Wow! What thoughtful answers to the questions so far!
1. In this chapter we hear a little bit about Mr. and Mrs. Pevensie as well as an update about Peter and Susan. What are your thoughts about them? Can we learn anything about them in these short descriptions?I agree that Mr. Pevensie seems to be a professor or academic of some type.
Anhun wrote: As for the other three, if you can't afford it, you can't afford it. Now, when I was a kid, if my parents were planning a trip purely as a vacation, they would make a point of not planning anything too expensive to include the whole family, but this wasn't a vacation trip, it was a professional tour.
Another thing to keep in mind is that if their trip was for sixteen weeks, then the children's schooling would be partially interrupted by the trip to America. Lucy and Edmund would only need to stay at Harold and Alberta's for a short time before school started again, and Lewis already implied that the younger children were doing better in academics than Susan. This may also have been a factor in leaving the youngest two behind.
waggawerewolf27 wrote:But could it be that perhaps Mr & Mrs Pevensie don't trust Susan enough to let her loose by herself in UK, unlike the other three?
This is an interesting idea, and one I had never considered before.
waggawerewolf27 wrote:I've another question. Would those comments about Susan being very grown up for her age suggest she might have been trying out adult habits like smoking at school, which would have been frowned on even then?
I would hesitate to take the comments that far. Susan was a lady, even a queen, and she would behave as such.
Anhun wrote:I always got the impression that Susan was a girly girl of the Queen Bee variety. She is popular and powerful, but she disdains book-learning because it does not contribute to her popularity.
I think Susan was popular, but not necessarily powerful. I think she had a need to be liked (remember her gentleness and tenderheartedness), which drove her need to socialize. I don't think she did anything out of rebellion. I think she just wasn't concerned with studies, but was interested in entertaining and other traditional homemaker-type duties, which fits with the characteristics exhibited in previous books.
I attribute Susan's aforementioned maturity to her years in Narnia.
2. What theory do you have as to how someone painted a Narnian Ship?King_Erlian wrote:Therefore I think that someone from Narnia, having seen the Dawn Treader at some point, came into our world for reasons unknown and painted the picture (possibly the reason they came into our world was to paint the picture).
Interesting story, although I don't think this is how Narnian time runs. The painting was a wedding present for Alberta, and Eustace is obviously several years old and presumably born after the wedding. Since the Pevensies were last in Narnia only a year ago and discovered Narnia only a year before that, it wouldn't be possible for someone from Narnia to have painted the actual Dawn Treader and given it to someone who gave it to Alberta, years prior to the Pevensies entering the wardrobe.
In other words, the timelines between England and Narnia may run independently, but they do not run backwards.
I have no theory of how someone painted the Dawn Treader other than Aslan's inspiration. But do you think the frame might've been made from apple wood?
3. Why do you think it was Caspian who dived into the water and not a sailor?Good question. I like the theory that perhaps he recognized Edmund and Lucy. Or perhaps he was the first to notice them. Or maybe he was the only one free at the moment, everyone else having duties they were performing.
4. Why was Eustace the last one of the children to be brought on board?I suspect Lucy was first because she was a lady. Perhaps Edmund came next because he was a king?
5. Lewis doesn't say whether Eustace can swim or not. Based on this chapter, do you think he can swim or not?He clutched at someone else in a panic, which is the stereotypical (and dangerous) first move of a non-swimmer in over their head. Still, he managed to stay afloat long enough to be brought on board third, so maybe the panic was due more to the sudden magical transportation, rather than the plunge. I'd guess him to be a beginner.
6. What, if anything, do you make of Lewis' descriptions of the Scrubbs and their differences from the Pevensies? Is this caricature or an unfair portrayal of a certain type of person, or is it merely poking fun?I simply think that Lewis is painting a picture of who the Scrubbs are. I doubt he was trying to say that every characteristic that the Scrubbs had were bad.
King_Erlian wrote:I was also a puny little person (now I'm a puny fat person) and I objected to Lewis' tone of derision - I couldn't help having the body I'd got.
If it sets your mind at ease, I never interpreted this passage as Lewis deriding "puny" people. Eustace's fault lay not in the fact that he was puny, but in that he was
bossy. If Eustace were older than the Pevensies, he might have been bestowed some authority. If he were cleverer than the Pevensies, he might have been able to garner some authority. If he were stronger than the Pevensies, he might have been able to force some authority. But Lewis here is pointing out the ridiculousness of the situation, in that Eustace not only did not have the
right to be bossy, he had no
reason to be bossy. He was neither older, nor more clever, nor bigger, stronger, or more powerful. Why he thought he had the right to boss the Pevensies (beyond pure conceit) is a mystery. In fact, the only reason Eustace could bully the Pevensies was because they allowed it. If they had been a different sort of people, Eustace wouldn't have gotten away with it for long before being beat up or beat down. However, the Pevensies were more mature than that, and thus they simply put up with him. -No doubt, Eustace felt very superior in being "able" to "subject" his cousins.
7. Is Aunt Alberta's having a painting of a Narnian ship a coincidence or something more?Obviously this is destiny.
8. How does the opening line "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it" set the tone for the rest of the chapter?Lewis starts out with a bit of humor and a very strong statement about Eustace's character, and his name.
9. Lewis provides several descriptions of the sorts of things Eustace likes and dislikes. Why do you think he does this? Do you have some of the same likes and dislikes as Eustace?Again, Lewis is painting a picture of Eustace. He likes some things which are normal, (animals, machines, etc.) but he also likes some things which he ought not, like bossing and bullying. I don't share much in common with Eustace at this point of the story. I do like animals, but I can't say that I care for dead beetles.
10. If this was your first time in Narnia, would you react the way Eustace does?In many respects I might. I wouldn't care for the sudden and dramatic nature of the transport, but I wouldn't clutch at someone who is trying to swim for their life. I would be reviled by a large mouse, but might be a bit more courteous to it if I found out it could talk. I might be overcome with culture shock, and may wish to go home, but wouldn't cry like a toddler over it.
11. Eustace is described as a 'record stinker' which might be misunderstood these days! What must it have been like having him stay 'last year' ?waggawerewolf27 wrote:Do you know, for all the times I've read VDT, since 1958, I've never really taken in this bit?
It's funny, because this part didn't stick out to me either until I read it this time. I doubt it was a pleasant experience for any of the children. "Last year" must have fallen in between LWW and PC, because they were just about to start the term in PC, and it seems VDT takes place during the next break.
Wouldn't it have been funny if the screenwriters had had the Pevensie children grumble about Eustace during the train station scene?
That would have been a more welcome Easter egg than the "Jill Pole" comment at the end of
Dawn Treader.
12. Which part of the description of the ship/painting appeals to you most?Oddly enough, the painting of the Dawn Treader has never appealed to me. If
I had gotten it for a wedding gift, I probably would have re-gifted it.