Boring. Blah. Ungood.
Lewis shows us countless things in Out of the Silent Planet - the personalities of the main characters, the overwhelming heavens, the sublime landscape, and more.
Find a specific moment in the text when Lewis 'shows' us something about either a character or a setting. Be sure to include the phrase from the text (referenced with page number) and then tell us (...yes, it's okay to tell us...) what exactly that reference shows us.
Comments are due by this Thursday (9-13) at noon.
C.S. Lewis is a man of eloquent and beautiful descriptions; he paints a picture with words that one can visibly see in their mind as they are reading. On page 41 Lewis writes, “Suddenly the lights of the Universe seemed to be turned down. As if some demon had rubbed the heaven’s face with a dirty sponge, the splendor in which they had lived for so long blenched to a pallid, cheerless and pitiable grey.”
ReplyDeleteThis passage is written when Ransom first encounters Malacandra. Through this passage, Lewis is setting the scene for a cold, dark and terrifying new world filled with unimaginable aliens. Ransom had just lived in a “splendor” of beautiful lights, in which he chose to observe rather than sleep, and then the light is gone in a flash; this quick change can be associated with death and destruction. All of the words that Lewis chose to use have a negative connotation, such as, “demon,” “dirty sponge,” and “cheerless and pitiable grey.” The last sentence in this quote may foreshadow what is coming to the men on Malacandra, but the main purpose of this line is to build suspense and put the reader in Ransom’s shoes.
C.S. Lewis describes all the glory and wonder of the heavens in beautiful terminology by giving vivid pictures and phrases that can be imagined by the reader. On page 35 Lewis writes that while Ransom is on the side of the ship which is in an "endless night" he looks at the space around him and observes the sky, when he observed the stars he said they were, "thick as daisies on an uncut lawn, reigned perpetually with no cloud, no moon, no sunrise, to dispute their sway." Lewis doesn't just describe the stars as plentiful or brilliant which would simply be telling us, he shows us an image of the stars. An image or a million beautiful daisies scattered on an uncut lawn. This imagery shows me a picture of a field overwhelmed with daisies in no specific order. Thanks to Lewis, I can see the sky filled and overgrown with stars everywhere. Lewis shows us the splendor, magnitude, and randomness of the stars at which he looks on the ship and he doesn't ever use that terminology. He leaves the reader to draw their own conclusions and images about the daisies and then the stars.
ReplyDeleteIn “Out of the Silent Planet”, C.S Lewis describes the setting of outer space to be “planets of unbelievable majesty, and constellations undreamed of: there were celestial sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and pin pricks of burning gold” (33). Lewis defines how glorious and rich outer space looks like to Ransom. When Lewis writes about this setting, he shows us that this reference to space is royal, that is filled with sapphires and emeralds that are gleaming. When I read this description, I imagined a King’s palace filled with jewels and unimaginable treasures. Especially when Lewis said “pinpricks of burning gold”, I could just picture the gold, so shiny, it would hurt my eyes. Lewis continues on page 33, describing how earth looked like in contrast to this majestic outer space. He shows us that earth is “undimensioned, enigmatic blackness” (33). When I read that phrase, it seemed so insignificant and negative in comparison to outer space. There wasn’t much to see about it since he described it as “blackness”, I thought it was a very interesting contrast to outer space. Lewis clearly uses description to capture audience and allow them to further imagine what outer space looks like.
ReplyDeleteOn page 34, C.S. Lewis writes, “Now that the very name, “Space” seemed a blasphemous libel for this empyrean ocean of radiance in which they swam. He could not call it “dead”; he felt life pouring into him from every moment.” While Ransom tries desperately to make sense of his surroundings, his views of space as dark, desolate and lifeless are deemed a “blasphemous libel” for the unbelievable brightness that resulted in inexplicable lightheartedness.
ReplyDeleteAs Ransom is contemplating the validity of conventional views of the heavens and the planets, I feel that he is realizing the true vastness of the universe in a way that is impossible from earth. To realize that you are an insignificant spec in a universe that is larger than comprehension and older than time would, I am sure, be a very humbling experience. After that passage, Lewis extends the explanation of the “empyrean ocean of radiance” as the “womb of worlds”. Ransom relates his feelings of “life pouring into him at every moment” to these realizations. His insights on where he stands in the vastness of the universe and his awe at experiencing the “womb” from which all life came from, allow him to feel that joy.
In contrast to Ransom’s spiritual explanation, Weston has a scientific basis for Ransom’s exultations. However, it seems to me that Weston does not truly feel lighthearted as Ransom does. This is likely due to Weston being close minded to anything that is not based in scientific fact. This is incredibly ironic to me as Weston had called Ransom narrow minded, but it is now Weston who is not able to truly understand and experience the power of the heavens (29).
C.S. Lewis undoubtedly had a way with words, and he was able to transform them into intricately imagined worlds. "The stalks-one could hardly call them trunks-rose smooth and round, and surprisingly thin, for about forty feet: above that, the huge plants opened into a sheaf-like development, not of branches but of leaves, leaves large as lifeboats but nearly transparent. The whole thing corresponded roughly to his idea of a submarine forest: the plants, at once so large and so frail, seemed to need water to support them, and he wondered that they could hang in the air. Lower down, between the stems, he saw the vivid purple twilight, mottled with paler sunshine, which made up the internal scenery of the wood." (45)
ReplyDeleteHis elaborate descriptions allow the reader to vicariously take in the sights that Ransom is experiencing upon landing on Malacandra. Rather than glossing over the depictions of the vegetation, he gives metaphorical explanations to show us the movements and textures of the scene. Knowing the subtle details gives the setting a more realistic quality. Lewis uses things we know to tell us about the things we don't. He compares the gigantic leaves to the size of lifeboats, and brings us underwater to illustrate the lower gravitational pull of the planet, and to show us the thinness and frailty of the leaves. He takes the ordinary native plants and brings a mystical and ethereal quality to them using nothing but words, and creates a believable planet.
C.S. Lewis is a master of description. Usually paragraphs of in-depth explanations of scenery bore me and I find myself skimming through the words until I find dialogue again. However, I find myself greatly enjoying the way that he depicts this new world and the creatures the inhabit it. Everything we encounter in this book is brand new, and C.S. Lewis has the rather difficult job of trying to explain ideas never before seen of or heard of by his audience.
ReplyDeleteI think his ability shines through best when describing the creatures of Malacandra. Our first encounter of the hross on page 55, C.S. Lewis describes it as, “…a round, shining, black thing like a cannon-ball… a puffing mouth bearded with bubbles…it was gleaming black...six or seven feet high and too thin for its height…a coat of thick black hair, lucid as seal-skin, very short legs with webbed feet, a broad beaver-like or fish-like tail, strong forelimbs with webbed claws or fingers…it was something like a penguin, something like an otter, something like a seal, the slenderness and flexibility or the body suggested a giant stoat…”
I love how he uses Earthly creatures to give a general picture of what these aliens look like. Then he builds on these basics by elaborating on the details. At no point does it seem over-the-top or boring when he goes into these specifics about the hross’s appearance. On the contrary, I find myself eager to read more descriptions to get a better picture in my head. I really love the way that C.S. Lewis has a way of showing us what he wants to, in a non-standard and wonderful way.
Lewis writes, “It was foolish, frightening, ecstatic and unbearable all in one moment. It was more than curiosity. It was like a courtship, like the meeting of the first man and the first woman in the world; it was like something beyond that; so natural is the contact of sexes, so limited the strangeness, so shallow the reticence, so mild the repugnance to be overcome, compared with the first tingling intercourse of two different, but rational, species” (57).
ReplyDeleteIn this descriptive paragraph Lewis describes Ransom’s first encounter with a strange creature on planet Malacandra. This creature is a big, black beast standing right in front of Ransom. Both species’ curiosity keeps them frozen right in front of each other, instead of fleeing in the opposite direction fearing their new discovery. Soon after, the two become comfortable with each other, teaching their language, while the beast gives Ransom food and drink.
Lewis's repetitive usage of certain words like “It was like” and “so” start all of the numerous examples describing the specific moment Ransom first met the creature Hross. Lewis’s descriptions allow readers to picture the setting of these two species on this beautiful planet. Instead of giving small details, Lewis elaborates on the descriptions to show a more realistic setting.
While reading “Out of the Silent Planet”, I find myself skimming all the descriptions the first time through, but then when I realize how much I’m skimming I reread everything, and find C.S Lewis’ vocabulary creating vivid images. I get bored with books when this is the case however, I find myself intrigued with the wording and descriptors in this case. All of the imagined settings and species come to life because he relates everything to things that are familiar to us. A passage that sticks out to me is, “He tried one of the “trees” with his knife. As he expected, it was toughly soft like a vegetable. Not hard like wood.” I found this interesting because we would imagine a tree being very tough and not able to just cut with a knife but with this terminology we can imagine what it looks like and then comparing it to the texture of a vegetable allows us to use our sense of touch as well as sight. He goes on to write, “When he put it in his mouth he found it almost tasteless but by no means disagreeable, and for some minutes munched away contentedly. But he made no progress. The stuff was quite unswallowable and could only be used as chewing-gum.” This creates a very vivid image, and can allow the reader to know exactly how this “tree” taste, which is involving the readers sense of taste. In these short few sentences Lewis addresses the sense of sight, touch, and taste which really allows the reader to imagine exactly what is happening.
ReplyDeleteIn Out of The Silent Planet, C. S. Lewis does use many events where he makes sure that his words convey his meaning, even if they are not in the simplest terms. In chapter eight, on page 49, Lewis says this, “He remembered that the waves on the blue lakes had displayed a similar oddity. And glancing up at the purple leaves he saw the same theme of perpendicularity-the same rush to the sky-repeated there.” I like how he does not say that everything was a different shape than on Earth because that would be too easy. Lewis says that there was something odd about it all. Also, he says in a bracketed out section, that the plants rushed to the sky. I feel that he is saying they are on a mission to get to the top as fast as they can. This little sentence could even foreplay what may come ahead. There may be something in a later chapter when Ransom has to get to the top of the mountain as fast as he can to escape the sorns. Another way to think about this sentence is that it could be talking about God. When something is tall and reaching far into the sky the first thing that pops into my mind is God, because God is in Heaven. Also, God wants everything to be different and have its own identity, but also be similar so everyone can relate to each other. Then on Malacandra everything is a different shape than Ransom is use too, but everything is closely similar to the same shape as each other.
ReplyDeleteOn page 54, in chapter nine, C. S. Lewis describes what a sorn looks like to Ransom. He writes, “He recognized it instantly as it moved slowly (and, he thought, stealthily) between two of the denuded plant-tops-the giant stature, the cadaverous leanness, the long, drooping, wizard-like profile of a sorn.” He is trying to explain what a sorn can be compared to. There are many different options and Ransom cannot just pick one. It is interesting to me because a wizard-like profile is nothing what I would compare to being long, drooping or a giant. So I almost feel that in this part Lewis is making a contradiction. When I think of a giant or cadaverous look, I think of an ogre, not a wizard. Lewis then goes on to state, “The head appeared to be narrow and conical; the hands or paws with which it parted the stems before it as it moved were thin, mobile, spidery and almost transparent.” This is hard to all imagine because there are so many different options to choose from, but that is what makes it great. Any one person could come up with their own image of what a sorn looks like because of all the different depictions. Also in this sentence there is something to compare the height too, the stems of the plants. That means that the creature is tall but it could also be thought of as a human being in a Christmas tree farm. A human is as tall but does not always reach the top of the trees. Also, when he says the hands are transparent, it makes me think that the entire creature is transparent, and that may be why Ransom did not notice it as easily when he was first looking around at the scenery. Lewis gives these sorns many comparisons to other things, but with these comparisons also comes different tools of making its-self into a “bad” creature. For example the line says it has spidery like hands and some spiders are venomous. This is a way to describe the character but to also give it many apparatuses to paint the picture of it being a dangerous character.
C. S. Lewis knows how to use language and how to convey a picture in one sentence. He can do this based of what words he uses. If a person is using simple words to describe something, it may take a few sentences rather than just one. I think throughout the book there are many occasions when the imagery and the words chosen are perfect for what point Lewis wants to get across.
On page 43, chapter seven, Ransom makes one of his first descriptions of this new world they have arrived to. He says, “His first impression was of a bright, pale world-a water colour world out of a child’s paint box; a moment later he recognized the flat belt of light blue as a sheet of water, or of something like water, which came nearly to his feet. “ Lewis does an excellent job of showing the reader what Ransom is seeing, rather than just telling the reader. He could of said that Ransom stepped out of the ship and it was really bright and they were on a lake. Instead, he uses the description of water colour paint. When I think of water colour paintings I think of soft calming colors. I think of everything blending together in a very natural way. Also the way that he says it’s out of a child’s paint box makes me think of this place as a fantasy land. The reader feels happy and in awe just as Ransom is feeling.
ReplyDeleteC.S. Lewis shows time and time again in this book that the landscape can take on objects that make it much easier to understand. On page 54, for instance, he describes the mountains Ransom sees. “They were something like pylons in shape, but solid; irregular in height and grouped in an apparently haphazard and disorderly fashion. Some ended in points that looked from where he stood as sharp as needles, while others, after narrowing towards the summit, expanded again into knobs or platforms that seemed to his terrestrial eyes ready to fall at any moment.” In this passage, he gave me the visual image of a pylon on the goal line in football to describe the mountains, which made it much easier to read. This helped me clearly imagine the shape of the mountain and grasp Ransom’s surroundings with him. Then he says “sharp as needles,” which again gives a visual image of how pointy they are. “Knobs and platforms” gave me the visualization of a rock climbing wall with the knobs being your hand holds and the platforms being momentary ledges to rest before the climb continued. I believe the mentioning of these “knobs and platforms” might foreshadow him trying to climb the mountain in order to find food, run from the sorns, escape Devine and Weston, etc. The warning I see though is that these things are “ready to fall at any moment.” This could make for a very interesting and nerve-racking scene if he indeed decides to go up the mountain. Overall, Lewis shows us how the mountains can be described in terms of other familiar objects. This familiarity then might tell us that the mountains will draw Ransom in throughout the book and could be ultimately fatal.
ReplyDelete“The light was paler than any light comparable intensity that he had ever seen; it was not pure white but the palest of all imaginable golds, and it cast shadows as sharp as a floodlight. The heat, utterly free from moisture, seemed to knead and stroke the skin like a gigantic masseur: it produced no tendency to drowsiness: rather, intense alacrity.” (31) Lewis is explaining the light he sees shining onto their spacecraft and the heat he is feeling from this light. Lewis describes this light with great detail and doesn’t simply state, “the light was bright,” but rather a detailed description of the color as well as the size. The heat Lewis describes is free from humidity and is described as having a soothing and relaxing power. Lewis paints a picture of light and heat as if they are palpable objects rather than rays and energy.
ReplyDeleteC.S. Lewis is a master of characterization and descriptions. By using both techniques, Lewis is able to paint a picture of Random’s former colleague Devine.
ReplyDeleteLewis gives us an intriguing introduction to Devine and Weston at the beginning of Chapter 2 (p. 17).
“…windows were shuttered and curtainless, the floor was uncarpeted and strewn with packing-cases, shavings, newspapers and boots, and the wallpaper showed the stains left by the pictures and furniture of the previous occupants. On the other hand, the only two armchairs were of the costliest type, and in the litter which covered the tables, cigars, oyster-shells and empty champagne-bottles jostled with tins of condensed milk and opened sardine-tins, with cheap-crockery, broken bread, and teacups a quarter full of tea and cigarette-ends.”
This paragraph makes us curious to what kind of man Devine is. Lewis gives us a direct contradiction that occupies the same space. Devine obviously has money, but his living situation is a sty; perhaps this man is a hedonist. Ransom notes the quality of the armchairs along with other costly luxury items.
As we keep reading, a clearer picture of Devine falls into place. Devine is shallow and “flashy (p. 17)”. With this background and his lifestyle, Devine feels somewhat of an unsavory character. It’s clear that the extravagant items are Devine’s, while the items of bare necessity such as the condensed milk and the opened sardine cans belonged to the remaining partner, Weston. Weston, however, still remains a mystery to us at this point of the story.
The reader is left wondering what brought the two men who on the surface have no common ground together and how Ransom now fits in the picture.
In “Out of the Silent Planet” author C.S. Lewis uses detailed and sophisticated language to tell his story. Because each sentence is so rich with descriptive words, I often have to read each section two times to completely absorb each detail. Though Lewis’s portrayals of sights and sounds are exemplary, in my opinion his descriptions are most powerful when he is detailing the thoughts and feelings of his characters. On page 27, Lewis not only describes his character’s fear with incredible detail, but explains it in terms that is relatable to the reader. “The fear itself possessed his whole mind, a formless, infinite misgiving… ‘you mean we-re—in space’ Ransom uttered the words with difficulty as a frightened child speaks of ghosts or a frightened man of cancer,” (27). This account by Lewis fully details the fear Ransom is feeling. Lewis details that Ransom has no certainty in his future, which is part of why the fear is so horribly crippling. The fear Ransom has of being in outer space is crippling, to the point where he can barely think or speak. The comparisons Lewis draws to a child fearing ghosts, or a grown man fearing cancer made the description of the fear relatable. We all know what it feels like to be home alone at night for the first time, fearing ghosts.
ReplyDeleteI often have to re-read large portions of this book, but it is worth it because of the fantastic details C.S. Lewis provides.
In “Out of The Silent Planet” C.S. Lewis uses such descriptive words that it makes you feel like you are there in the scene. On page 54, Lewis says, “They were something like pylons in shape, but solid; irregular in height and grouped in an apparently haphazard and disorderly fashion. Some ended in points that looked from where he stood as sharp as needles, while others, after narrowing towards the summit, expanded again into knobs or platforms that seemed to his terrestrial eyes ready to fall at any moment. He noticed that the sides were rougher and more seamed with fissures than he had realized at first, and between two of them he saw a motionless line of twisting blue brightness – obviously a distant fall of water.” Lewis uses these colorful words to paint you a vivid picture of the mountains that Ransom was seeing before him. When reading this passage I can clearly depict the mountains with sharp edges and either a very pointed top or flat one. The description of the mountaintops being sharp as needles makes me wonder what these “needles” have in store for Ransom throughout the rest of the book. I can also see the waterfall flowing between the mountains and can almost hear the water rushing over the side of the rough mountain. Lewis uses impeccable words to paint such a picture in your mind throughout the entire book so that the reader can understand and visualize the message that he is trying to convey.
ReplyDelete“He had slept warm, though his clothes were damp, and found himself lying in sunlight, the blue waterfall at his side dancing and coruscating with every transparent shade in the whole gamut of blue and flinging strange lights far up to the underside of the forest leaves.”
ReplyDeleteThis is the description on page 52, as Ransom is waking up from his first night spend on the Malacandra. In this sentence, I think that C.S. Lewis is trying to communicate two things to us: the beauty of the ‘water’ and the necessity of it. The phrase “coruscating with every transparent shade in the whole gamut of blue” talks about the many different shades of blue that is refracted when the sunlight hits the liquid. On Earth, waterfalls are appreciated for their natural beauty and power. Lewis is trying to catch this same idea of natural splendor. Ransom has already admitted to thinking that the landscape is beautiful. Rainbows are often formed by the fragmenting of light as it shines through the water, adding to the aesthesis. “Dancing” is also a rather joyful term that is being used to briefly personify the water. In a sense, water does have life. As can be read in passages before and after this point in the book, we know that creatures live in the lakes. Ransom sleeps by the water because it provides him with warmth from the cold night and also quenches his thirst so he does not die of dehydration. People settling new areas, like America, built their homes along waterways because they provide food, water, and transportation. This is the reason for the early settlements on the banks of the Mississippi River; water was necessary for life. Ransom may very well be the first human to walk over this terrain (as far as we know). He is an explorer. The water also serves as something familiar. Ransom can understand the purpose of the water while the purpose of certain types of vegetation or animals may take longer for him to puzzle out.
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ReplyDeleteIn Out of the Silent Planet, C. S. Lewis uses his vivid vocabulary to paint a description of the landscape. When Ransom is on Malacandra, he explores and Lewis takes this opportunity do in depth about the details landscape. Lewis describes the landscape as “needling shapes of pale green, thousands of feet high, with sheets of dazzling blue soda-water, and acres of rose-red soapsuds.” (46) When reading “sheets of dazzling blue soda-water” I can picture in my mind, a clear blue waterfall. When the waterfalls and lands into a body of water, it foams up like all white and bubbly just like when a Coke is poured into a glass, and the foams floats up to the top. The “needling shapes of play green, thousands of feet high” reminds me of pine trees that cover mountains in the far distance, surrounding the waterfall. The “acres of rose-red soapsuds” make me imagine small wildflowers that grow growing around the body of water where the waterfall is. I think that since no one knew much about outer space when this book was written, Lewis took creative liberties by describing other planets colorfully while still being relatable to earth.
ReplyDeleteOne of C.S. Lewis' most enchanting descriptions was well presented to me on page 54. Ransom had just seen the tall creatures similar to giraffes and had moved on in search of food when he came upon ‘the same greenish-white objects which he had seen across the lake at their first landing.’ Furthermore C.S. Lewis was more descriptive of the objects at this time as Ransom was close to the base of them.
ReplyDelete“He noticed that the sides were rougher and more seamed with fissures than he had realized at first, and between two of them he saw a motionless line of twisting blue brightness—obviously a distant fall of water. It was this which finally convinced him that the things, in spite of their improbable shape, were mountains; and with that discovery the mere oddity of the prospect was swallowed up in the fantastic sublime. Here, he understood, was the full statement of the perpendicular theme which beast and plant and earth all played on Malacandra—here in this riot of rock, leaping and surging skyward like solid jets from some rock-fountain, and hanging by their own lightness in the air, so shaped, so elongated, that all terrestrial mountains must ever after seem to him to be mountains lying on their sides.”
From the distance when Ransom first arrived on the planet he was unable to describe the objects. Once he was much closer he noticed that for the planet of Malacandra that these objects were mountains. The mountains are essentially single entities that are grouped around each other. All differ in shape, size, and in height but all take on a perpendicular form extending high into the sky like narrow columns. He also points out that the formations are rough with grooves and deep furrows and he notices what seems to him to be a waterfall in the distance of one of the formations. Based on all Ransom’s further observations of these mountains and of Malacandra’s other earth formations, animals, and plants, all follow a theme of being exceptionally tall as well as being thin and slender. At the end of this description Ransom then changes the comparison of Malacandra’s landscape to Earth’s by referencing that Earth’s mountains are simple that of the mountains on Malacandra but are simply resting on their sides.
In this book, particularly, C.S. Lewis is highly descriptive of new things to the readers by making great comparisons of forms and objects we already identify with. As a result readers have a better understanding and can easily picture the landscape in his or her imagination.
The light of the huge moon – if it was a moon – had by now illuminated his surroundings almost as clearly as if it were day. It was a very strange room. The floor was so small that the bed and a table besides it occupied the whole width of it: the ceiling seemed to be nearly twice as wide and the walls sloped outwards as they rose, so that Ransom had the impression of lying at the bottom of a deep and narrow wheelbarrow.
ReplyDeleteThe result was beyond doubt: all the walls looked as if they sloped outwards so as to make the room wider at the ceiling than it was at the floor, but each wall as you stood beside it turned out to be perfectly perpendicular-not only to sight but to touch also if one stooped down and examined with one’s fingers the angle between it and the floor. The same examination revealed two other facts. The room was walled and floored with metal, and was in a state of continuous faint vibration-a silent vibration with a strangely life-like and unmechanical quality about it. But if the vibration was silent, there was plenty of noise going on-a series of musical raps or percussions at quite irregular intervals which seemed to come from the ceiling.
This is the description of the room that Ransom wakes up in on page 25. There are two parts to it, but it’s describing the same place, as the 2nd part is an addition to the first. The description of this room is very clear about what it says and forms a great picture in the reader’s head. However, it’s still mysterious enough that it leaves the reader wondering about the room and wanting to learn more. The reader knows the room is a little odd, but they aren’t sure what it is yet and want to continue reading.
There are many times during C.S. Lewis’s novel, Out of the Silent Planet when he goes to great lengths to truly portray exactly what he means to convey regarding different characters and settings. One such occurrence came from the mind of Ransom while he was observing his “old friend” Devine. “Ransom, who was very thirsty indeed by now, observed that his host was one of those irritating people who forget to use their hands when they begin talking.” (p18) I found this description of Devine’s behavior to be very telling for many reasons. The first time I read this passage, I thought to myself, “I’ve never found someone who doesn’t use their hands while talking to be exceedingly irritating.” Reading back over it, this description shows just how much Ransom deep down disliked Devine. To find such a miniscule aspect of his behavior to be so irritable that it deserved mention shows that Ransom still has some pent up frustrations with Devine. Chances are, with someone he had just met or was fond of, Ransom would not find such behavior to be so appalling.
ReplyDelete"It seemed to Ransom that he had never looked out on such a frosty night. Pulsing with brightness as with some unbearable pain or pleasure, clustered in pathless and countless multitudes, dreamlike in clarity, blazing in perfect blackness, the stars seized all his attention, troubled him, excited him, and drew him up to a sitting position."(25)
ReplyDeleteThis passage foreshadows the connection that Ransom has with the sky and what is beyond the sky. He is so intrigued by the sky and it has so many different emotional meanings to him.
C.S. Lewis can describe a setting or a character like no other author I have ever read. He has a way of describing the detail so in depth that he pulls your attention in and forces you to see what he is describing. I noticed a lot of passages about light and darkness. On page 31 Lewis says, “The light was paler tan any light of comparable intensity that he had ever seen; it was no pure white but the palest of all imaginable golds, and it cast shadows as shard as a floodlight.” Ransom is describing his current state on the ship. He is confused because he always believed that space was dark, but he never thought about the sun. The reference shows you that space isn’t as dark as everyone believes. Space is stuck at the “changeless noon” (31). Because of C.S. Lewis, I am able to visualize what it feels like to look in space. Ransom is having a hard time seeing and believing what he is looking at. I believe this quote is just the beginning of describing what this brightness truly is and what is represents. Light and darkness plays a big role in Out of the Silent Planet.
ReplyDeleteWhen Lewis shows us the Hross when Ransom first meets it (not sure yet of gender or if it even has a gender.) “a round, shining, black thing like a cannon-ball came into sight.” Giving us a comparison to something as it comes out of the water. Then Lewis gives more by writing that it was black, up to 6 to 7 feet tall, has a coat of thick black hair, and webbed hands and feet. (55) It gave me a picture of a giant sea otter with a beaver tail. Later he goes on about how the hross is like a man in some ways, just abominable. But it is also like an animal and it is at this part I don’t see that since man is an animal too. (59) This part shows us a new character being introduced into the story through Ransom’s eyes. Lewis could have just come out and said it is a giant otter, but takes out the fun of us trying to figure it out for ourselves. -Paige Landis
ReplyDeleteLewis has a remarkable ability to simply describe a setting. "He had slept warm, though his clothes were damp, and found himself lying in sunlight, the blue waterfall at his side dancing and coruscating with every transparent shadow in the whole gamut of blue and flinging strange lights far up to the underside of the forest leaves." Simply outstanding. However, his description is not only of where Ransom is waking up, no matter how stunning the setting is, he is also showing us how Ransom feels when he wakes up. Ransom wakes up warm, but confused, as showed by the strange dancing light being cast by the waterfall. Lewis also wants to show how Ransom feels "a whole gamut of blue," which is a color usually associated with calmness or relaxation. Ransom was able to escape from his jailors; but now he must face the unknown. He must face the forest.
ReplyDeletePG 52...
DeleteIn "Out of the Silent Planet," C.S. Lewis uses extensive and eloquent descriptions of settings, people, and situations such that the reader and truly experience the story. Based on the time in which this book was written, there was limited knowledge of outer space and potential life on other planets. Because of this, Lewis needed to paint the picture of outer space with words, since no one knew what it was otherwise.
ReplyDeleteOne passage that particularly stood out to me was when Ransom was describing his view of outer space. "There were planets of unbelievable majesty, and constellations undreamed of: there were celestial sapphires, rubies, emeralds and pinpricks of burning gold; far out on the left of the picture hung a comet, tiny and remote: and between all and behind all, far more emphatic and palpable than it showed on Earth, the undimensioned, enigmatic blackness" (Lewis 33).
This passage shows the true depth of Lewis' abilities, not only as a writer, but as a storyteller. The reader experiences the ship slowly getting further and further away from Earth, and what it is to see something this magnanimous and new for the very first time.
In the first chapter of the book C.S. Lewis does a great job giving us a small snap shot of our main corrector Ransom, “He was tall, but a little round-shouldered, about thirty-five to forty years of age, and dressed with that particular kind of shabbiness which marks a member of the intelligentsia on a holiday." Chapter 1, p. 7.
ReplyDeleteIn this short description Lewis gives us just enough information to get a little picture in our heads but leaves plenty to the reader to decide exactly how they want him to look.
Lewis is a writer unlike any author I have ever read before. He takes ordinary plainly written sentences and makes them feel like a form of poetry. Although his writing may be complexly written it is still understandable from a child's perspective. On page 38 he writes "Like many men of his own age, he rather underestimate than overestimate his own courage, the gap between boyhood's dreams and his actual experience of the War had been startling, and his own subsequent view of his own unheroic qualities had perhaps swung to far in the wrong direction.". In one sentence we are able to learn so much about the past of the character Ransom. We are also able to see how Ransom thinks and the events in his past that influence his thinking differently than in childhood. Lewis is able to reflect how Ransom is like many men his own age but he also is able to make a general statement more personalized. Lewis could have stated that "like most men he underestimates his own courage due to the journey of life". On page 28 Lewis even portrays a glance at his writing technique, " If it makes you happy to repeat words that don't mean anything- which is in fact, is what unscientific people want when they ask for an explanation.". Lewis shows that writing is the same way. People do not just want "dumbed" down literature, they want to be taken away with words.
ReplyDeleteLewis does a great job with his explanations. He gives the reader a great visual of something as strange as an entirely new planet. I think this book is a good example of his talent because he is trying to describe something that his readers have no previous context to understand. It is a fictional landscape that has very few features that are found on Earth. On page 43 it is the scene where Ransom, Devine, and Weston all arrive at Malacandra. Weston thinks, "He saw a pale blue sky- a fine winter-morning sky it would have been on Earth- a great billowy cumular mass of rose-colour lower down which he took for a cloud and then-"
ReplyDeleteI liked this line because he explains the sky and gives the reader something to compare it with by comparing it to a winter morning sky on Earth. Then he moves on to the next thing he is describing. By using Great billowy cumular mass, Lewis gives the reader a great description.
Lewis certainly has a way with words, and often sends out multiple messages with one phrase. At the bottom of page 43, and continued on page 44, Lewis writes "But something he learned. Before anything else he learned that Malacandra was beautiful; and he even reflected how odd it was that this possibility had never entered into his speculations about it. The same peculiar twist of imagination which led him to people the universe with monsters had somehow taught him to expect nothing on a strange planet except rocky desolation or else a network of nightmare machines."
ReplyDeleteMost obviously, this is telling us that Malacandra is beautiful. It's also alluding to the fact that, though we haven't met the Malacandrian people yet, they are not monsters, in the same way that their land is not monstrous. The biggest message here is just an observation of humans i general. When exploring new places, the majority of the human race will assume that the unknown is something out of a nightmare. Basically, we are all afraid of the unknown. This makes me think of when explorers came to America. The Indians were different. They acted different, looked different, dressed different, and even spoke in a different language. Explorers assumed that they were savages. Since they did not speak the same tongue, they were dull-minded beasts. You can see this portrayed in the Disney movie Pocahontas. You don't assume the land to be beautiful, you think of what properties it may hold that will be profitable for you. It is not the same as looking at your own land and seeing a home. This is just property. Lewis is commenting on the nature of the human race to assume that anything different or unknown is scary, bad, monstrous, and there for them to do as they wish with. We are superior to all. (In our minds, at least)
“He [Ransom] noted in a dry, objective way that this was apparently to be the end of his story--caught between a sorn from the land and a big, black animal from the water”. (p.56)
ReplyDeleteRansom faces two threats: one is a sorn, which he recognizes and knows some information about from Weston and Devine, while the other Ransom calls simply a “big, black animal”. The fact that Ransom knows the name of the sorn and has some idea of the threat it poses makes it seem more familiar and less dangerous and frightening than the enigmatic big, black animal in the water. For this reason, it is the black creature that Ransom is watching and paying close attention to rather than the sorn.
The “black” color of the creature in the water is suggestive of the Unknown, because it can’t be “seen” or understood clearly. It is a complete mystery.
The “big” looming size of the creature in the water is also a symbol of the Unknown, which tends to consume more thought and worry and have a bigger presence in our minds than the Familiar, because we have no previous experience at all that we can use to solve an unfamiliar problem. In contrast, if we have an idea, even a vague idea, of the nature of a problem, we can use prior knowledge and experience to guide us in determining possible ways to solve or minimize the problem and improve the situation. Thus it’s only natural that the mind bent on self-preservation would devote more time and energy to working out a threat posed by the Unknown than the Familiar.
The fact that the creature is in water adds another element of unfamiliarity. Humans, like Ransom, are terrestrial animals and Ransom understands how to move and escape on land, even if he is on a strange planet. In contrast, a creature whose natural element is water poses unforeseeable threats and is yet another reason why that creature is likely to be more dangerous.
Ransom’s “objectiveness” and lack of panic in this situation show that he is resigned to his fate and does not intend to put up a fight against either of these creatures. Ransom is overwhelmed by Malacandra and sees death as a more favorable option than continuing to deal with the confusing, inhospitable planet he’s been brought to against his will. This attitude changes when the big, black creature begins to make articulate noises, which kindles Ransom’s passion and interest —he is a philologist and has devoted his life on Earth to studying languages. Languages are something Ransom understands well and is very familiar with. Interestingly, it is the creature’s noises that dispel Ransom’s passiveness and cause him to take action.