The significance of water

PrinceOfTheWest

PrinceOfTheWest

Knight of the Stone Table
Royal Guard
Emeritus
This past Sunday (Jan 7) was when many traditions celebrated the Epiphany - when the Wise Men came from the east searching for Jesus (Matt 2:1-12). This is celebrated not simply as a commemoration of that event, but as a celebration of the broader promise: the revelation of Jesus Christ, the hope of all mankind, to the Gentile nations.

Interestingly, the same day is also celebrated as the feast of the Baptism of Our Lord (Matt 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21,22). This was when Jesus, who did not need the Baptism of Repentance which John provided, chose to obey the Father's will and submit to baptism anyway, and receive the Holy Spirit and the witness of the Father's acclaim.

What does this have to do with the Dawn Treader? Well, the Baptism of the Lord got me thinking about water, and all the symbolic aspects of water, particularly in Dawn Treader. Obviously, the whole book takes place surrounded by water - usually the pilgrims are traveling on the water, but even when they're not, they're never more than a couple of miles from the ocean. But throughout the story, water is significant in more ways that just the ocean. Consider these examples:

  • The drenching rain that falls, driving Eustace into the dragon's cave where the enchantment triggers the manifestation of his true nature
  • The bath to which Aslan takes Eustace for cleansing. He must undress to enter it, but proves unable to undress himself and must submit to being undressed by Aslan
  • The lethal waters of Deathwater Island, which were the doom of one of the seven lords and caused immediate dissension among the pilgrims until Aslan broke the enchantment
  • The promise of sweet water of which the dryad spoke to Reepicheep, which turned into one of the guiding images for the entire voyage
  • The actual sweet waters of the Last Sea, which were not only drinkable but nourishing, and (like lembas in the Lord of the Rings) caused those who drank not to need or wish for other nourishment

Those are the only ones I can think of right off. Can anyone think of any other place in Dawn Treader where water plays an important part? If so, what symbolic message does it carry? How about in any of the other books?
 
Cold, drenching cure

(well, maybe this'll be a monologue. No matter...)

Aside from the ocean and it's storms, the first significant role played by water that I could see was the pouring rain that drove Eustace into the dragon's cave. Now, at first blush this might seem anything but a blessing: trapped in a dangerous ravine, the last thing it seems Eustace would need was getting drenched. What foul luck (or it would seem)! And even though it might initially appear that Eustace "lucked out", in the sense of finding the treasure that he otherwise would probably have missed, we quickly learn that the find in the enchanted cave was no blessing. Thus it would seem that the rain was a catastrophic event, both in the immediate sense of the misery it brought on and in the greater sense of the series of events that it triggered.

And yet, let's take a closer look. Aslan sent the rain knowing full well the consequences. Eustace was a severe case who needed extreme treatment, and the rain was the first stage of that treatment. His being lost in the ravine and miserable in the pouring rain was but a manifestation of his true condition. Eustace was lost and miserable, but he was deluded about why that was. He wrapped himself in a victim mentality, choosing to believe his misery was caused by things outside himself - most specifically, other people - when in reality his misery was due to who he was and chose to be. But this was only the beginning of the manifestations. After the rain drove him into the dragon's cave, the magic took over: "Sleeping on a dragon's hoard with greedy, dragonish thoughts in his heart, he had become a dragon himself." His true nature had been revealed. He could see himself as he really was.

It's telling to notice Eustace's initial reaction: he has power! He can strike back at all those who had abused him. Yet this quickly gives way to realizing that he doesn't want that. He wants company. As Mother Teresa put it so well, "The human pain is alienation", and Eustace feels it like he's never felt before. "An appalling loneliness came over him." This, too was part of the cure: in truth, Eustace was no more isolated from others than he'd been before, it's just that the transformation now leaves no illusions about why that is. Eustace had always been a monster (ironically, the very accusation he'd leveled against others - that they were "fiends in human form"); now it was plain to him and everyone else. Harsh and bitter as the medicine was, it was having an effect within the first minutes of administration: "He began to wonder if he himself had been such a nice person as he had always supposed." The cure had begun, and it was all initiated by a cold, miserable rain.

This holds a lesson for me in particular. Like most men, I react to troubles with irritation. Those times of cold, drenching rain are not appreciated, especially when they seem to go from bad to worse. Yet I know that my biggest obstacle to my spiritual growth, to better reflecting Jesus, is my own stubborn, selfish, sinful nature. I need to have it extracted, and I've asked Jesus to extract it to the ability it can be while I still breathe. But I know the procedure to extract it is struggle, trial, and difficulty. I should not be surprised when Aslan sends rain, and sometimes more than that. It is nothing but what I asked for.

Does anyone have any other thoughts? Or how about thoughts about the bath which plays a role in Eustace becoming "un-dragoned"? How about a side note - the golden armband that gets stuck on Eustace's arm? I've got some thoughts on that, but I think I'll leave them and give others a chance to respond.
 
No, not a monologue; plenty can be said about water, and it'll never be a dry topic.

I am reminded that George MacDonald, Mr. Lewis' "mentor," did a lot with water themes in his own books, as in "The Light Princess," whose title character would float on top of water. And of course, Lewis' pal Tolkien made a visceral impact on his readers by describing the ordeal of thirst Frodo and Sam endured in Mordor.
 
Actually, if I remember correctly, the Light Princess floated everywhere but water - it was only when she was in water that she had normal weight.

Tolkien has a special place for water, particularly in the view of the Eldest race, who thought it the most wonderful creation of Illuvatar. Notice that when Galadriel goes to work some "elf-magic", she makes use of water.

Lots can be said about water, but I was trying to contain the discussion to the Chronicles, and Dawn Treader in particular.
 
I shall weigh in on this, but there's not much for me to say after Roger's major compendium....

Water represented the ultimate frontier in ancient and medieval times. The great voyages of discovery were largely sea voyages.

Furthermore, water as a "go between" has a similar effect to the wardrobe, a portal that separates dissimilar episodic events gracefully.

As for its use as a spiritual symbol, I think Roger makes an excellent case for it. Problem is, when your case is too excellent, such as my arguement that George Washington was the first American President, it leaves little room for constructive debate. ;)
 
Ach du lieber, POTW, you're right about The Light Princess! It's been too long. But to return to Narnia: Jadis freezing Narnia during her regime could be thought of as _immobilizing_ the water--thus, inhibiting its flow, stopping the movement of life. She could thus, in her mind, retain forever the suspended moment of her solitary triumph.
 
Ooh, good point, CF! Quite a contrast to one of the common images of Narnia, that of splashing streams and watery glades. Even the admirers of Narnia who put so much diligence into writing tributes can't resist placing their situations near water...;)

Oh, Magister, you're not short of insights! How about the bath Aslan uses to help liberate Eustace?
 
other places where water plays a significant role are the pools in the Wood between the Worlds and the Caldron pool in the last Part of the Last Battle.
Going up the Waterfall is like Baptism.
 
And in PC, there has been a bridge across the river, which is apparently very much unwanted -- there is celebration when the river god is allowed to smash it! "Hurrah! It's the Fords of Beruna again!" They like wading out into the water to get across it.

Water seems to be intended to flow freely and fast in Narnia. The Telmarines fear it -- they won't sail, and they build bridges. What a picture! It can be a picture of:

* Christians who fear to throw themselves into the raging river of God's plan for them, because who knows where it might carry them?

* Non-Christians who prefer not even to admit there is a river, and simply walk across it on a bridge, or refuse to set sail on it, because they don't want there to be any plan of God for them, they want to be their own Planner.
 
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