Edmunds calls Eustace Clarence Scrubb a "record stinker." The narrator says of Eustace, "I can't tell you how his friends spoke to him, for he had none." When he learns that Lucy and Edmund will be staying in his home, Eustace delights in thoughts of how he will torment them and make them miserable.

When Eustace ends up on the Dawn Treader, he almost immediately causes problems: he swings Reepicheep around by the tail and then is surprised when the mouse takes after him with a rapier. Eustace apologizes to Reepicheep, though for the wrong reasons. This may be his first step toward reform. He manages to make enemies of everyone on the Dawn Treader. When they drop anchor at Dragon Island, being lazy, he decides to simply slip away to avoid work, climbing up a hillside in the forest.

According to the narrator, "This showed...