Do You Know Aslan?

…said Eustace, “But who is Aslan? Do you know him?”

“Well- he knows me,” said Edmund…

-The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Why does Edmund say that Aslan knows him but he doesn’t know Aslan? The Chronicles of Narnia are an allegory for parts of the Bible, and it is most pronounced in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Aslan represents Jesus, the stone table represents the cross where Jesus/Aslan died. You

get the point. Eustace meets Aslan when he is a dragon, and Aslan helps him turn back into a boy.

I think I can make a comparison with the Bible in what Edmund says. Edmund says that Aslan knows him, but he doesn't say that he knows Aslan. God knows everyone. He created everyone, but the lines get fuzzy when it come to you knowing God.

For instance, I believe that there is a God, that there is only one God, but I wouldn’t say that I know God. I would say that I know there is a god, but do I know God as a person, as a being? Not really. God has no beginning and no end, God is eternal, God is creator of Heaven and Earth, and humans don’t really have the ability to comprehend that. I think this is what C. S. Lewis is getting at in this piece of the story. That’s why Edmund says that Aslan knows him, but Edmund doesn't really know Aslan.

By Aurora J. A. Pass

C. S. Lewis and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Clive Staples Lewis was born on November 29, 1898 in Belfast, Ireland. C. S. Lewis is a writer, poet, and author of the popular book series, "The Chronicles of Narnia." He was best friends with J. R. R. Tolkien, and they both worked at Oxford University.

C. S. Lewis and his scholarly friends formed a sort of literary analysis group called the Inklings. The people who attended were J. R. R. Tolkien, Nevill Coghill, Lord David Cecil, Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, and Warren Lewis. C. S. Lewis married Joy Davidman in 1956. He died on the 22 of November, 1963.

While he was alive, C. S. Lewis wrote the Chronicles of Narnia. One of those is The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, published in 1952. The first edition of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader had 223 pages, which I think is cool to know. The US edition of the book has 52,038 words. It was the third book to published in the seven book series, though the order in which people chose to read the Chronicles varies. It is the fifth book chronologically in the story. So, some people chose to read it in that order. I haven't read all the books yet, and therefore I don't have an opinion on what order they go in yet.

Sources:

• "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Voyage_of_the_Dawn_Treader>.

• "C. S. Lewis." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis>.

By Aurora J. A. Pass