Chapter 8: Two Narrow Escapes

I’m beginning to feel a little sorry for Eustace, but he just makes for such good illustrations. For Eustace, it was the ordinary things in life – unending rain and losing at chess – that threw him off of his new path. Similarly, the repetitive chores in life – making the bed, doing laundry, washing dishes – sometimes lead me to grumble and to be ‘small’.

Yet Eustace did not remain long in his sulky ‘smallness’. He performed his first act of bravery by chopping at the Sea Serpent with Caspian’s sword. Sure, it did not help, but that was not important. As Lewis said, Eustace did well for a “beginner”: a beginner at swordplay, yes, but, more importantly, a beginner at bravery. It might seem condescending that the Dawn Treader’s adventurers cheered him when he “accomplished nothing” tangible. But this was one of those times when the intention really was what counted. Eustace had come a long way.

For, just two chapters earlier, Lewis had been chiding Eustace for reading all the wrong types of books. Here was a young boy who didn’t even know what a dragon was! Edmund read books that were rather more helpful for their cause. He read stories about detectives. What he read helped him narrow down what had happened to the fellow on whose armor they were sitting. Can you think of a time in your life when something you read came in very handy later? Lewis was not shy about promoting the importance of reading. He was frighteningly well-read in the Classics, but he also read for adventure and fun. Maybe he saw something of himself in both Eustace and Edmund. As a youth, Lewis was a bit self-satisfied with his scholarly accomplishments, like Eustace. But, like Edmund, he enjoyed getting lost in an entertaining book.

After Edmund’s sleuthing, the group discovered an interesting pool that turned anything that touched the water into gold. Caspian and Edmund began quarrelling about who would claim the island and who was the more important king. Caspian seemed possessed as he declared ownership of the island for Narnia. This seems like a critique of imperialism, a practice at which Lewis’ country had excelled. The quarrel over who was the greater king reminds me of Jesus’ disciples fighting about which of them would be the greatest in heaven. Jesus made it clear that they just didn’t understand what was important. To be great in his kingdom meant becoming like a child or a servant. (Mark 9:33-37) Back in Narnia, a mere glimpse of Aslan snapped Caspian and Edmund out of their ‘smallness’.