Summer Challenge 2018: Eustace Sharing Thread

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

Oh, those are great observations, Swan! (And thanks!)

SC -

Chapter 1 - Eustace has shown a remarkable change in 2 weeks (11 out of 13 left in the term) and everyone has noticed. If anyone needed evidence of a change in his heart, they don't even need more than these two weeks! Jill admitted that her snapping remarks were unfair because they were not true of the Eustace of the past two weeks. He's stood up to bullies and made it on their hit list. To add to the changes in him, check out his take on magic as opposed the the beginning of VDT: he now believes magic is real, knows that he can't know what to expect, and has an understanding that circles and chants are anti-Aslan. Of course, he had a good chunk of the voyage to know these kinds of things, plus whatever extra time he had with Edmund and Lucy after their adventure. Still, now that he's at Experiment House, away from Narnia and from his cousins, he's still holding to his newfound beliefs and character.
Another change I noticed is his reaction to the cliff. Unlike his reaction to the painting and its ocean, he takes the cliff much more calmly (despite his fear) and is the one helping out the panicking person of the scenario.

Chapter 5 - In the discussion of the quest with Puddleglum, I spotted a bit of old Eustace mingled with the new: on the one hand, he’s snapping and perhaps expecting things to be easier than they may be (perhaps aided by Puddleglum's very pessimistic take on the whole venture); on the other, he has confidence in Aslan and his adventuring spirit is ready to go, even going so far as to suggest leadership (not that he’s ready for that role, but he’s trying).

Chapter 8 - While this chapter focuses mainly on Jill and how she muffed up the signs, but remember that there are two others who should know the signs as well as she. Earlier (way back in chapter 3), Eustace had complained about how he and Jill would have known what to do had she not "played the fool" on the cliff. True as that is, they've had how much time in which Jill could have taught him the signs -- indeed, unless Jill recited them to herself mentally or quietly, I'd think the chances of Eustace hearing them are pretty high. At any rate, he recognizes the second and third signs as muffed once he saw them. Point is, yes, Aslan charged Jill with the task of reciting the signs, but that does not give Eustace any reasonable cause to pin all the responsibility on Jill. In order for the quest to succeed, he should have been just as (if not more) diligent in keeping the signs in mind.
Though he never says anything about not keeping the signs himself, he at least realizes that he was wrong to allow himself to be distracted from the quest to the point of "we'd nearly forgotten about Prince Rilian". He also recognizes a private wrong: secretly hoping he could shift the blame for Aslan's "belated" instructions. Even though it would have been easy to chide Jill for suggesting it, he comes out and admits he had thought the same, but knows that he can't justify himself. "We must just own up."

Chapter 15 - “I wonder am I small enough to get through where Jill did?” - This is where Lewis specifically says that Eustace does a very brave thing. Up until this point, Eustace has followed others, like Caspian, Reepicheep, and Puddleglum. He's hardly done any fighting at all (he attacked the sea serpent, however bravely and uselessly; he struck at the witch's snake-form in response to the danger). But here, in his concern for Jill, he is willing to stick out his neck to go after her into something completely unknown, and without thought of how nice it’d be for one of the others to do it instead (had they been able to). He even expresses hope when the other two are anything but: Rilian calls down shame on them for having sent a maiden into danger and Puddleglum is going on about fate and starvation. Eustace refuses to wallow in what-ifs and regret. Instead, he determines to find a solution and work toward it with no delay.

Overall, I think I'll say that SC shows much of the progression of post-dragon Eustace. Of course, we had some in VDT, but it's in SC that we see more of his old and new natures at war with each other. His poor qualities are highlighted as common features of the journey (like snapping at Jill and grousing at Puddleglum), but he also exhibits new ways of thinking that we hadn't seen heretofore. (Kind of makes you wonder exactly how bad of a shock his change was to his parents! To them, it would have seemed sudden indeed, but he had the benefit of improving over weeks, maybe months, in Narnia before returning; then school started probably not long after, considering that his voyage diary was marked with September dates. (And of course, I've gone with that too. It's a bit over-the-top, but whatever. (fanfiction.net is not affiliated with TLC; click at your own risk, etc) https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11253349/1/The-Difference)

[Ajnos]

Yeah, so Ajjie is behind. It was always going to be a tough ask this month. Been listening to the chapters from audio books each night but keep falling alseep so I'm only on the Puddleglum chapter. (I also forget all my cool thoughts the next morning). I want to try eventually post on all the chapters but might take me a few weeks. I wanted you to know that I am still trying to take part and cheering you on.

[Benisse]

I apologize for kind of dropping the ball on my Eustace study -- although I have nothing compared to Ajjie to juggle, this week I have been working rather feverishly to knock out a pile of projects so I don't have to take my laptop on my trip starting Saturday (Tomorrow!!) to celebrate my anniversary. I plan to take my Chronicles to read and write/draw about while on board a river boat (paddlewheel and all!) down the Mississippi from near Chicago to near St. Louis. So I hope to post when I return. In the meantime I want to say how much I have been loving the discussion here! Looking forward to adding to it when I get back on the 30th.

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

@Ajjie and Benisse: I await your reflections with anticipation!
(I myself may not be able to get to the final two chapters of LB tomorrow, as there’s a family function a long drive away; but if I can’t manage it for tomorrow, I’ll post on Sunday or Monday!)

LB:

Chapter 5

Eustace seems to have great presence of mind. Even though it was Jill who told him to hurry up and get Tirian untied, Eustace did jump on that right away. (Can I just point out that Tirian is the second Narnian whose bonds Eustace has cut?) He also thought to offer Tirian food the moment they were walking easily.
Curious that, after Eustace had the smart idea of asking Aslan to allow him and Jill into Narnia in SC, there is no mention of any such notion in LB. The party “talked and talked” and… settled on forcing themselves into Narnia via the rings, even though Aslan had said in MN they were never to be used again. I wonder if asking Aslan ever crossed Eustace’s mind during the powwow or not….
Another change (though hardly a surprising one by this point) in Eustace since VDT is his handling of “our-world” information when speaking of them to Narnians. He takes time to clarify some of the words he’s throwing around, like “wire” and “train”, so that Tirian would have some context. A significant improvement over sneering at Narnia’s “inadequacies” compared to England’s advancements!
Not sure I’ve noticed this before, but Tirian notes that the kids were “well brought up”. Perhaps the change Eustace went through in VDT warranted no memory of how awful he was in official annals.


Chapter 9

Eustace’s practical mind pops up in full force (or at least, it seems to in comparison to Jill’s excitement). While Jill dislikes it when he is “dreadfully matter-of-fact” in the face of someone who is running on emotions, I don’t think it’s wholly a bad thing. He doesn’t do it because he’s heartless or has no emotion or an opinion on the matter: it’s just his nature to analyze things. I think that his response helped deflate some of the rising tension caused by Jill.
He doesn’t spend all his time in rational thought, though, because he does join Jill in begging to stay. He even feels brace doing it. Contrast this with his (days-long) demands to be taken home or at least to a British Consul back in VDT. Back then, he didn’t want adventure. Now, he knows that he’s in Narnia for a purpose that he not only must, but wants to fulfill.
Eustace isn’t afraid to admit his weakness to Jill, even when she appears braver than him. She trembles, but he feels like he may be sick. She declares she’d rather die fighting for Narnia than grow “old and stupid” in England, but he seems to be more interested in living in any case: he’s the one who brought up the question of death and the thought that a railway accident had flung them into Narnia. That’s not to say that Jill would not rather live herself or that Eustace is less willing to die for Narnia. It just seems that she’s more optimistic than he is about the possibility of dying.

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

(Hey look, I managed to read today’s chapters after all!)




Chapter 11/12

As pointed out in the reading outline, this is Eustace’s first real battle. He doesn’t have the fighting experience of Peter and Edmund nor their skill (remember that Peter was able to go hammer-and-tongs with Jadis somehow). But even without that and with his heart quailing at the sight of the Calormenes approaching, he leaves it behind and gives it his all. He is apparently clear-headed enough to defend himself, even though he can’t remember anything that happened during the frenzy. Per Jill’s description (which is only so reliable, as she doesn’t know much about swordplay), he fights “brilliantly”. His love for Narnia drives him. Compare that to VDT, where the only thing he cared about was himself.
In his indignation (for which we don’t blame him, and the sentiment was shared by at least Jewel) at the Dwarfs, a bit of the old Eustace comes out as he insults them for their treachery. Jewel had offered to give them “hard knocks”, but Eustace did no more than resort to name-calling.


Chapter 15

Eustace’s deep-seated judgement of the Dwarfs continues here and extends also to Shift. He rejoices at the news of Shift’s demise just as we do, but the rest take the high road (and the right one, per the Bible). He also says, rather spitefully, that he hopes the Dwarfs met the same fate. Funny enough, he also recommends that Lucy should not try to make friends with them based on their behaviour, even though he had half an adventure of people treating him decently when he behaved poorly.
It’s strange that here, at the end of his adventures and surrounded by the goodness and beauty of the Real Narnia, his character seems to regress. Even stranger when we think of this place as “Heaven” and how no sin is there. However, I think there’s still something to learn from it. Just as Eustace’s character here isn’t ideal after such a time of change and being in this perfect place, we also have our failed moments. Though we’re not in Heaven yet, we do have the presence of God in our hearts and lives, and yet revert to our fleshly ways. But, also like Eustace, the further up and further in we go, the purer we become and, one day, when we meet Jesus one day, we truly will be perfect at last.

[hobbit_of_narnia]

(Came on furlough without my Narnia book; I'm hoping to do my reading very belatedly.)

[Swanwhite]

I might pick this up belatedly as well. I'm listening to the VDT audio book, and should soon have the time to reflect.