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Perelandra Chap. 11

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

Perelandra Chap. 11

Postby Kanakaberaka » March 24th, 2005, 6:50 am

As night falls on Perelandra, Ransom talks to God in the darkness - And his questions are answered!

This whole chapter takes place in the dark. Yet paradoxicly Ransom's purpose is illuminated as he calls out to Maleldil. The darkness is discribed as heavy, almost suffocating as it surrounds Ransom. This reminds me of a painting of Christ mentioned in the writings of G.K. Chesterton. The Saviour is very darkly painted, however He gives off light to the rest of the painting causing it to glow. The clear voice speaking in Ransom's head is there to give directions to him. The conversation reminds me of Christ's agony in the Garden of Gethsemene because Ransom is told bluntly about his duty to face the dangerous challenge ahead of him rather than just comfort.
But Maleldil's message does not go through unhampered. Ransom's own "voluble critic" chatters away during much of the revelation. The term voluble has an interesting definition. It's most obvious definition means fluent and talkative of course. But it also means "turning easily on an axis" or in botany "twisting like a vine". So there is a deeper meaning to Ransom's voluble self. It is the weak human tendency to twist in the wind, to go with the flow of things rather than oppose an adversary. This appears to be Ransom's case. And Maleldil wants to make sure Ransom fulfills his role in opposition to the Un-Man on Perelandra.
Heroic illustrations fill Ransom's mind at one point. He remembers the story of "Horatius on the bridge". Lewis is refering here to an ancient Roman story of how Horatius almost single handedly held off an attack by the invading Etruscans so that a bridge could be demolished, cutting off their advance on Rome. Horatius is gravely wounded, suffering the loss of an eye. And yet he fights on untill the bridge collapses into the river. Horatius dived into the river and by some accounts managed to swim to safety on the other side. Though in other versions of the story he dies trying. Ransom is well aware of the possibility of death while opposing the plans of the Un-Man.
Finally the Voice in the darkness reassures the professor by telling him "It is not for nothing that you are named Ransom". There is a bit of confusion here since our hero's name is not really in fact "Ransom". Remember Lewis' statement in the last chapter Out Of The Silent Planet that names have been changed to protect the identities of all involved. So what might be Ransom's real name? We are told that it was derived from "Ranolf's son", but I think his true name might refer to another way to discribe Christ's saving mission to humanity. The voice went on to say "My name is also Ransom". So Ransom's "real" name could be some reference to Our Lord's purpose to redeem humanity. Out of curiosity - Can anyone think of alternate names for Elwin Ransom that would have the same significance?
so it goes...
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Re: Perelandra Chap. 11

Postby Sven » March 27th, 2005, 3:17 am

Rat! he found breath to whisper, shaking. Are you afraid?
Afraid? murmured the Rat, his eyes shining with unutterable love.
Afraid! Of Him? O, never, never! And yet -- and yet -- O, Mole, I am afraid!
Then the two animals, crouching to the earth, bowed their heads and did worship.
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Re: Perelandra Chap. 11

Postby Steve » March 27th, 2005, 1:01 pm

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Fighting Words

Postby Kanakaberaka » April 2nd, 2005, 11:04 pm

At one point Ransom's voluble self fears certain death at the icy cold hands of the Un-man. - "When", he asked, "did I ever win a fight in my life?" - I can really sympathyse with Ransom on this point since I must admit the same. The need for this physical combat comes from the fact that Weston's body is the Devil's one foothold on Perelandra. Without a physical body, the Evil One would be cast out into The Deep. This has me wondering why, instead of a fist fight, Ransom couldn't have performed some sort of exorcism to cast the Demon out of Weston's body. Wouldn't it have been possible to save Weston's soul as well as defeat the Demon? Maybe Lewis simply wanted some slam-bang action in this novel, but somehow I doubt it. What could be the significance of this fight of mortal flesh against a possesed mortal?
so it goes...
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Re: Fighting Words

Postby Steve » April 3rd, 2005, 12:17 pm

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Re: Perelandra Chap. 11

Postby Stanley Anderson » April 19th, 2005, 4:02 pm

…on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a fair green country under a swift sunrise.
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pork and beens

Postby Guest » April 21st, 2005, 1:49 pm

FROM STANLEY: Writing commentary about commentary seems almost circular somehow.

Circular or perhaps linear -- one step further removed. They say there are only two kinds of stories: circular and linear. Circular, where the hero leaves home and returns a better person; and linear, where the hero leaves and home and ends up somewhere else a better person.

FROM STANLEY:
There was question in this thread about Ransom simply exorcising the demon out of Weston's body and whether that were a possibility. I think one of the main themes of the book was the re-merging of physical action with spiritual action in a mythological way in this unfallen world – the idea being that part of the fall was to "separate" things into discreet "sides" when they were meant to be united in one as Christ is fully man and fully God and other theological doctrines about God and his creation.

Completely agreed. Ransom had to fight with his own hands. 'We wrestle not against flesh and blood' but our wrestling against spiritual powers often feels like a physical fight. I bet Christ felt it so on the cross. (And P.S. I loved your pigs reference. The pigs MUST have some kind of physical explanation.)


FROM STANLEY:
Just a typo note: on page 149 of my edition near the bottom is the sentence: "On the other hand, you might say that he had delivered from the rhetoric of his passions and had emerged into unassailable freedom." I would assume that there is a "been" missing and that it should read, "…that he had been delivered…" – is this typo in other people's editions?


I have the 'been' in my edition.
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Re: pork and beens

Postby .Ælfgifu. » April 22nd, 2005, 8:46 am

A further point on the idea of simply exorcising the demonic being from Weston: what would Weston's role in the process be? By all appearances he had called for and embraced the possession. Would he want to be set free? Would it be possible for Ransom to exorcise him against his will? Even if it was, the chances are that Weston would cry out to be repossessed. It certainly seems unlikely that Weston would invite the Holy Ghost in to defend himself (considering that he thinks his 'Force' and the Holy Spirit are the same thing). As long as he remained alive and unconverted on Perelandra, he gave the Bent One a foothold there which (the Lady having resisted the temptation) was no longer the will of Maleldil. The only real answer was therefore to destroy Weston's physical body entirely, thus preventing the Bent One from having any physical bridgehead outside the Moon's orbit.
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Re: Perelandra Chap. 11

Postby Ebbingkneeser » April 23rd, 2005, 12:37 pm

[quote="Kanakaberaka
This whole chapter takes place in the dark. Yet paradoxicly Ransom's purpose is illuminated as he calls out to Maleldil. The darkness is discribed as heavy, almost suffocating as it surrounds Ransom. This reminds me of a painting of Christ mentioned in the writings of G.K. Chesterton. The Saviour is very darkly painted, however He gives off light to the rest of the painting causing it to glow. [/quote]

I felt a bit of an awakening experience when I read these sentences at the beginning of chapter 11: "The darkness was packed quite full. It seemed to press upon his trunk so that he could hardly use his lungs: it seemed to close in on his skull like a crown of intolerable weight so that for a space he could hardly think. Moreover, he became aware in some indefinable fashion that it had never been absent, that only some unconscious activity of his own had succeeded in ignoring it for the past few days."
These words reminded me of one of my favorite quotes: We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent, and God is
shining through it all the time. Thomas Merton

I think I love reading C.S. Lewis so much because he is always opening my eyes to transcendent realities. The imagery he uses in Chapter 11 is so palpable (the suffocating darkness, the fear of long metallic nails ripping off flesh, Ransom's epiphany at the end of the chapter) that it brings front and center ideas that I had "just sort of wondered about" before.

Eb
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Salvific Imagery

Postby Kanakaberaka » April 25th, 2005, 3:22 am

so it goes...
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Piggies

Postby Kanakaberaka » April 25th, 2005, 3:58 am

so it goes...
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