Danielle Hawkins: the character of Eustace

     In the Voyage of the Dawn Treader we are introduced to Eustace Scrubb, he was said to deserve this name (7). We can see throughout this book that the character of Eustace was selfish and rotten. He only cared for himself and often got into arguments and fights with members of the crew, especially Reepicheep, one of the most selfless individuals. Reepicheep gave Eustace no pass for his awful character and this cause Eustace a lot of grief. When given the opportunity to act in full accord of his character he took the opportunity to become his worst self, a dragon. Eustace realized that his selfishness removed him even further from the crew and he no longer wanted the material items he thought would satisfy his needs/desires. I thought it was interesting when Aslan showed up and beaconed Eustace to follow him. Before Eustace could enter the well, Aslan required him to undress himself. (I am curious as to what the well represents). But one of the most profound parts of all the books was the scene of Eustace undressing himself. It was described that he tried to peal off layers and layers of skin abut never was able to undress himself. Insert Aslan. "You will have to let me undress you" (86). Aslan proceeds to use his claws to, in one single go, peal off the dragon skin that is covering Eustace. This is a powerful scene. Eustace was unable to change fully without the help of Aslan. When the change did occur, it was painful yet had pleasure in it. Habits in our life run deep, like roots. Without Aslan, Eustace is unable to become his true self. A relationship with Christ works the same way. When we(as believers) have self reflection we realize how bent we are as humans and then we try to change. We fail every time. We can't rely on our selves to change. We have to lean into the one that saves. While it is painful, it creates a beautiful new person. 

Without the help of Aslan, I would be interested to see what would of happened with Eustace. I wonder how relationships with the crew played out after. Was it hard for them to trust and be in relationship with this new version of Eustace? Did Lewis use this character development from a testimony of his own life or where did he get this inspiration from? 

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