The Chronicles of Narnia Part 2: The Caspian Trilogy
Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia (1951)- C.S. Lewis (223 pages)
Prince Caspian once again follows the tale of Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. One year after the children have returned to their world following the adventures of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe they are called once more into Narnia. Many years have past in Narnia and they are forced to combat a new threat and install a new leader in Prince Caspian. As the children rediscover Narnia and the animals, they fall in love with Narnia once more but this trip is meant to be a short one as they are not to reign again. Now onto enjoyment, I found this adventure to be my least favorite so far. This book to be felt like a maze, I felt that right after the next corner or page the book would open up into a great scene or explanation but it didn’t. A large portion of the book takes the form of a journey leading you on, into nothingness. Overall, I still found it interesting watching the children rediscover Narnia and their bravery but I found this read not as invigorating as the others.
Two of the main themes in Prince Caspian are restoration and lineage. Narnia has come under the power of a ruthless ruler and his people defile the land and the ways of the old Narnia. All the talking animals are in hiding and the new ruler denounces all the old traditions. The children and others come about to restore the old ways of Narnia, the ways of happiness and unity. Secondly, lineage is important. Prince Caspian’s blood designates him as heir to the throne but very late in the book his true lineage is explained and is much less honorable. Lineage and the honors that come with it are often just a matter of timing, come a couple of generations too soon and it might be poor, come a couple of generations later and it might bestow great honors on you. It is best to treat your lineage as what it is, history, and make your own path.
Thematic Questions: 6, not as many core themes and examples as the previous books.
Enjoyment: 6, enjoyable for the children’s rediscovery of Narnia but not nearly as interesting as the other tales in the Chronicles so far.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)- C.S. Lewis (248 pages)
In the Voyage of the Dawn Treader Lucy, Edmund, and Eustace, their cousin, enter into the land of Narnia for an epic sea journey. The children join the now King Caspian as he attempts to find some of the old nobles that his Uncle had cast away across the greater eastern sea. In this Odyssey-like journey, the group comes across a series of trials as they trace the path of the nobles with each trial in the form of an island teaching them something about themselves and what the nobles faced previously. Their journey is part epic, part supernatural encounter as each island becomes more magical and mysterious as they approach the end of the world. I found this book very mysterious, confusing, and intriguing. While the overall plot is quite easy to understand even attempting to dissect the symbolism and meaning on each island would take forests of paper to achieve.
Put plainly, this book has the most symbolism and thematic messages I have seen in quite some time yet alone in the Chronicles of Narnia. As the group ventured to each island, I found myself confused, curious, and enamored with what each island signified in their path to the end. For themes, I will focus on purity and the afterlife. On their adventure across the islands, I have already stated that each island is a sort of trial but more so each island helps to purify the crew as they attempt to reach the end of the world. Each island has a message, a story, and a purpose in their journey. In the end, the purity of the world is all around them in taste, sight, and feeling. Secondly, the afterlife is a constant theme throughout. How do you reach the afterlife? What trials must you achieve to deserve the afterlife? All these questions and more are raised in the novel. This was not my greatest attempt to discuss the themes in a novel but instead, I hope I have piqued your interest. To attempt to discuss the thematic discourses of this book in a paragraph is folly, my attempt was to highlight how broad and thorough Lewis’s intentions really were with this book.
Thematic Questions: 10, my second ever 10 for thematic questions. This book is rich with thematic questions throughout, sometimes to the detriment of the readability.
Enjoyment: 7, as the book continued I found the enjoyment and thematic questions to roughly invert. In the beginning, it was pretty enjoyable with few thematic questions, then it reached a pinnacle of ample enjoyment and thematic questions, and by the end, it was entirely filled with thematic questions.
The Silver Chair (1953)- C.S. Lewis (243 pages)
The Silver Chair surrounds the tale of Eustace and Jill, a newly introduced daughter of Eve, as they adventure into Narnia. This time the old King Caspian’s son has been lost for over 10 years and the children are sent off to follow Aslan’s signs and find the Prince deep in the Northern wilderness beyond Narnia. I enjoyed seeing the northern territories beyond Narnia and I feel like between the books so far I have a pretty strong grasp of what it is all around Narnia. Eustace and Jill’s adventure find them crossing paths with Aslan, giants, and a witch as they attempt to find the Prince. I found this adventure overall fairly interesting but not as riveting as some of the previous tales. Lastly, the book seemed disjointed and removed from the previous stories. There were a number of specific characters I think could have been reintroduced, quite simply and quickly, to reinforce the connection but Lewis choose not to do so.
The largest theme I identified was the fight against wrong or temptation. Throughout Eustace and Jill’s journey, they face many trials and tribulations which are then met with tempestuous thoughts of relief or luxuries that take them away from their true quest. I think Lewis places these instances to show the reader the path of life, like the children we are often given signs and instructions to follow but we allow temptation and other trivial aspects to shade our view. We must stay ever vigilant, be wary of temptation, and lead a right and good life. Lastly, at the very end of the book, Lewis has a very profound take on the afterlife and what it looks like. I don’t want to give away too much but Aslan shows great sympathy and trust in his land beyond the sea.
Thematic Questions: 6, beyond the fight against temptation I could not find many themes in the tale at least compared to the Voyage of the Dawn Treader which is laden with themes.
Enjoyment: 7, an interesting adventure but definitely not my favorite so far out of the Chronicles.
Next time, I will conclude my reviews on the Chronicles of Narnia with a review on the Last Battle and a larger review of my thoughts on the Chronicles as a whole.
