The Abolition of Man — C.S. Lewis
The Problem of Pain — C.S. Lewis
Miracles — C.S. Lewis
The Four Loves — C.S. Lewis
A Preface to Paradise Lost — C.S. Lewis
On Stories and Other Essays on Literature — C.S. Lewis
Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories — C.S. Lewis
God in the Dock — C.S. Lewis essays, edited by Walter Hooper
Present Concerns: Journalistic Essays — C.S. Lewis
Christian Reflections — C.S. Lewis
An Experiment in Criticism — C.S. Lewis
The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature — C.S. Lewis
English Literature in the Sixteenth Century — C.S. Lewis
Review of The Hobbit; Times Literary Supplement (October 2, 1937) — C.S. Lewis
The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 1: Family Letters, 1905-1931 — Editor: Walter Hooper
The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 2: Books, Broadcasts, and the War, 1931-1949 — Editor: Walter Hooper
The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 3: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy, 1950-1963 — Editor: Walter Hooper
Works about Lewis:
C.S. Lewis: The Companion and Guide — Walter Hooper
Past Watchful Dragons: The Origin, Interpretation, and Appreciation of the Chronicles of Narnia — Walter Hooper
Companion to Narnia: A Complete Guide to the Magical World of C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia — Paul Ford
Inside The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: A Guide to Exploring the Journey Beyond Narnia — Devin Brown
Into the Wardrobe: C.S. Lewis and the Narnia Chronicles — David C. Downing
The C.S. Lewis Readers’ Encyclopedia — Editors: Jeffrey Schultz, John G. West, Jr.
Becoming C.S. Lewis: A Biography of Young Jack Lewis — Harry Lee Poe
The Making of C.S. Lewis: From Atheist to Apologist (1918-1945) — Harry Lee Poe
The Completion of C.S. Lewis: From War to Joy (1945-1963) — Harry Lee Poe
C.S. Lewis: A Life — Alister McGrath
The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings — Philip and Carol Zaleski
Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis — Michael Ward
The Narnia Code: C.S. Lewis and the Secret of the Seven Heavens — Michael Ward
C.S. Lewis: Spinner of Tales — Evan Gibson
C.S. Lewis in Context — Doris Myers
The Way Into Narnia — Peter Schakel
The Fiction of C.S. Lewis: Mask and Mirror — Kath Filmer
“The Fairy Way of Writing”: Spenser's The Faerie Queene and C.S. Lewis's “Habit of Mind” Inklings Forever Volume 9 (2014) A Collection of Essays Presented at the Ninth Frances White Ewbank Colloquium on C.S. Lewis & Friends — Susan Wendling
“The Nurse of Elfland: Lizzie Endicott and C.S. Lewis” — Reggie Weems, Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature: Vol. 41: No. 1, Article 14.
Works from others:
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner — Samuel Coleridge
The Lord of the Rings — J.R.R. Tolkien
The Hobbit — J.R.R. Tolkien
Tree and Leaf — J.R.R. Tolkien
On the Incarnation — Athanasius
A Severe Mercy — Sheldon Vanauken
The Everlasting Man — G.K. Chesterton
Tremendous Trifles — G.K. Chesterton
Phantastes — George MacDonald
The Faerie Queene — Edmund Spencer
The Idea of the Holy — Rudolf Otto
Descent Into Hell — Charles Williams
The Consolation of Philosophy — Boethius
Podcasts:
Wade Center Podcast “Into Narnia, Vol. 3, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” — Marion E. Wade Center, Wheaton College
The C.S. Lewis Podcast with Alister McGrath “#27 The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” — Premiere Insights
All About Jack: A C.S. Lewis Podcast “Narnia Miniseries 03 The Voyage of the Dawn Treader — EssentialCSLewis.com
The Great Books: A National Review Podcast “Episode 285: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” — National Review
Talking Beasts: A Narnia Web podcast “Episode 91, On Board the Dawn Treader” — Narnia Web
On the correct first reading order for Narnia:
Coming Soon
The next Narnia read-along, The Silver Chair, will start in February. Eustace Clarance Scrubb is a mostly changed boy. He and Jill Pole’s search for a missing prince takes them over, through, beyond, and under Narnia, along with their gloomy but ever-dependable companion, Puddleglum the Marshwiggle.
As I’m planning our next Narnian adventure, is there anything you’d like to see included in the read-along? What features do you enjoy the most? Let me know! The comments are open for everyone.