Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The fifth book of C. S. Lewis's series was one of my absolute favorites when I was younger. In this book, they travel to various islands, each with something magical and dangerous. They meet up again with King Caspian, who is leading this voyage. Only this time, it is only Lucy and Edmund who come, along with their obnoxious cousin Eustace. Eustace is a horrible brat and a jerk. Then, one day on an island, he becomes a dragon. He quickly becomes sorry for his behavior and he longs to be with the rest of the crew, but they cannot take a dragon aboard. Then, one night, a Lion comes into the camp and tells Eustace to follow him. The Lion leads him to a pool of water. Eustace knows that if he goes in he will feel much better. But before he is allowed to enter, the Lion (who you must guess is Aslan) tells him to shed his skin. Eustace tries a couple of times, but can never shed enough. Finally Aslan offers to help. He digs his claws deep into Eustace's back. It is painful, but he rips off the skin and throws Eustace into the lake, where he then emerges as a boy again. The lesson? No matter how much we try to do things for ourselves, only the Savior can make the final difference.

Later on, the sailors are sailing through a pitch-black sky with horrible screams and nightmarish voices echoing across the waters. They are all terrified and about to give into despair. Lucy, always the most faithful, prays to Aslan for help. Suddenly a beam of light falls upon the ship and from it descends an albatross, which whispers to Lucy, "Courage, dear heart." She knew the voice to be Aslan's. By following that light and the path set out by Aslan, they are able to escape from that horrible place.

At the end, Lucy, Edmund, and Eustace find themselves on the brink of Aslan's country. There they meet Aslan, who tells them that the way that they will enter in is from their world. Lucy asks if he will show them, and he responds, "I shall be telling you all the time." He then informs Lucy and Edmund that they will never return to Narnia. They are both heartbroken and cry out in despair. Lucy tells him that they won't miss Narnia so much as they will miss him. Aslan then says, "But you shall meet me there, child." Edmund asks if he is in our world too, and Aslan says, "I am. But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This is the reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me better here for a little, you may know me better there."

This is where we learn that Aslan really is a symbol for Jesus Christ. Everything he does teaches us about the Savior. That is why I love The Chronicles of Narnia so much. They ring with truth in every page.