The Painful Redemption of Eustace by Brittni Proffitt

The Painful Redemption of Eustace ~ By Brittni Proffitt

We all commit sins and assume all we must do to be forgiven is to say a little prayer, but it isn’t that easy. We must work for it and prove ourselves to the one we are asking forgiveness from. It is hard and tedious. We will fall, but we will rise, dust ourselves off, and continue along the path of forgiveness. In C.S Lewis’s, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Eustace faces the same challenge we all do and loses the battle we are all fighting. He gives into the monster inside and becomes it. He will have and suffer to get his redemption because it is rarely simple and never easy.

When Eustace turns into the dragon he was on the inside, he immediately realizes what he has done wrong. Like Eustace so many of us never understand how wrong it is to give into the temptation until it is too late. We try to convince ourselves that it wouldn’t be so bad until we go along with it. We immediately realize we’ve done wrong, and we try so desperately to fix it ourselves. We’d do anything to make it right again.

Eustace does try to make everything right by being helpful and just doing what he can. He helps fly them around the island, cut down trees, and hunt food for his crewmates (Lewis 101-102). He wants them to accept him more than ever because of what he has done to himself. When we do something wrong, we attempt to help everyone in hope that they will turn around and give us a helping hand. Because if there is one thing we will always figure out, it is that we can never get ourselves out of our sin alone. Remember though not just anyone will do, they must care for us to be able to truly help us. They will help us shed our invisible beastly self.

Eustace is not as lucky as us because he now outwardly reflects our inner selves. He is forced to change into the beast hiding in all of us. If we turned into beasts when we sinned, it would cause us to sin less. Especially since both Eustace and we humans hate being burdens to those we care about and the people around us. Eustace felt like a turn burden now because of his huge unsightly form. He knew he was troubling them because he overheard his crewmates speaking of him, “Would towing him be any good? […] But how are we going to feed him?” (104). He heard the last one most of all, and it hurt him. It ate at him (104). Eustace was running out of hope quickly and was about to gain the help