Theological discussion of Eustace's Dragoning/Undragoning

[stateofgreen]

As this was being discussed in the film thread on the superficial film level, I think it's a good idea to start a thread discussing the symbolism of this event from the book. The dragoning happened because Eustace was completely selfish and greedy in his thought and behavior. The armband I saw as being symbolic of the spiritual bondage that the greed and selfishness caused Eustace to be under. The many-layered scaly skins I saw as deep-seated bad habits and ways of behavior accumulated over many years of life, sin layers/nature.

That the armband and scaly skins were unremovable until Aslan (Christ) did something to remove them shows how Eustace was really a prisoner of sin/imprisoned by his selfish actions and thoughts. The armband couldn't be removed no matter how hard he tried and only when it was removed by Aslan could he feel and behave and act differently (though of course he isn't completely perfect yet....).

That he laughs in a different voice than Edmund's heard before shows the complete 180 degree turnaround from being burdened by sin to having it lifted off of him and feeling free, hence his not caring what happens to the armband at the end of that chapter. Life is a lot better without it! At least that's how I saw all of this when I read the book.

[Conina]

stateofgreen, good idea to move this conversation over here. I like that he wanted it and then after all he goes through, his attitude towards the armband changes. Eustace, Edmund and Caspian all struggle with greed. Eustace with the treasure, Edmund and Caspian at Deathwater. Having them all reject the armband at the end ties it all up. Since its not the gold that causes the problem its their attitudes and behaviors surrounding the gold.

Having Lucy snatch off the armband so easily minimizes the need for Aslan.

[Stylteralmaldo]

As far as the movie was concerned the symbolism of the undragoning of Eustace was mostly lost in my opinion. It wasn't lost entirely when Eustace talks about it late in the movie, but the effect was lost when nothing was expressed regarding it's meaning when it was happening. It's too bad such an essential part of Eustace's conversion was missing.

[Elluinas Mirion]

the undragoning of Eustace was mostly lost in my opinion.

Worse still, it was obfuscated. Was he dragonned due to his greed, or was it the green mist that seduced him? At least in the book it was clear - Guilty! No Excuses.

Was he undraggonned by the returning of the seventh sword? Oh, just greaaat! Redeemed by an act of heroism, not an act of grace.

Did he even have any real repentance in the movie? Make himself useful (like in the book?) Learn to ENJOY being of service to others? Learn to appreciate RECEIVING acts of kindness and compassion? Just tears of self-pity, not real regret.

Yes, they left out the Pool, Aslan, the whole de-lizardification. But it wouldn't have made any difference, the thing's been gutted.

Fate often saves a doomed Eustace, if his courage can be faked. Maybe they plan to send him to Valhalla instead of Aslan's country.

Yes, the reanimation of the dead matter, the alchemisation of eustace from the obnoxious little snot (they got that part right) into a real human - it is a difficult transformative process; the mortification of the garbage, the re-adsorption of the living fire. The forging, hammering, and then the final purification and cracking off the dross sticking to the ingot before the final pass through the crucible.

Nah! We'll just stab him in the heart and he can fly the sword back to the island of the sleepers, the audience needs a good fight scene.

So disappointing.

only when it was removed by Aslan could he feel and behave and act differently

No, I think the transformation began much earlier, (in the book). In the anomalous state as a dragon he had a singular opportunity to be useful, to repent. Once restored to humanity, he had a further opportunity:

To be humbled, to be just Eustace, no pretensions. The building must be torn down to its foundations and the errors removed before it can be rebuilt properly. That was closer to your meaning I think.

[stateofgreen]

Yeah the character transformation did begin before the undragoning in the book and continued being shown afterwards, you're right Elluinas Mirion. Shame it wasn't displayed onscreen, one of my main beefs against the movie.

[waggawerewolf27]

Listening to the FOTF VDT audio drama, I heard there was already a lot of fog about as Eustace took a break from his escape from the Dragon Island work detail. I expect it wasn't a bright green sort of fog though. After that pause at the top of a ridge, Eustace sees the dying dragon, then takes shelter in the dragon cave where he stuffs his pockets with gold, just like in the book and just like in the movie. The armband was the last bit of that treasure and, I agree it was the most significant bit, especially as it identified Octesian as a missing lord who had landed on that island.

In all three productions - book, film and audio - Eustace was turned into a dragon because of his unhesitatingly helping himself to dragon's treasure, with dragonishly selfish thoughts in his heart. But in the film it is left to Caspian to point out that treasure lying about is trouble and to say why.

Eustace's undragoning is due to his repentance of his past behaviour. He can't change himself. He needs Aslan to do it for him. He needs help.

I think it was a pity that in the movie we didn't see the dragonning of Eustace as well as the undragonning. But I think that the reasons for the dragonning were plain enough. Just because one of the characters has access to magic such as the Magician's book or to gold such as at Deathwater or in the dragon's cave, doesn't mean that such finds are an open invitation for that character to greedily help him or herself.

By the way, the same sort of message is also in MN.

[Lilygloves]

Until this point in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Eustace has tried to do everything himself. He resists Lucy when she tries to cure him of his sea sickness, “but he took a drop from her flask, and though he said it was beastly stuff (the smell in the cabin when she opened it was delicious) it is certain that his face came the right color a few moments after he had swallowed it and he must have felt better”. When Aslan meets Eustace, he is at the end of his rope. He has admitted to himself that there is nothing he can do and is willing to give up and to not hold everyone back by going off and hiding. Eustace sees the pool and somehow knows that it can help heal him. After Aslan tells him that he needs to undress first, he tries to take his skin off. Although he technically is undressed from the first skin, he recognized that the ugly skin is still not good enough to enter the pool. Until the ugliness that holds him back from healing is gone, Eustace cannot enter the pool. When he lies down and lets Aslan take the skin off, he knows it will hurt. This is the point of the ultimate surrender of Eustace. No longer will he try to do things on his own because he recognizes that he can't. Aslan was the only way for him to be redeemed from himself. Although it hurts, the lion peels back layers of ugliness in order to show Eustace's true nature. Similarly, there is no way that people can be cleansed without the help of Jesus. People are naturally evil, like Eustace's dragon skin was naturally ugly. We can try to do things on our own, but we must surrender to God for a complete change. In the same way Eustace's skin was torn off him, there sometimes are things that we realized must be torn out of our own lives, bad habits, bad music, bad influences, etc. It hurts, but the thing that gets us through the change is the knowledge that we will be refined by the end.
The film did not portray this. Eustace was more of a victim than a person who had to see how he was inside, dark and ugly. In the book he faces this realization, but in the film he doesn't seem to be that ugly and barely tries to undragon himself. He looked like he was scratching his belly, which my grandpa does. The scene was very disappointing and entirely missed the theme of the book.

[Evelyn]

Deffenently a let down. It lost all of Lewis's themes! You hardly have time to relise what is happening to him before they cut to the next scene! At least Aslan was there, but it sure seems like Aslan "un-dragoned" him so that he could lay the seventh sword and save the ship. (Which then you go into the fact that the seven swords didn't even destory the island- Edmund did with Rhindon. But I'll refrain from going there!) Aslan was missing from the whole picture. And then there is Edmund's, "I don't think it was us" line (I'm pretty sure that's how it goes). Is he refuring to Eustace or Aslan? I can't tell! It's all so confusing!

[Stylteralmaldo]

...It lost all of Lewis's themes! You hardly have time to relise what is happening to him before they cut to the next scene! At least Aslan was there, but it sure seems like Aslan "un-dragoned" him so that he could lay the seventh sword and save the ship....

I agree that it lost much of Lewis' theme. For example, it was unfortunate that Eustace wasn't washed in the pool after he was rid of his dragon skin. That Christian Baptism imagry was completely lost.

I'm not sure how much I can blame the lack of time spent on the issue however. VDT has a LOT of material in it and quite frankly, the film had a difficult time getting much of everything else in even with moving at a brisk pace.

[waggawerewolf27]

Yes Aslan undragonned an injured Eustace. Yes he flew into the air and then he landed near Aslan's communion table where he placed the sword which injured him. After which it seems he had to swim back to the ship. In the sweet water at the end of the world. As the suitably wet - and fully dressed Eustace - came out of the water, proclaiming that he was a boy again, Reepicheep fell into the water and proclaimed the water 'sweet', that is to say, not salt.

I didn't miss any fresh water pool, or custom-made giant bathtub having to be ready for Eustace's baptism.

[Lilygloves]

It was really sad that they got that part wrong because it is one of my favorite Christian messages I get out of Narnia. It is very special and means a lot to me. It's one of the most important parts of the book and it definitely didn't come through in the movie.

[Dinode]

One thing that was interesting about his dragoning was how for a moment he wanted to use his new power to get "even", but then he realized he didn't want to. He had gotten everything he thought he wanted, only to realize how high the price was, and once he knew the price he began to see how little he needed the thing he wanted. He saw that he was a monster, but more importantly, began to see that he had already been acting little better than one. The armband only made things worse. After he revealed himself to the others he tried to help the others, and he did, but he still would not be able to receive much reward because he couldn't leave the island, just like we can't get free from the penalty of our sin no matter how many good works we do. It wasn't until he put his trust in Aslan that he could get the reward for his good deeds.

[Narnian_Archer]

I absolutely agree that Eustace's undragoning was completely run down in the film....run down, run over, and practically skipped for what it's worth in the book. He had to become a dragon and experience how terrible it was being a dragon and getting in everyone's way and feeling the pain of the arm band on his arm that embedded itself into his skin, to realize what a pain he really was and how he was completely helpless and could not save himself - he had to have Aslan save him because nothing else would. It's such a powerful moment, such a crucial one, and one of the main points and climaxes if the book. In the movie, it almost seems like there's nothing wrong with being a dragon - he's big and strong and powerful...the way it's shown in the movie, it's actually quite nice to be a dragon - he gets powerful and popular and everybody likes him, especially since he helps by pulling the boat against the wind (which is so realistic... ). The only downside, really, of being a dragon is that he can't talk to anyone, but since he didn't like to talk much with them anyway, it could actually be a good thing. We don't see anything of what's in the mind of dragon Eustace - we don't see WHY he's miserable being a dragon and why it's a sad thing. In the book the fact that he can't go with them is a huge and very scary factor for Eustace, because he might have to stay behind alone, whereas in the movie he just somehow flies along with them and has a great time. Naturally, since the whole dragon plot is so under-developed in the film, the undragoning can't really be developed decently either. If I hadn't read the book, I really would have missed that itty-bitty part where he barely scratches himself with his claw...it has no meaning in the movie, and then it just goes into a Beauty and the Beast transformation and that's it - done and over with! Why did he change so much? Why did being a dragon make such a big difference to him? In the movie it's all just glossed over, which makes the whole thing weak and sticking out as a sore thumb...which is such a shame because it is such an important part in the movie, and in the series.

[Aslanisthebest]

The film hardly portrayed this. Just like the "There I Have Anther Name" cut-and-pasted line, this particular scene (which is one of the highlights of VDT in the book), is just a sidetracked thought. It was placed at the most distracting of times, because half the audience was wondering how the others were faring fighting the sea serpent. In fact, Eustace as a dragon was portrayed as more helpful/better than him as a human. And the band - the one thing that, if I recall correctly, was supposed to be on his hand, was taken off by Lucy? (Is that correct? I've forgotten what happened to the golden band on his arm.)

In the book, Eustace's Undragoning is one of the most central aspects, something not to be forgotten. It was realistic and spot-on. As a dragon, he felt remorse, as he shed tears and bonded with Reep at this time. However, that remorse was not enough to change him. He tried to change himself to get the tight golden band off of his arm, but he couldn't, though he tried. He needed a personal encounter with Aslan to change him, because he was inadequate to save himself. Aslan let him become a dragon to teach him something - to move him through difficulty to change his heart, but Aslan didn't stop there. Aslan sunk his nails into Eustace's back and painfully pulled the skin off Dragon Eustace. Then he told him to go in the pool. (it's interesting, it's not a dot-to-dot or perfect parallel, but it reminded me just a little bit of Naaman, the leper.) There are many details in the undragoning scene, in the book, which emphasize that Eustace couldn't save himself. I think it was beautiful that he spoke to Edmund first - Edmund could relate, to some extent, as he knew where he had come and where Aslan brought him, so it fit perfectly that Eustace spoke over his meeting with Aslan to Edmund. I think the one important aspect of the entire undragoning was that Eustace could not do it himself. He felt remorse, he wanted to change but that was not enough - Aslan had to change him and Aslan was the only answer. (and it's so wonderfully realistic when, in the next chapter, Lewis writes that Eustace had a visible and vast change of heart, but he wasn't spot-on perfect. He still had moments where he acted bratty, but now he was able to get over them, because he knew Aslan.)