Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Bravery
Christianity
Growing Up and Selflessness
Temptation
Summary
Analysis
When everyone is changed, Caspian introduces them to his captain, a dark-haired man named Lord Drinian. Edmund learns it’s been three years since the last time he was in Narnia and that all has been well in Caspian’s kingdom. Trumpkin the Dwarf has been in charge as regent while Caspian is at sea.
Even though Caspian is king of Narnia, he has other crew members that he trusts and relies on, both on the ship and back in his home. Unlike Eustace, he has learned how to work with other people.
Themes
Caspian promised Aslan, a talking lion who has authority over even Caspian, that if Caspian brought peace to Narnia, he would go on a sea voyage to find his father’s friends, the seven lords of Narnia, who were exiled by a previous ruler. Reepicheep has a different plan for the voyage: He wants to see Aslan’s home country, which is in the farthest eastern part of the world. When Reepicheep was young, a wood woman sang him a song about how he should seek “where sky and water meet.”
Aslan is the only character to appear in every Narnia book and often functions as a God or Jesus figure. While Caspian’s reasons for going on the journey are more concrete and practical, Reepicheep’s are more mysterious, hinting at how faith and other spiritual themes will run throughout the novel.
Themes
Caspian gives back to Lucy a cordial (a type of medicinal drink) she used to own that can cure wounds. Lucy gives a drop to Eustace for his seasickness, which he has even though the weather is calm. Caspian gives a tour of his ship, which is called the Dawn Treader. While he does this, Drinian and Rhince (the mate) take care of sailing the ship.
Lucy shows generosity by using her extremely valuable cordial just to cure Eustace’s seasickness. The name Dawn Treader suggests new horizons (literally) and also reflects how the ship is constantly heading east (the direction of the dawn).
Themes
Eustace starts a diary that begins on August 7th, after 24 hours at sea, where he complains about everything on the boat. Soon after Eustace writes his diary entry, a fight breaks out between Reepicheep and Eustace. Eustace sees Reepicheep’s long tail once as Reepicheep sits out on the front of the boat and decides to grab the tail and swing Reepicheep around. Reepicheep draws his sword on Eustace. When Eustace refuses to fight back, Reepicheep hits Eustace with the flat of his rapier. Eustace is furious, but once he realizes that everyone on the Dawn Treader is talking seriously about a duel, Eustace apologizes.
Eustace’s inability to resist pulling on Reepicheep’s long tail is an early instance of temptation in the book. As a mouse, Reepicheep is small and therefore the only one on the boat that Eustace can bully—or so Eustace thinks. While Eustace thinks that he has finally found someone weaker to pick on, he learns that acting like a bully can have consequences, particularly when you mess with the wrong person (or mouse).
Themes
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