Out of the Silent Planet
By: C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis produced a book that conveys vivid scenery, relatable characters, and a vague but detailed plot that gave rise to a novel with wonderful clarity. Out of the Silent Planet is an account of the voyage of Ransom, a linguist, who is kidnapped and taken to another planet, Malacandra (Mars). Where he learns that Thulcandra (Earth) is called the silent planet because there has been no communication from it in years. On the voyage there he is led to believe he will be sacrificed. Instead, the creatures that inhabit the other world reveal extraordinary secrets about the nature of man and the universe to him. Ransom is ultimately sent back to Thulcandra with the two earthlings who had
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As the character Ransom walked across England the reader felt as if beside him the whole way. When he visited Mars, even with the bizarre scenery it seemed so real.
"He saw nothing but colours - colours that refused to form themselves into things. Moreover, he new nothing yet well enough to see it: you can not see things till you know roughly what they are. His first impression was a bright, pale world - a water-coloured world out of a child's paint box."
Lewis also has a gift for making strong points in his novel without making the reader feel guilty, because he uses such human characters that are filled with normal and relatable flaws. Even with the main character's name, Ransom he sends a message, because as you read this book, you will see how his name comes to play. This book is very involved and it's not a book to be taken lightly. This is a book with a lot of inner meaning. It talks about the dark side of humanity. Filled with comedy, action, suspense and science fiction. But though it's not a very long book, it really doesn't need to be.
The plot was uncertain at times but overall was detailed enough to present the over all struggle of one mans' journey through the cosmos. The transitions from one chapter to the next were very well organized. Through many weeks passes in the book, it seamed to flow into one seamless efficiently written story.
The worst thing a reader could say is that they learned nothing from reading. If a person is
In my opinion I thought that this book was a very good book. In this chapter I will describe the setting, theme, plot and conflict etc. This book had a few different settings like
In Out of the Silent Planet, Ransom is initially driven by his own human curiosity and need for survival and he questions whether these traits do him any good. It is after this that each of them face their own trials: Luke’s battles with Darth Vader and Ransom’s abduction to a new planet with strange-looking creatures. Then they face adversity and suffer. Luke suffers the loss of Obi Wan in A New Hope and his own hand in The Empire Strikes Back. Ransom suffers the death of his hrossa friend, Hyoi, and the shame of the flaws in the base human nature in comparison to the ideal nature of Melacandra’s inhabitants.
He begins to learn more about the creatures he has encountered on this land and becomes educated in their culture habits and communications. Dr. Ransom questions who is the ruler of this planet and how they are governed. He finds out that an element named “Oyarsa”, who lives in another area called “Meldilorn”, is the ruler of the entire planet population. Dr. Ransom communicates to these creatures that he must go and speak to “Oyarsa” at “Meldilorn”, which is taken over by Malacandrians. After close examination, Dr. Ransom concludes that the planet he is on is actually the real planet, Mars. Because “Oyarsa” is not a physical being, it is not visible to the human eye but can be heard. While “Oyarsa” summoned not only Dr. Ransom but also Devine and Weston were also summoned. The three men were all tempted because assumptions concluded that Devine was going to steal gold from Malacandra and bring it back to planet Earth and Weston was going to take over planet Mars. “Oyarsa” plays around with Dr. Ransom for a longer period of time to see if he becomes tempted like Devine and Weston were. Dr. Ransom was told that an animal like a version of “Oyarsa” existed at one time and was in control of the planet Earth, which was called “Thulcandra”, which in translation meant “noiseless planet” but no communication has been received that this creature was still in control of it or not. “Oyarsa” advises only Devine and Weston to return to
This shows how it seems that everything is working against Watney in his struggle to stay alive. The amazing use of suspense in this novel will keep readers entertained and
Like I said in my mid-way point journal entry, I feel that the book took a while to pull me in. I would also like to note that in the second half of the book, which I count is after the sixteenth chapter about to be the seventeenth chapter, I am being pulled in very fast. Lewis jumps right out and does not start with a small issue, such as an argument between the man and his mother. He creates very difficult situations that the man has to be careful of or he will fall into the temptation of Wormwood and join the dark side. Later, I will go more in depth with some of the big issues at hand in this book.
Although memory played a profound role in Ransom’s perception of fear, throughout Out of the Silent Planet, morality also played a decisive role in Ransom’s perception of fear. While in almost every case, Ransom’s morality allowed him to
I thought that Silent Ears, Silent Heart was an excellent book. It really gave you a full prospective of what a family and a person has to go through living a life without being able to hear sound it also helps you realize what someone has to go through that can’t hear what is going on around them. The book starts off with a couple named the Clines there’s Mr. Cline who is Jack who runs his own multimillion dollar business in a glass production. His dream is to have his son at his side and follow in his footsteps and run the family business someday. Then there’s Mrs. Cline who is Margret who is a stay at home wife that is waiting the arrival of their child.
Ransom as being a main character in the story has a very distinctive characteristic. This all begins with learning that Ransom is philologist from Cambridge University that is seeking a adventure by taking his walking journey. With being a philologist this influences his personality by him not only having a eagerness to learn but also with the drive to want to know the unknown. However this takes a tole on him in the beginning of the story when he is living in fear while on his journey to malacandra but as well as while he is there. A article relating to the explanation of Ransoms character says “Sometimes his emotions are tied to specific objects; at other times "he did not even know what he was afraid of: the fear itself possessed his whole mind, a formless, infinite misgiving"”(Schwartz, Sanford). This quote explains and shows
In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster outlines for his readers many techniques that authors often use to emphasize themes, patterns, and character relationships. C.S. Lewis’ Out of the Silent Planet is a prime example of these techniques. The novel follows Dr. Elwin Ransom as he is captured by a greedy old schoolmate and a mad physicist before he unwillingly begins a space expedition to the planet of Malacandra, or Mars. After a series of events, Ransom finds himself alone and must begin to learn the language and history of the planet and its inhabitants, the hrossa, the sorns, and the pfifltrigg. Within the book, many of the techniques Foster mentioned were present and played a strong role in understanding the story
Lewis’ life. Almost all characters in the book are based off of people previously in Lewis’ life. This is why the characters are explained so life like. Although the book had some major change with the story of his life, the characters are very similar. Just like Digory, Lewis’ mother had a very bad ill. His father also did not live with him, similar to how Digory’s father lived in India. All characters used in the novel, had a purpose and C.S. Lewis was able to capture that perfectly.
I’d like to build on what I was saying about understanding the book, when I read it especially in certain chapters when something big happened, I could predict what was going to happen. This was a really intense book but after the theme I could understand it.
In the movie Forbidden Planet we see that mankind is incapable of using advanced technology without destroying something. In the movie the technology is not the main source of the problems the crew faces in the movie. The real problem was the way mankind used technology in the movie. The best example of this misuse of technology is seen with Dr.Morbius who was unaware of the great power he gained from using Krell technology. Dr. Morbius’s subconscious was responsible for all the things wrong on Altare.
The story takes place in the 22nd century on the planets of Earth, Mars, briefly on Mercury, and on Titan, the moon of Saturn. The story centers around Malachi Constant, a rich, egocentric, young man with twisted morals who has had everything in his life handed to him. He cares little for the welfare of others and this is exemplified throughout the duration of the entire novel. The other main character is the antagonist,
The book out of the silent planet follows the journey of Ransom, a linguist that is kidnapped and put in a spaceship to be taken to Malacandra (Mars) as a sacrifice to the Sorn, however he managed to escape from his kidnappers during the handover to the Sorn. While he is on the run on Malacandra Ransom learns of the three races that show how human history has developed from primal to industrial and finally to modern day.
The author wrote this story as a literary genius. There is an extreme level of suspense that leaves you wanting