by Stanley Anderson » October 25th, 2004, 8:27 pm
Here are some of my own notes on the chapter.
I notice that the description of the coffin transport device appears to be made of the same material as the caves that Ransom emerges from near the end of Perelandra. These caves also serve as a sort of "coffin" that transports Ransom from the dark "underworld" to the glories of Perelandra's surface, as does the "ship" that transports him from the silent planet to Perelandra in the first place. I wonder if we can think of it almost as a kind of mythical "birthing" chamber -- perhaps akin to Scriptural references of dying to self and rising again, and seeds dying in the ground to grow into trees and certainly the "born again" image that Nicodemus is told of. I also can’t help but wonder about any kind of possible vampire imagery (in a “redeemed” sort of way, if that makes any sense) lending a bit of horror to the setting.
When Lewis asks Ransom what he is to do and Ransom replies that he does not know, and noting, "there are jobs, you know, where it is essential that one should not know too much beforehand...things that one might have to say which one couldn't say effectively if one had prepared them", I can't help but think the Scripture that talks about not worrying what to say -- that the Holy Spirit will guide one's words at the hour they are needed. There is also the extremely practical slant on this same idea in that Ransom already knows the language and will not have to learn or "take thought of what he needs to say" in the language of potential native Perelandrans (Lewis neatly gets around the bane of many a man-meets-alien science fiction story where the aliens just "happen" to speak English:-)
I got a quick smile when reading about the 23 hour day of Perelandra and wondered (jokingly of course) if part of Ransom's troubles with countering the Un-man's arguments were a weariness cause by the disruption of his natural circadian rhythm cycle, being a native earth creature.
I was intrigued by Lewis having Ransom going into depth about the image and ramifications of a perpetual day and night on Perelandra when that possibility didn’t actually occur in the story when he got there. It makes me think the image satisfied some sort of medieval theological purpose – a sort of diversion Lewis describes as a common device in medieval literature. But I can’t make a whole lot out of it (aside from obvious theological parallels of the “gap” between Heaven and Hell that the story of Lazarus and the rich man speak of and such like).
I have the same feeling of symbolic or theological import in the act of wrapping a bandage around Ransom’s eyes to protect them on the journey. Everything else – air, motive force, etc – are somehow taken care of, but he is still susceptible to solar radiation. And presumably of a sort that simply eyelids are not sufficient to protect his eyes from (I can almost hear Oyarsa saying something like “he is not as the Vulcans are with their inner eyelids that will protect them from blindness:-). The bandage is certainly a set-up to “allow” for the piebald burning of Ransom’s body which itself is somehow symbolic to the story (but more on that when we get there), but I feel like the covering of the eyes is significant in itself too – just not sure of the exact imagery.
I will also give my two cents worth about the “flashback” nature of the book where we see the “ending” at the end of chapter two. First a couple of minor points. The jumping around says a lot, I think about Lewis’ method of story telling here and what it might say about the preference of the originally published order of the Narnian books as opposed to the Chronological order. Also, this is jumping ahead to the end, but the way the story “cuts off” at the actual end of the book reminds me a lot, in feeling, of the way the Beatles record album (not the CD that doesn’t have “sides”) of Abbey Road “cuts off” on both sides with “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”, and “Her Majesty” leaving the listener suddenly kind of “haning in mid-air”, even though in the book, we know what comes next from having read chapter two first.
But the main thing I want to say about this structure of having the “ending” in chapter two, is that I think Lewis did this primarily to set the book up, not as a “plot-oriented” story, but to put the “concern” about Ransom’s fate behind us in chapter two, so that the reader can focus more on the atmospheric setting and the theological/intellectual debate that is going to occur throughout most of the rest of the book. We already know he gets back safely (nay, in better and more glorious shape, except for the foot wound, than he left), so the book can be more of what Lewis liked in medieval literature and books in general.
Lewis the character in the book makes much of (or at least mentions it a couple time) the creature that does not wait but just “is”. I wonder if this reflects some of the nature of God (even though Oyarsa is certainly not God) as revealed in his self-proclaimed name of “I am”.
One final curious note – “Ransom showed me the clasps of the lid and how it was to be fastened on,” What an odd thing to mention – this fantastic coffin-like “anti-technological” transport, and it has some kind of “clasps” to be fiddled with. What could they look like? One might imagine that with such a mysterious thing the edges might just “seal up” (not unlike how the edges “unseal” magically in the west gate of Moria in LotR when Gandalf speaks "friend" and enters) when the lid was placed on, but no – it has clasps. I wonder if those handy-dandy clasps would work to seal in the freshness of potato chips after the bag has been opened?:-)
--Stanley