The Voyage of Life

PrinceOfTheWest

PrinceOfTheWest

Knight of the Stone Table
Royal Guard
Emeritus
I'm about to turn 51, and since I've been reading Dawn Treader since about age 9, it's clear that I'm never going to tire of the story. I don't know why I love it so - possibly because it's a story of a journey, as are Horse and his Boy and Silver Chair, my other two favorite Chronicles. But that just brings up another question: what's so lovable about journey stories?

I think part of it is because our lives are journeys - in fact, many wise men have referred to them as pilgrimages. It may be strange to think of our dreary, workaday lives as being comparable to an exciting nautical adventure in Narnia, but I think there are points of comparison. I'm starting this thread as a place where people can post and discuss their thoughts on how the journey in Dawn Treader might reflect life as we live it – and what we might learn from the story.

I'll start in here. One similarity is that for the Pevensies and Eustace, they were thrown into the voyage without any choice. Though Edmund and Lucy welcomed the opportunity, Eustace certainly didn't – but there he was, thrown into Narnia headfirst, getting a good soaking, having to be pulled from the water into a strange and uncomfortable environment (remember, he was prone to seasickness). He was cut off from everything he knew and had no apparent way to return. Getting off the Dawn Treader wasn't an option, so he was stuck there for the duration.

Isn't that like life for us? We're pulled from our mothers at birth, thrust into a strange and sometimes uncomfortable environment. We're given no choice in the matter, but once we're in, we're in for the duration. Everything is strange and new, and we have to learn all over again how to get along. Yet in doing that, we do this interesting thing called... growing.

What do you think? Can you see other parallels or reflections of our lives in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader? In what ways might it be like your voyage?
 
Great idea. I haven't read Dawn Treader but I look forward to learning by following what is sure to be another great discussion on TDL.

Here's to our companions on the journey...
 
You can very much see how your attitude toward the adventure of life shapes how you enjoy it -- granted in VDT Ed and Lucy knew that they were in Aslan's paws, and Eustace had no such assurance. But even so, you can see that their throwing themselves into the spirit of the thing made the journey so much better for them than for Eustace. When they were captured to be sold as slaves, for instance, Eustace complains, grouses and carries on until everyone is sick of it and he himself is miserable. Meanwhile when Caspian is sold right away he just shrugs and says, oh, well, I'm sure it will come out all right -- words to that effect. He is not going to take a negative view of things, despite things looking very bleak. Lucy can't help crying, but you even get the impression that she understands nothing can happen to them that Aslan hasn't ordained or can't fix.

This is very much a key in life. How you respond to the events that happen to you shapes your life much more than the events themselves.
 
This is sometimes the case for me:

Oh so many times in life's journey we are sent to a place we've never known, and do things that are out of our spheres of comfort. More often than not, I find myself acting like Eustace, as in recalling and reciting facts about how this journey could be better. Too often I talk about ocean liners when I'm on a wooden ship. In the Dawn Treader, as in the journey of life, it is useless to explain how much power an engine can produce or what a high paying job would make of you if you can't use that information in your current situation.
 
Another interesting aspect: have you ever noticed that the sections of life when things go just as we planned are sort of like those times on the Dawn Treader when they were just sailing across smooth seas with nothing happening? Conversely, it was the difficult circumstances that forced them to strive, struggle, and grow. Eustace's "dragoning", the struggle with the Sea Serpent, Lucy's courage on the Island of the Duffers - all these difficulties were what made the journey memorable.

Essentially, if we want things in life to look back on and tell people about, we ought to brace ourselves for struggle and danger. Never fun to endure, but it makes for a challenging life, and personal growth!
 
The Sea Serpent

Lewis packs two brief stories into one chapter - the incident of the Sea Serpent and what happened on Deathwater Island. Deathwater takes a bit more examining, but let's consider the Serpent for a minute.

There isn't much to the tale - it's kind of like a mini-adventure of the types that gods and heroes are always getting into in myths & legends. There's not much deep meaning or significance to find.

I did notice this, though: in Lewis' mythologies, as with most Judeo-Christian stories, when you hear "serpent" or "dragon", you think Satan, or at least "evil forces". This is not to say that I think the Sea Serpent was some kind of evil spiritual being, or even a symbol thereof. It's clear that it was just a dumb monster - but I think there's something to be learned from how it was foiled.

To me, the critical lesson of this incident is that the most obvious and expected response to this danger was not the best way to defeat it. Fighting it seemed the most obvious course, and indeed it was the first thing tried. But their initial attempts failed, and had the crew of the Dawn Treader got caught up in trying to fight harder, they would have lost, and the journey ended there. But since they were canny enough to recognize the brute's strategy, they could swiftly adopt a strategy that had a chance of success.

Interestingly, it was their arch-fighter, Reepicheep, who recognized the danger and recommended the successful strategy. This was one smart mouse - though he often thought in terms of fighting, it was not the only thing he knew, and he was focused enough on the goal - the survival of the Dawn Treader - that he knew when fighting wouldn't work.

In our lives, it's helpful to remember that sometimes what seems most obvious, or is most comfortable, or most tried-and-true, may not be the best thing to deal with the dangers and hurdles we face. Sometimes we may have to consider something new, or the exact opposite of what we'd thought, to deal with an attack. We may have to step back from the fray long enough to think and pray, and find ourselves saying, "Don't fight! Push!" Maybe if we're feeling pressured to get moving and do something, what we should be doing is sitting quietly to hear God's voice. Maybe if we're feeling like doing nothing but moping around, we need to get up and try something new. Point being, the usual course may not be the best one.
 
I sort of think that Reepicheep is the protagonist in VDT precisely because of this journey to the Utter East. All of the other characters had something that they needed to learn along the journey: with Eustace it was...well, everything, really. Edmund and Caspian had to learn to keep their greed and pride in check, and Lucy had to learn not to be selfish and vain.

But Reepicheep learned his lesson in humility when he lost his tail in PC. He still had a quick temper, but he was frequently the lone voice of reason. He saved them from the Serpent, he stopped Caspian from going too far East, he kept trying to teach Eustace how to be good when everyone else wanted to brush him aside and ignore him.

And Reep was rewarded. He was an example to everyone else of what they ought to be, and as a result, he got to live in Aslan's Country and he didn't have to die to do it. And it was Reep, the prime example of honor, honesty, and obedience, who greeted everyone at the gates of Real Narnia during LB.
 
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