The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Awe and Amazement Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #7

Once or twice before, the Narnians had wondered whether the sun at its rising did not look bigger in these seas than it had looked at home. This time they were certain. There was no mistaking it. And the brightness of its ray on the dew and on the table was far beyond any morning brightness they had ever seen. And as Edmund said afterwards, "Though lots of things happened on that trip which sound more exciting, that moment was really the most exciting." For now they knew that they had truly come to the beginning of the end of the world. (14.3)

The truly exciting events in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader aren't the battles with sea serpents or the struggles against invisible enemies. The most striking thing that happens to Edmund and the others on this journey is realizing how close they are getting to something sacred and powerful at the end of the world.

Quote #8

Very soon after they had left Ramandu's country they began to feel that they had already sailed beyond the world. All was different. For one thing they all found that they were needing less sleep. One did not want to go to bed nor to eat much, nor even to talk except in low voices. Another thing was the light. There was too much of it. The sun when it came up each morning looked twice, if not three times, its usual size. And every morning (which gave Lucy the strangest feeling of all) the huge white birds, singing their song with human voices in a language no one knew, streamed overhead and vanished astern on their way to their breakfast at Aslan's Table. A little later they came flying back and vanished into the east. (15.1)

The last stage of the Dawn Treader's voyage to the east has a timeless, dreamlike quality. The travelers no longer need to divide their day into rest and wakefulness or observe set mealtimes.

Quote #9

And one by one everybody on board drank. And for a long time they were all silent. They felt almost too well and strong to bear it; and presently they began to notice another result. As I have said before, there had been too much light ever since they left the island of Ramandu – the sun too large (though not too hot), the sea too bright, the air too shining. Now, the light grew no less – if anything, it increased – but they could bear it. They could look straight up at the sun without blinking. They could see more light than they had ever seen before. And the deck and the sail and their own faces and bodies became brighter and brighter and every rope shone. (15.47)

Aslan knows what he's doing – just when it seems like the crew of the Dawn Treader is going to be overwhelmed by the glory of the sun at the end of the world, he provides them with magic water that helps them to bear its power.