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Chapter 19 Study

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

Chapter 19 Study

Postby Kanakaberaka » May 3rd, 2006, 4:18 pm

Synopsis: As the procession approaches Oyarsa, Ransom sees that they are hrossa carrying three of their dead. As well as leading two odd captives who turn out to be Weston and Devine. Oyarsa questions the two Thulcandrans. But Weston can not belive that Oyarsa's voice is not some sort of trick. And so he proceeds to make a fool of himself attempting to scare them using his limited knowlege of the Malacandrian language. Finally at Oyarsa's orders Weston is taken away for "treatment" while the three dead hrossa are given their last honors.
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Ransom's observation of the appearance of Weston and Devine in this chapter is quite interesting. When he first ran from them he had regrets that he had ever left their company on such an alien world. Now they appear to Ransom as overly thick, misshapen monstrosities compared to the hrossa and seroni. Ransom has aquired a new sensibility for physical apperance. He now sees his fellow Thulcandrans through Malacandrian eyes. This is a tried and true science-fiction technique of presenting the mundane as something extraordinary.
Next, Weston attempts to brow beat the natives into letting them go. Unfortunatly his knowlege of the Malcandrian language is no where near as good as Ransom's. To illustrate this Lewis gives us the English equivalent for Weston's speech. It makes Weston sound quite stupid in front of the nau we know to be quite intellegent. Since Weston can not see his interrorgator,Oyarsa, he concludes that the shaman of the tribe must be using ventriloquism. It's the sort of materialistic conclusion one would expect from Weston. But instead of intimidating the crowd and the barely visible Oyarsa, all Weston manages to do is make them laugh. Weston mistakes their meaning, so Oyarsa attempts to explain that they are merely ammused by what he is doing. All the while, Devine withdraws from the proceedings for a smoke. Even Ranson can not convince Weston about what is really going on. And so Oyarsa has enough of Weston's buffoonery declaring :
"Something is wrong in your head, hnau from Thulcandra. There is too much blood in it."
This sounds like Medieval medicine with it's belief in the balance of the "four humors" - blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. Lucky for Weston that Oyarsa only prescibes dunking his head in cold water rather than phlebotomy, that is blood-letting. I wonder if they would have used an infant hnakra on Weston rather than leeches?
Meanwhile, as Weston is being lead off screaming to have his head cooled off, The three hrossa killed by him and Devine are given a memorial service. Ransom begins to understand the meaning of the hrossa hymn as they sing in honor of Hyoi and the other two hrossa killed while capturing the two bent Thulcandrans. At last a pfifltrigg touches the corpses of the three fallen hunters with a device which causes them to disintegrate in a flash of light so powerful that all must draw back! I appears to be a conversion of matter into energy. And yet all Devine can manage to say about it is -
"God! That would be a trick worth knowing on earth," said Devine to Ransom. "Solves the murderer's problem about the disposal of the body, eh?"

This flippant remark is a perfect illustration of Devine's self-centered personality. Ransom on the other hand mourns the loss of his friend Hyoi.

so it goes...
so it goes...
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Kanakaberaka
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Original Chapter 19 Comments

Postby Kanakaberaka » May 15th, 2006, 1:26 pm

so it goes...
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Kanakaberaka
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Posts: 1030
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Location: Just outside of Rego Park, NYC


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