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Chapter 15 Study

An archived study of the first book in Lewis' theological science fiction Space Trilogy.

Chapter 15 Study

Postby Kanakaberaka » April 30th, 2006, 12:45 am

Synopsis: At last Ransom confronts a sorn. And much to Ransom's relief, Augray turns out to be a most civilized being. They begin with small talk about who they are. Then break for some food. Then the conversation turns profound as Augray explains what Oyarsa and eldils are. Finaly they have a look at Thulcandra from the top of Augray's tower before getting some sleep.
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Now that Ransom has met with a sorn it turns out that Augray is not the monster Ransom had thought he would be. Sure, his size and apperance are disquieting to a Thulcandran. But he is such a civilized and courteous host that Ransom is at ease. The first thing that Augray does is specualate about where Ransom has come from. He goes through some Sherlock Holmes type deductions based apon Ransom's appearance and by a process of elimination concludes that Ranson is from Thulcandra. It's a good thing that the philologist hero is fluent in a Malacandrian language at this point in the story. Otherwise we would miss out on the sorn's love of knowlege.

Next they break for food and Ransom is introduced to the Malacandrian equivalent of cheese. It turns out that the young seroni work as shepherds, milking those fuzzy giraffe-like creatures mentioned earlier. Ransom makes a connection between the cyclops of Homer's tale and a sorn. Another example of a classical reference made by Lewis. The author appears to be taking us on an extra-terrestrial tour only to point backwards with references to our own ancient myths. It is the sort of association I would expect from a man such as Ransom though.

After their dinner break the conversation turned to the subject of Oyarsa and eldils. It has Ransom even more confused about the nature of reality itself, not just about the social system of Malacandra. Augray mentions the fact that to the eldila, light is a material thing like water is to us. And that they can pass trough what we consider solid. That Oyarsa does not so much live on Malacandra as he is attatched to it in some way as he goes through the heavens. Ransom makes mention of two supernatural beings when Augray is surprised about eldila not visiting Thulcandra:
" It had dawned on him that the recurrent human tradition of bright, elusive people sometimes appearing on the Earth -albs, devas and the like -might after all have another explanation than the anthropologists had yet given. "

I looked up the definitions of albs. At first I found out that it refers to a long white linen robe worn with tapered sleeves worn by a priest at Mass. Obviously CSL had something else in mind. So I checked out the derivation of the word and sure enough an "albho" is a white ghostly apparition. That fact sort of makes attending Catholic Mass all the more interesting for me. The first definition of Deva I found was the name a city in the Western Transylvanian Alps. Spooky, maybe? But not, I'm sure what Lewis was had in mind. Then further in my Google search I came apon another reference. In sanskrit "deva" means "shining one". They are known to Hindus and Buddhists. It all sounds a bit like "New Age" pop culture to me. Personaly I like it, but some devout Christians might be reluctant about considerting such things, even in fiction.

Before they take rest, Augray treats Ransom to a view of his home planet from the top of his tower. After ascending a giant staircase inside what appears to be a hollowed out mountain, Ransom peers through a round window. The window turns out to be the Malacandrian equivalent of a telescope. Through it Ransom can see his home planet and even make out Northern Europe, albeit upside down from his point of view. This passage reminds me of a scene from David Lindsay's book "A Voyage to Arcturus" which Lewis expressed an enthusiasm for. In that book the protagonist, Maskull struggles to climb the steps of an odd tower from which he will leave Earth. On the way up he looks through some circular windows and sees magnified views of the double star system of Arcturus. The magnification becomes more powerful as Maskull climbs higher.

One odd thing in this chapter is that Ransom refers to Augray as "it" rather than "he". I would have thought that by now Ransom would have come to view all Hnau as people rather than monstrosities.

so it goes...
so it goes...
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Kanakaberaka
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Location: Just outside of Rego Park, NYC

Original Chapter 15 Comments

Postby Kanakaberaka » April 30th, 2006, 12:59 am

so it goes...
User avatar
Kanakaberaka
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Posts: 1030
Joined: Jul 1999
Location: Just outside of Rego Park, NYC


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