Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
In the year 1625, Francis Bacon, a famous essayist and poet wrote about the influences of fear on everyday life. He stated, “Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other” (Essays Dedication of Death). Clearly, external surroundings affect perceptions of fear as well as human nature in general. Although C.S. Lewis published the novel, Out of the Silent Planet, over three centuries after Bacon wrote his theory on fear, Lewis similarly portrayed external surrounding to manipulate perceptions of fear. From the first chapter of the novel, Lewis revealed fear to be a weakness that leads to ignorance. It was this
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In fact, until Ransom spends a great deal of time with the hross, Ransom sees differences between the human race and hnau as risks and dangers. He only advances towards the hross because its appearance was comparable to that of the animals of Earth. While Ransom never fully eradicates his fear of Malacandra, he eventually comes to the realization that differences between Earth and Malacandra does not represent evil within the Malacandrian world. In fact, he corrects many of his misperceptions, including that of the sorns, which he originally described as “Ogres.” After meeting Augray, a compassionate and intelligent sorn, he felt “Titans or Angels would have been a better word” to describe their species (101). As Ransom’s fear slowly dissipates, he slowly began to think of Malacandra as a “home” rather than a danger (107). Moreover, Ransom began to realize that differences between Earth and Malacandra represented the evils of human society. “War, slavery, prostitution,” events and institutions only present in “The Silent Planet,” outraged Oyarsa and all of the hnau (that appeared incapable of sin). This realization ultimately marked Ransom’s deep understand of fear and the ignorance of mankind. 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
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 fear stems from being a bunch of innocent boys stranded in the heat of war on an island in the middle of the Pacific. At first there is no fear if anything there is joy; “there is an air of adventure and even celebration at their newfound freedom from grownups.” (Document A) But as night slowly descends over day their fears grip them. At first these fears are simple nightmares or ideas that make no sense, but over time their fears are exerted onto the island.
In Out Of The Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis, Dr. Elwin Ransom, is forcibly brought to the strange planet of Malacandra. Throughout the book, Ransom consistently demonstrates the trait of perseverance. Along with showing perseverance, Ransom also consistently demonstrates recklessness. At first, Ransom is very fearful, but the death of his friend, Hyoi, causes him to change and become brave. Throughout the book, Dr. Elwin Ransom displays the character traits of perseverance, recklessness, and he changes from fearfulness to bravery.
Virtue is a quality that one possesses. But how can virtue be attained? Does someone simply decide they want to be virtuous? The question I am focusing on is as follows: Is avoiding evil sufficient to make one virtuous or must virtue be an active choice? Upon hearing this question I immediately thought “of course just avoiding evil alone doesn't make one virtuous”, but as I began to think more deeply about the question and to analyze examples from “Out Of The Silent Planet” by C.S. Lewis, it started to change what I thought. I do think that virtue is an active choice, however I also think avoiding evil is active choice.
Ransom preferred Malacandra to his home planet because the humans were "bent" or sinful, whereas the seroni, hrossa, and Pfifltriggi were not sinful. Another problem for Ransom was the dangerousness of returning. The distance between the two planets had increased and oxygen was in a limited supply. Ransom and the two other humans risked suffocation before landing on Earth. Despite the danger, Ransom submitted to Oysara's authority.
There are more than one piece of evidence that support the main conclusion in this reading. We should not be afraid of death first because; it does not have any values neither positive nor negative. The author intended for this evidence to support his conclusion by giving an example in page
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.
The first person narrative in the ancient kingdom of Glome, a land ruled by a tyrannical king and religious goddess Ungit. Narrated by Princess (later Queen) Orual. The first section of this novel presents itself as an open complaint against the gods, particularly the god of the Grey Mountain, who brought Orual such pain and distress over the years, yet offer no answers or explanations to justify the suffering.
“And it’s hard to hate someone once you understand them.” – Lucy Christopher, Stolen: A Letter to My Captor. In the story Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis, the character Weston makes the decision to poison and kidnap Ransom and bring to the planet Mars. Weston should have kidnapped Ransom and brought him to Mars for three reasons: It is for the greater good, it is a great opportunity, and it is his destiny.
I think one of the author's purpose of the book was to keep his trilogy series going and to start a new journey of the characters from the first book in the series. Furthermore, I think he chose different planets to keep the story more interesting, and entertaining.in the first book they were in Mars and then Ransom travels to Venus. The main theme of the book is warfare or good versus bad, because throughout the book ransom is constantly having to fight with dark forces to save his people, for example when Ransom saved The Green Lady from the Un Man that took over Weston's body.
Back in 1938, C.S. Lewis, the British novelist, wrote his first book in his space trilogy called Out of the Silent Planet. He had soon written the novel after conversing with J.R.R. Tolkien about space controversies. Tolkien wrote about time-travel whereas Lewis wrote about space-travel. Lewis writes his tale that introduces Dr. Ransom as a main character, but he is abducted by a narcissistic man who soon wants to use him as a human sacrifice. There is a belief system as well as strong forces of good and evil that reside in Earth and Mars.
Why do humans try to face our fears? What do we want to feel after facing them? “Why We Crave Horror” Stephen King tries to show we face fear, to feel suspense, in matter of , it states we face fears to re-establish normalcy, and the feel of something uncertain.
Another important thought is whether or not we should be scared of death. How can something that is so common be scary to so many people? Mrs. Dunn lived in an eternal state of fear because she knew death was coming and she refused to let it happen to her, but after it happened she realized it was not as bad as she had thought it would be. On the other hand, Mr. Williams did not see death coming. He lived his daily life focused on work, and never spoke of death.
Terror management theory (TMT) asserts that human beings have natural tendency for self-preservation if there is threat to one’s well–being (Greenberg, Solomon, & Pyszczynski, 1997). It notes that we are the cultural animals that pose self-awareness on the concept of past and future, as well as the understanding that one day we will die. We concern about our life and death but aware that it is unexpected by everything. The worse matter is that we become aware of our vulnerability and helplessness when facing death-related thoughts and ultimate demise (Pyszczynski & Greenberg, 1992). The inevitable death awareness or mortality salience provides a ground for experiencing the existential terror, which is the overwhelming concern of people’s
Ultimately, the author used his imagination to picture some characters in the bible. Religion was a main theme of this book because of the hidden story. Followed by courage, which Ransom was not feared to face what was happening to him in this strange planet. The story was written in 1930s where they were not evolved in technology. Science played a big part as well as his imagination. Malacanda’s utopian world shows that they are equal and they do not think one race is superior to the other because on Earth we have ethnics groups and many racism individuals. He sought to teach the common people the Christian convention by diverting them with fun and imaginative stories. How can someone be fearless when kidnapped and taken into a strange place?