The Voyage of the Dawn Treader | Chapter 6: The Adventures of Eustace

Chapter Summary:

As Eustace is coming upon a valley and realizing that he is lost, the others (having just finished a nice feast) are just noticing that Eustace is missing. Meanwhile, Eustace discovers that he has entered the valley via a very steep ridge, and decides that he needs to have a drink at a nearby pond and pause for a few moments before making the climb back up the harrowing ridge.

Suddenly, Eustace hears a small noise from behind him. From the entrance of a cave nearby emerges a dragon. The dragon, which is acting strangely for a dragon, walks toward the pond to get water, while Eustace hides. Just as the dragon begins to drink the water, it falls over dead.

Eustace gains the courage to go inspect the dragon, and is certain that it is dead. Eustace drinks from the pond, and then a storm begins. Eustace goes to the dragon's cave to keep out of the storm.

In the dragon's cave, Eustace finds a great deal of jewels and treasure. Immediately, he thinks of how much profit he can make from it. He puts a bracelet on, and then curls up and falls asleep.

Eustace awakens to a pain in his arm. He moves, and sees immediately that there is a dragon in the cave with him. Eustace eventually works up the courage to run from the cave, and after doing so, realizes that he himself had actually transformed into a dragon--and that the pain he was feeling was the now-very-tight bracelet, cutting into his skin.

Eustace immediately thinks of getting revenge against Caspian and Edmund, but all of a sudden realizes that he wants their friendship more--even Reepicheep's. Eustace then cries. Then Eustace eats the dead dragon.

Eustace flies to the Dawn Treader during the night. Caspian notices, and tells everyone that they will meet the dragon in battle the next morning. When morning arrives, the whole company makes to attack the dragon, but notices that the dragon is retreating. They notice that the dragon can answer questions with nods of its head. Realizing that it is a friendly dragon, Lucy puts a drop of her cordial on the spot of the bracelet to try and heal the dragon's wound.

Reflection:

Right, it's pretty obvious today. We need to address this pretty weird sentence from my summary ("Then Eustace eats the dead dragon."), which you thought was just me playing some strange April Fools joke on you, in the middle of September. Well, unfortunately, I was not playing a joke on you, and the passage from the text is even stranger than it is in my summary. Much stranger, in fact. Here it is:

"He took a long drink and then (I know this sounds shocking, but it isn't if you think it over) he ate nearly all the dead dragon. He was halfway through it before he realized what he was doing; for, you see, though his mind was the mind of Eustace, his tastes and his digestion were dragonish. And there is nothing a dragon likes so well as fresh dragon. That is why you so seldom find more than one dragon in the same country" (p. 322).

I'm sorry--what? We've had a few weird passages in TCON thus far, but probably none as strange as this. Nothing like a little intra-species cannibalism to bring a nice, unique twist to a children's story. What's more, if this situation had anything at all to do with the plot, that perhaps might be a little more forgivable, but I really don't think this is ever going to be relevant again. It's almost like it's gross just to be gross. The funniest part is that C.S. Lewis gives us a little disclaimer along the way, but the disclaimer itself really has the opposite effect as intended--at least it did for me. Actually, C.S. Lewis/narrator, if you think it over, the situation is pretty much just as weird as it sounds. 

But let's move on.

I think, of course, that the most important part of this chapter is the moment of Eustace's redemption. It's a rather lengthy passage, but well worth reading:

"He was a terror himself and nothing in the world but a knight ... would dare to attack him. He could get even with Caspian and Edmund now-- 

But the moment he thought this he realized that he didn't want to. He wanted to be friends. He wanted to get back among humans and talk and laugh and share things. He realized that he was a monster cut off from the whole human race. An appalling loneliness came over him. He began to see that the others had not really been fiends at all. He began to wonder if he himself had been such a nice person as he had always supposed. He longed for their voices. He would have been grateful for a kind word even from Reepicheep. 

When he thought of this the poor dragon that had been Eustace lifted up its voice and wept" (p. 321).

Well, there we have it. Only when Eustace is literally transformed into a monster does he realize that he has been a monster all along. Take a look at the line that says "he realized that he was a monster cut off from the whole human race" (p. 321) This statement can actually be interpreted in two ways--and I think what Eustace is realizing is that he has always been a monster cut off from other humans. His form as a dragon certainly exacerbates this problem and ultimately reveals it to him, but truly, he is no worse off than he was before. No one liked him, because he never gave anyone a chance. And of course, we can see that by the end of this short selection, Eustace finally understands the person that he has been. Eustace has been transformed by his transformation. Of course, the only trouble now is to become Eustace again.