Summer Challenge Sharing Thread

[Swanwhite]

I have seen a child Dufflepud standing on tiptoe. My life is full

Chapter 8.

Two narrow escapes
Forming different shapes
In the story that's still being told
A watery death
Or a Deathwater death
Would you rather be fishfood or gold?

A tail could have slipped in the water
And another tail thankfully did
One threat left us tired and happy
And one left us rather bewitched

[hobbit_of_narnia]

@ Ajjie: The "powerful wet stuff" line is one of my favorites, too. And I somewhat agree with you about the re-re-rereading thing. The same thing happened to me with Silver Chair.
@ Swanwhite: Beautiful poem, as usual. I especially love the bit about "A tail could have slipped in the water/And another tail thankfully did." Wow.

EDIT: And so here's my drawing for today's readings. I know the dragon-head prow is a bit different from the illustration, but I wasn't sure of the shading otherwise.

[Ajnos]

That's lovely, Hobbit. The albatross scene is probably my second favourite in all the Chronicles. I even tried to look up the scene from the Walden film on youtube, but couldn't find it immediately. I remember how much I squeed at the theatre that they'd got the albatross in after all ther mess-ups. I wispered to my friend who didn't know the story: "it's Aslan!"


Chapters 11-12
Frivolity and Fear
So, I think it was a good thing that I wrote what I did yesterday about certain scenes not being as powerful on rereading, because since I wrote it, I've actually enjoyed these next two chapters The dufflepuds chapter is just downright fun after the tension of the last few. And since the mystery of the dufflepuds is over now that they are disenchanted, the enjoyability of the chapter is based on Lewis' good writing skills rather an suspense. So it makes no difference if you've read it before.

I remembered what I wanted to say last night that I'd forgotten, and it's possibly more appropriate here anyway. I was thinking that Lewis uses the dufflepuds to comment on a certain type of people present in society much like he does with the Scrubbs and Governor Gumpas. This time we have a type of people who follow a leader blindly and accept whatever latest whim they are exposed to with absolutely no critical thinking. This is especially clear in the bit where Lucy and their Chief are saying completely different things and they wholeheartedly agree with both of them. As I said before, VDT reads a bit like a social/political satire (actually not entirely unlike Gulliver's Travels) and this is especially true of the dufflepud chapters. It also reminds me of Lewis' own Pilgrim's Regress which I was reading before we started the challenge. I could easily imagine thr dufflepuds as one of the groups of peope that we meet along the way.

Dark Island is an entirely different chapter. The dufflepuds adventure is probably well placed because the jolity and silliness is a good break between the horrors of the sea-serpent and death water and what is to come with Dark Island. Despite what I said yesterday about knowing what would happen spoiling the suspense I actually still felt a good dreal of the terror faced by the crew in the Darkness. I think this might be because the terror of Dark Island is derived from what it does and what it is rather than from not knowing whether they would escape unharmed. The idea of an island where all dreams including nightmares come true, is possibly one of the most horrifying I've come across, and it still has that effect on me despite knowing that the heroes would escape. And they still suffered greatly while trying to escape. And then, as I already said, the scene with Aslan as the albatross coming to their rescue, driving them from the darkness to the light and dispelling the darkness completely is just so beautiful and makes me so happy.

A final note on Dark Island: does anyone have a copy of the original American edition of VDT (before it was made the same as the British version)? I read the other day that there were changes in that edition to the Dark Island adventure to make it less scary and was curious as to what those changes were.

Reminder
Remember that we will be taking the day off from the challenge to give people a break or a chance to catch up. We will continue with chapters 13 and 14 on Monday but feel free to read and prepare ahead.

[hobbit_of_narnia]

I have both editions. There are a number of small differences between them, but the most obvious one is at the end of the Dark Island, which I've put here. I'm not positive which came first. Pardon any typo's.

1: In a few moments the darkness turned into a grayness ahead, and then, almost before they dares to begin hoping, they had shot out into the sunlight and were in the warm, blue world again. And all at once everybody realized that there was nothing to be afraid of and never had been. They blinked their eyes and looked about them. The brightness of the ship herself astonished them: they had half expected to find that the darkness would cling to the white and the green and the gold in the form of some grime or scum. And then first one, then another, began laughing.
"I reckon we've made pretty good fools of ourselves," said Rynelf.
Lucy lost no time in coming down to the deck, where she found the others all gathered round the newcomer. ...[more here, but it's the same in both editions]...
Lord Rhoop fell on his knees and kissed the King's hand. "Sire," he said, "you are the man in all the world I most wished to see. Grant me a boon."
"What is it?" asked Caspian.
"Never to bring me back there," he said. He pointed astern. They all looked. But they saw only bright blue sea and bright blue sky. The Dark Island and the darkness had vanished for ever.
"Why!" cried Lord Rhoop. "You have destroyed it!"
"I don't think it was us," said Lucy.
"Sire," said Drinian, "this wind is fair for the southeast. Shall I have our poor fellows up and set sail? And after that, every man who can be spared, to his hammock."
"Yes," said Caspian, "and let there be grog all round. Heigh-ho, I feel I could sleep the clock round myself."
So all afternoon with great joy they sailed southeast with a fair wind. But nobody noticed when the albatross had disappeared.

2: In a few moments the darkness turned into a greyness ahead, and then, almost before they dared to begin hoping, they had shot out into the sunlight and were in the warm, blue world again. And just as there are moments when simply to lie in bed and see the daylight pouring through your window and to hear the cheerful voice of an early postman or milkman down below and to realise that it was only a dream: it wasn't real, is so heavenly that it was very nearly worth having the nightmare in order to have the joy of waking, so they all felt when they came out of the dark. The brightness of the ship herself astonished them: they had half expected to find that the darkness would cling to the white and the green and the gold in some form of grime or scum.
Lucy lost no time in coming down to the deck, where she found the others all gathered round the newcomer. ...[same as in other edition]...
Lord Rhoop fell on his knees and kissed the King's hand. "Sire," he said, "you are the man in all the world I most wised to see. Grant me a boon."
"What is it?" asked Caspian.
"Never to ask me, nor to let any other ask me, what I have seen during my years on the Dark Island."
"An easy boon, my Lord," answered Caspian, and added with a shudder. "Ask you: I should think not. I would give all my treasure not to hear it."
"Sire," said Drinian, "this wind is fair for the south-east. Shall I have our poor fellows up and set sail? And after that, every man who can be spared, to his hammock."
"Yes," said Caspian, "and let there be grog all round. Heigh-ho, I feel I could sleep the clock round myself."
So all afternoon with great joy they sailed south-east with a fair wind, and the hump of darkness grew smaller and smaller astern. But nobody noticed when the albatross had disappeared.

The version I read for years was the one listed second here. So a couple years ago when I read the first version I was like, "Whooooah, the Dark Island disappeared!" Which was okay in a way, as I always felt Reepicheep wouldn't have been satisfied with sailing away from the Island, but if it was gone he would think that they had somehow conquered it.

On another note, was Rhoop the only living person on the Island?

[Ajnos]

Thanks for that, Hobbit. The first one is what I have so it's the original British version and the only version you can buy today. The second must be the alternate version that was first published in the US. I wonder why Lewis decided to make those particular changes. Maybe he regretted making the island dissapear completely. I think I prefer Rhoop's second request, not to talk about his dreams rather than not to be taken back. Caspian wouldn't dream of taking him back, although I guess Rhoop said it because he was so bewitched.

Oh, I was wondering about the different nautical implements in Coriakin's office, cause I recognised some but not all of them. I found an interesting entry on Oxford Dictionaries Online on terms used in Narnia which says the following:

In The Voyage of the ‘Dawn Treader’ Lewis allows himself a little linguistic joke. Among a magician’s instruments we spy the astrolabe, the orrery, and the chronoscope—well-known tools of the Renaissance astronomer or scientist—but next comes the poesimeter. This must be an imaginary instrument for measuring poetry (with a pun on ‘poetic meter’). Then comes the choriambus, a term actually borrowed from poetic meter (it is a four-syllable foot: “dum-diddy-dum”). Last is the theodolind, whose name, reminiscent of theodolite (a genuine surveying instrument), appears to have been borrowed from Queen Theodolind of the sixth-century Lombards.

For the full article, see here: http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2010 ... -wordbook/ (follow outgoing links at your own risk)

[Swanwhite]

Chapter 9. The Island of Voices

On the Island of voices
What choices are there?
Where can we run
When we do not know where
Our invisible enemies wait?

How do we face up to
A foe without face?
There is no finish line
In this joke of a race
When invisible enemies wait.

Chapter 10. The Magician's Book
Out of context this scribble makes no sense at all, but I hope you can tell what it is

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Chapter 11. The Dufflepuds Made Happy

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[hansgeorg]

Aslan saying "Do you think I wouldn't obey my own rules?": love that line so much!!!

That might be the precise reason why Magic was allowed for Lucy here.

Aslans rules being a shade different about the matter there than here.

I also compared to "spells" read by the Catholic Church - there too the person reading them (usually a priest) reads in obedience.

[Swanwhite]

Chapter 12. The Dark Island

I think this one may be my favourite chapter so far.
It's the most terrifying thing they have faced and yet the only danger may be the fear itself.
Lucy notices once she has called to Aslan for help that “after all nothing has really happened to us yet” and when they come out it says “all at once everyone realized there was nothing to be afraid of and never had been.”
I was initially pretty annoyed with Reep in this chapter, and maybe am still a little bit. (It would be another thing entirely if he was motivated by searching for the lost lord, but it seems to be only his curiousity and love of his own honour that compels him.) However in his characteristic lack of fear he sees the dark Island for what it is, which is actually nothing to be afraid of at all.
I feel like this chapter is in some ways meant to represent the dark states of mind we can find ourselves in. I love the moment when Lucy cries out to Aslan for help and nothing in her circumstance changes right away, but her perspective changes.


We cannot see behind our stern
Or on beyond our bow
All about is blackness
Fear and darkness, churning doubt
“Aslan, if you ever loved us
Come and help us now!”

And even in this moment
There's a feeling, something strange
A spark of hope has started
Though the darkness hasn't changed
No harm has really happened
Though we all are so afraid

The light breaks through
In the shape of a cross,
And turns into
An albatross.
“Courage Dearheart”
are your words,
And I cling to this
Till the world has turned,
And all is right once more.

[Ajnos]

Lovely drawings Swan, especially the Dufflepud! When I went to the Magical Books exhibition in Oxford in 2013, they had on display some of Lewis' own sketches of Dufflepuds which he sent to Pauline Baynes for inspiration. You can check them out here (click at your own risk; this site and it's contents are not affiliated with TLC)

Day 7
Chapters 13 & 14

The Dawn Treader approaches Ramandu's Island:

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edit: Oops. Spotted the typo. I'll fixit when I get a chance

Narnian Geography and Astronomy:
We learn a lot more about Narnian geography in VDT than we do in the other Narnian Chronicles. And I don’t just mean information to chart a map of the Eastern Seas. It is here that we learn (though there have been hints before) that Narnia is in very few ways like our world and operates on some very different principles. Just a few I noticed especially from these chapters:

- The further East you sail, the gentler the wind and seas become

- The constellations in the East are different to those seen in the West (this especially interests me because on Earth, it’s North and South that have different constellations, although I was misled in my youth to believe that the constellations in the North and South are completely different but have since learnt that there is overlap and also that there are differences as you near the equator – this might seem self-evident, but I never did quite get my head around how all that stuff works)

- More importantly/significantly, we learn that stars in Narnia are humanoid beings (or beings that can take humanoid form and that can age, retire and even “do wrong” (in some sense we can’t understand). They can also bear children (and inter-marry with humans – even if Ramandu’s wife wasn’t human herself, his daughter marries a human).

- Stars retire when they are old but do not die. During their retirement, they rest and are rejuvenated by fire-berries which make them younger each day till they are ready to rise again.

- The sun gets larger and brighter (is closer?) the further East you sail

- The there is life on the Sun – if the white birds do not live there themselves, there are at least “plants” bearing fire-berries. And since the birds can obviously survive on the Sun to collect the berries, and it was from the Sun that they were seen flying, my guess is that the Sun is their home. The Sun also has “valleys”.

- And finally, this has already been hinted at before, but the generally held belief is that Narnia’s world is flat and when one reaches the Utter East one will either find Aslan’s country or sail off the rim of the world.


Other Comments:
The three Lords were put to sleep apparently for touching the stone knife. But would they have known what it was and that touching it was forbidden? Their real failure was their dispute regarding what to do next, which might have ended in violence – after all, a knife was grabbed. In a sense the knife actually saved them. And then the obvious question – why was the knife there at all?

I’m trying to decide how I feel about the message Lewis is giving about things like bravery versus cowardice and loyalty to king and one’s own resolve. I think the message he is giving is mostly a good one, but I’m struggling to decide exactly what his message is. In the Dark Island chapter, he made it clear that there are times when it is okay to flee from certain dangers (“there are some things no man can face”) but the over-all message of the book seems to be that seeking adventure in the face of the unknown and danger is a noble thing. I’d be interested to hear other people’s take on this? Regardless, I do enjoy the manner in which Caspian plays his “final card” and shames the men into submission. I’m not sure if he was entirely right, but it does show a sign of smart leadership (if Bartholomew Diaz had had this kind of foresight he might have succeeded completing his circumnavigation of Africa and not have had to turn back half-way – also my country might have had a very different history )

Reep’s speech about sailing to the end of the world till he sinks is beautiful and tragic and always makes me want to smile and cry at the same time!

Finally – squees at (just about) the only romantic scene in all of Narnia! It’s corny but I love it. And they SHOULD have put it in the film (it’s no less corny than what they did include).

“In the world from which my friends come they have a story of a prince or a king coming to a castle where all the people lay in an enchanted sleep. In that story he could not dissolve the enchantment until he had kissed the princess.”

“But here it is different. Here he cannot kiss the princess until he has dissolved the enchantment.”

(How did Caspian even know that story? )

[kristi]

Hmm, maybe I'm confused. I thought the Arabian Nights were polytheistic (which is why I called them pre-Islamic). But it's been decades since I read any of them, and of course the ones I read were the two popular additions Ali Baba and Aladdin (I know the genie references the god of the djinni...apparently a roc's egg...because...that makes sense?). I think the original stories must have been polytheistic, but I don't know how they were set down. Anyone?