Chronicles of Narnia--Three

C.S. Lewis on the cover of Time

          The two books in this blog post represent the worst and best (well, tied for first) books in the Chronicles of Narnia series. The first, Prince Caspian, devolves into a bunch of "swell battle scenes," to quote my favorite movie, The Stunt Man. Caspian just doesn't sustain tension and lacks the marvelous imagery that carries the other books...it moves forward the plot, but not the themes. The second book in this review, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, is absolutely marvelous. The journey takes the children through what is probably the seven deadly sins or something (I didn't look it up--didn't need to validate my reading experience in that way), having Edmund, Lucy, and Eustace experience the pitfalls of human life, and through amazingly imaginative processes. The children are growing up morally as well as physically.


All aboard, now, for



Lewis, C. S., Prince Caspian

          This book is my least favorite of the series so far. It seems somewhat irrelevant to the overall story arc and is pat and episodic. What it lacks is character development. All of the children are flat and static. In the other books, they have struggled with serious questions of identity and self-awareness—in fact, struggled with sin and redemption. Not so with Prince Caspian.

          There are cool moments. Caspian’s story could have made a wonderful book all on its own. He is raised by an uncle who has cheated him out of his inheritance—the throne of Narnia. When the uncle’s son is born, Caspian is at great risk. His wise old tutor helps him escape and tells him the truth of his heritage. He advises Caspian to flee to the Old Narnians, remnants of whom reside in the deep woods. With their support, Caspian might defeat his uncle and bring freedom to the oppressed original inhabitants of Narnia.

          The tutor also gives Caspian the ancient horn of Queen Susan, which he recovered after much searching. The horn calls forth magical aid to whoever uses it. When Caspian’s fortunes are bad in his war with uncle, he blows on the horn.

          Another charming sequence is when the four Penvensie children are pulled away from a train station platform in England and end up on a mysterious island. They have been called by the horn. The island turns out to be the ruins of their former castle, Caer Paravel, and it is fascinating to watch the children put the story together—that although it has been about a year since they were in Narnia, in Narnia hundreds or even a thousand years have passed.

On the platform at the train station, being called to Narnia

         Lucy, Eustace, and Edmund are met by one of Caspian’s representatives and go to assist in the battle. This is where the book pretty much dies on the vine (it’s tomato-growing season here). For one thing, once Aslan appears, there is no doubt about who is going to win the conflict, so the battle sequences are silly. The last third of the book is clever, but not magical. Aslan appears more as deus ex machina than as the benevolent deity (and nudger) we have come to know. I hope this book grows in stature in the overall context of the series. We’ll see…onward to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. But first, a word from our Sidebar.

Sidebar: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien

          Lewis was famous well before he wrote the Narnia books. He was known as an agnostic who became a believer--and wrote persuasively about the process. The text of a Time article (and for which he graced the cover) discusses this aspect of Lewis's work.

http://good-report.com/4130/c-s-lewis-time-cover-story-from-the-archive-sep-8-1947

In one of the most intriguing of literary relationships of all time, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were colleagues and friends at Oxford. Tolkien, an engaged Catholic, strongly influenced Lewis's conversion to faith. You can see in their works the interests that they shared...allegory, metaphor, the conveyance of the ideas of Christianity in settings other than the bible (although I'm sure they distinguished between their own creativity and the bible's divinity), what brings meaning to a story and to people's lives. The fat they chewed over numerous pub pints must have been rich and flavorful. A nice article on this friendship can be found at: http://www.salon.com/2003/12/03/tolkien_lewis/

I have sat at the Tolkien/Lewis booth at the Eagle & Child in Oxford, England, and in a parallel that delighted me, my nephews repeated this pilgrimage a few years ago. Tom and Jake could sit right down with Lewis and Tolkien and join right in the discussions. Me? I'd probably be totally tongue-tied but would write about it eloquently later.

Lewis, C. S., The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

          I loved this book. Lewis is redeemed for the flaws of Prince Caspian. The ship Dawn Treader carries King Caspian (three years into his reign), Edmund, Lucy, and their cousin Eustace far to the east—to where the world ends. Edmund, Lucy, and Eustace enter through a painting of a ship and find themselves floundering in the ocean. They are picked up by the Dawn Treader. Caspian has solidified his kingdom and has undertaken a quest to find seven friends of his father who were ordered to explore to the east (by the bad uncle-king, who hoped they would die).

          The landscapes the group visits are awesome (arouse fear and wonder). On one island, a beautiful pool turns anything that touches its waters into solid gold. The children are swayed by the aura of greed arising in them. They want to protect the pool from others so they can be rich and powerful beyond their wildest dreams. Aslan intervenes and helps them to see the danger and evil of that way of thinking.

Reepicheep sailing to the very edge of east

          On another island, Eustace is turned into a dragon (dragons are the flag-bearers of greed and hoarding). Eustace has been judgmental, priggish, not really a good team player. His dragon experience is transformative of his inner as well as his outer self. Aslan assists him in shedding his outer skins of greed, self-interest, cowardice, sloth. This process is sad and beautiful.

          On yet another island, three of the old campaigners are in a permanent sleep. To wake them, the travelers must go to the very end, the very east, and they must leave someone behind there to break the spell. The sailing to the east is beautifully portrayed. The waters change, the light changes, and in drinking the water the people change. Eventually, the waters are covered with white water lilies (which would be mistaken for snow from above). Reepicheep the valiant rat volunteers to go all the way east, even if it means his death. It is a sad and beautiful moment. He is left behind.

          In Prince Caspian, Aslan tells Peter and Susan that they will not return to Narnia—they have gotten too old. In Dawn Treader, he tells Edmund and Lucy the same thing. He promises to always be with them, but in a different form and in a different name (Jesus/god, I presume). But, it’s lovely.

Lucy interprets the mysterious book in Dawn Treader

          And it makes a case for fantastical literature as a provider of images that children can relate to as a sort of transitional stage between faith in the warm and fuzzy and faith in a god or principle. It’s a very gentle thing, as are these books, dramatic as they may be.

          I do think that this book, in itself, does fulfill the criteria for a hero journey--certainly the children are greatly changed by their experiences and journey through numerous perils and places. And, I had the sense that I, too, had changed. My heart had grown along with my understanding.

          Lewis’s imagination is fully expressed in this book. All of his themes are there—redemption, forgiveness, love, courage, humility—the whole gamut. But the landscapes and locales described are fantastic and fantastical. I yearn to see them myself! The images are lyrical, odd, precious, and amazing.