Could there be life on other plantets. This is an unusaul attempt by Lewis to enter the genre of Sci-Fi. He doesn't always get the physics right. (How much gravitational pull is there between a person and a spaceship, even if it is round.) However, I love the way he describes a planet that is so unearthlike and the possibility three different intelligent species on the same planet. What do you think?
Where is Ransom's destination before his little quest to get the boy? What has become of Devine and what are these experiments? Is the boy just used as a experimental purpose?
One may think it was interesting the way Devine knew Ransom as a former "colleague" of his and could tell by his actions and voice. As they invite him into their "house", Ransom is one moment sitting at the table with Devine and suddenly blanks out and sits on a wall were he describes his legs being separated; one in the light and one in the dark. As he is sitting on the wall, with Devine and Weston in his presence, a door that they hadn't noticed, opens and strange creatures come out. What are these strange creatures, what do they look like, and what is their purpose?
Amber, Ransom was on a walk through the countryside, no destination in mind. It is was the English do. They love to walk, king of like hobbits. The boy at the beginning of the story is a simpleton, that Devine and Weston have hired as a house boy, but whom they intend to kidnap and take on a journey, they need him for some mysterious and possibly evil reason. Devine and Ransom are both academicians or professors and had met at the University. It is coincidental that they should run into each other in this moment.
As far as the creatures go, it was a dream, maybe a premonition of what is to come. Read on, it is the only way it will make sense.
The whole spaceship traveling, described by Lewis, is one that I would never have guessed. "...it was explained to him that their bodies, in response to the planet that had caught them in its field, were actually gaining weight every minute and doubling in weight with every 24 hours." Who knew that going to a different planet would mean gaining a whole bunch of weight just because of the force field that the planet has. "Suddenly the lights of the Universe seemed to be turned down. As if some demon had rubbed the heaven's face with a dirty sponge, the splendour in which they had lived for so long blenched to a pallid, cheerless and pitiable grey"
Amber, don't you just love the language of this "as if a demon had rubbed heaven's face with a dirty sponge". You have to love Lewis. The first time I every read OSP I kept trying to envision the actual appearance of the planet Malacandra, the Hrossa and the Sorns. It was as if it was too otherworldly, imcomprehesible for my mind. I wanted and illustrated version of the book.
Now that I have read it several times and discussed it with students, I realized that this is part of the joy of the book. It appears different to every reader. It allows the imagination to run wild. Books are supposed to exercise our minds eye, (sort of like chemistry) something a movie never does.
As I find myself half way through the book, I still have no idea where Lewis is going with the story line and how he is going to end things. Ransom is learning the strangest language; "You are hnau. I am hnau. The seroni are hnau. The pfifltriggi are hnau." Some of the things that Ransom begins to come across seems as if they are just words that are a whole bunch of letters typed together to spell out some strange word. I wish there was a movie, map, or picture so that the reader could better imagine what the world of Malacandra looks like and what strange creatures live there.
Amber, you are a Hnau, because you have a soul. On Malacandra there are three different species which have souls, unlike earth. Sometimes it is not all about the storyline, just like it is not all about the grades. Lewis is trying to make a point about what it might be like had there been no fall. When he talks to Hyoi about people who are "bent", it is difficult for Hyoi to even comprehend. Notice that there is no war, no hunger, and even though there is death, death is not a thing to be feared, but a step towards heaven. Notice the dialog temperance, especially the part about how part of the pleasure is in the anticipation and in the remembering. The thing to be enjoyed is not always the most important.
Amber I understand what you mean with something more to visualize this whole other world, but that's what imagination is for right? ;)
Lewis has created a possiblity of there being another life-form somewhere far away, which definately gets the reader going. All of his little relations of Malacandra to Earth make it a bit more realistic to me since it is based off of something that I actaually know.
I just don't understand why the atmoshpere on this planet has to be much thinner compared to Earth. The size of Malacandra does not seem to be that much smaller, considering that Ransom still has a little difficulty with his weight, just its not as dramatic. Does the atmoshpere on Malacandra really change that much when the planet is smaller? And does anyone have an idea of what planet it is on our terms?
Mr. Rea do you think that world be that if there was no evil in the world?? I like the creatures on this planet because they look more towards the good than trying to fix what they have done wrong. They are not stuck on one thing, but move on.
Eldils are not eels, they talk to the creatures on Malacandra. I will give you a hint about he planet. About the size of earth, the valleys are like crevices in the surface of the planet, up above the planet is kind of pinkish orange.
What did you think abou the Sorns? At first Ransom is afraid of them, and then he discovers they are something much different than he imagined.
I kept reading and found out it was Mars hahaha. I thought the sorns were just creatures that had a menacing appearance but they truly were pretty gentle creatures. Their knowledge seemed to be a little more vast then the hrossa, but I think it was because of the topic Ransom and Aultura(?) were talking about.
At the end of the book where Lewis says that there were a series of events that had prevented them from publishing sooner, was this true or just part of the story? And do you think that this was a real adventure or actually just fiction?
I think Lewis was attempting to write this in a way to make it seem as if it really happened. This really comes out in the other two books in the series. Amber and Ericka, I think you might find the second book, Perelandra, really interesting.
Oh okay, so he's basically making us doubt ourselves hahaha. Will we be reading any of the other books this school year?
And do you think that something like this story could happen in real life. Man is constantly trying to be one step ahead of the game, but are we really will to move the whole race to another planet just to live on? I don't think it would be possible since we need specific living conditions, but if it were, you'd you go along with it?
Sorry I haven't been on in a while. I went to Oregon for 11 days and didn't have internet....but I'm back! I'm almost done with the book and every chapter has something that I would never have thought of on my own. One example is how he describes Augray as this strange creature in chapter 15. "Its knees rose high above its shoulders on each side of its head - grotesquely suggestive of huge ears - and the head, down between them, rested its chin on the protruding breast. The creature seemed to have either a double chin or a beard."
Another example comes from chapter 16, where the sorn carries Ransom through the old forests of Malacandra. One may have thought it strange how the sorn randomly has oxygen with him when traveling at the heights that he does when he doesn't need it. I know Ransom needed it in order to breath at the elevation that they were at, but how did the sorn get it and why did he have it?
Amber I think the sorn might have had it with him because Oyersa had destined Ransom to come to him. And since he seems to know everything, he probably suggested that Ransom, being human, would need it since he is not built for that elevation. as to how he got it, i have know idea. but i think it might have been made because if you read the the last chapters, the inhabitants of Malacandra have ways on doing specific things.
Sorns have grown accustomed to living in high altitudes where the air is thin. Similar to the people of Nepal who act as guides for the tourists who want to climb Mt. Everest. They have much greater endurance.
I don't think they were trying to move people from earth to Malacandra necessarily, Devine was more interested in the gold on Malacandra. He wanted to trade Ransom for the gold.
Could there be life on other plantets. This is an unusaul attempt by Lewis to enter the genre of Sci-Fi. He doesn't always get the physics right. (How much gravitational pull is there between a person and a spaceship, even if it is round.) However, I love the way he describes a planet that is so unearthlike and the possibility three different intelligent species on the same planet. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteWhere is Ransom's destination before his little quest to get the boy? What has become of Devine and what are these experiments? Is the boy just used as a experimental purpose?
ReplyDeleteOne may think it was interesting the way Devine knew Ransom as a former "colleague" of his and could tell by his actions and voice. As they invite him into their "house", Ransom is one moment sitting at the table with Devine and suddenly blanks out and sits on a wall were he describes his legs being separated; one in the light and one in the dark. As he is sitting on the wall, with Devine and Weston in his presence, a door that they hadn't noticed, opens and strange creatures come out. What are these strange creatures, what do they look like, and what is their purpose?
Amber, Ransom was on a walk through the countryside, no destination in mind. It is was the English do. They love to walk, king of like hobbits. The boy at the beginning of the story is a simpleton, that Devine and Weston have hired as a house boy, but whom they intend to kidnap and take on a journey, they need him for some mysterious and possibly evil reason. Devine and Ransom are both academicians or professors and had met at the University. It is coincidental that they should run into each other in this moment.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the creatures go, it was a dream, maybe a premonition of what is to come. Read on, it is the only way it will make sense.
The whole spaceship traveling, described by Lewis, is one that I would never have guessed. "...it was explained to him that their bodies, in response to the planet that had caught them in its field, were actually gaining weight every minute and doubling in weight with every 24 hours." Who knew that going to a different planet would mean gaining a whole bunch of weight just because of the force field that the planet has. "Suddenly the lights of the Universe seemed to be turned down. As if some demon had rubbed the heaven's face with a dirty sponge, the splendour in which they had lived for so long blenched to a pallid, cheerless and pitiable grey"
ReplyDeleteAmber, don't you just love the language of this "as if a demon had rubbed heaven's face with a dirty sponge". You have to love Lewis. The first time I every read OSP I kept trying to envision the actual appearance of the planet Malacandra, the Hrossa and the Sorns. It was as if it was too otherworldly, imcomprehesible for my mind. I wanted and illustrated version of the book.
ReplyDeleteNow that I have read it several times and discussed it with students, I realized that this is part of the joy of the book. It appears different to every reader. It allows the imagination to run wild. Books are supposed to exercise our minds eye, (sort of like chemistry) something a movie never does.
I think everyone who took Chemistry can agree that it is deffinately an exercise for the mind :)
DeleteAs I find myself half way through the book, I still have no idea where Lewis is going with the story line and how he is going to end things. Ransom is learning the strangest language; "You are hnau. I am hnau. The seroni are hnau. The pfifltriggi are hnau." Some of the things that Ransom begins to come across seems as if they are just words that are a whole bunch of letters typed together to spell out some strange word. I wish there was a movie, map, or picture so that the reader could better imagine what the world of Malacandra looks like and what strange creatures live there.
ReplyDeleteAmber, you are a Hnau, because you have a soul. On Malacandra there are three different species which have souls, unlike earth. Sometimes it is not all about the storyline, just like it is not all about the grades. Lewis is trying to make a point about what it might be like had there been no fall. When he talks to Hyoi about people who are "bent", it is difficult for Hyoi to even comprehend. Notice that there is no war, no hunger, and even though there is death, death is not a thing to be feared, but a step towards heaven. Notice the dialog temperance, especially the part about how part of the pleasure is in the anticipation and in the remembering. The thing to be enjoyed is not always the most important.
ReplyDeleteWhat are eldils?
Amber I understand what you mean with something more to visualize this whole other world, but that's what imagination is for right? ;)
ReplyDeleteLewis has created a possiblity of there being another life-form somewhere far away, which definately gets the reader going. All of his little relations of Malacandra to Earth make it a bit more realistic to me since it is based off of something that I actaually know.
I just don't understand why the atmoshpere on this planet has to be much thinner compared to Earth. The size of Malacandra does not seem to be that much smaller, considering that Ransom still has a little difficulty with his weight, just its not as dramatic. Does the atmoshpere on Malacandra really change that much when the planet is smaller? And does anyone have an idea of what planet it is on our terms?
Mr. Rea do you think that world be that if there was no evil in the world?? I like the creatures on this planet because they look more towards the good than trying to fix what they have done wrong. They are not stuck on one thing, but move on.
ReplyDeletePS- i think eldils are invisable eels hahaha
OR it's like the Holy Spirit but in the form of their god
ReplyDeleteEldils are not eels, they talk to the creatures on Malacandra. I will give you a hint about he planet. About the size of earth, the valleys are like crevices in the surface of the planet, up above the planet is kind of pinkish orange.
ReplyDeleteWhat did you think abou the Sorns? At first Ransom is afraid of them, and then he discovers they are something much different than he imagined.
I kept reading and found out it was Mars hahaha. I thought the sorns were just creatures that had a menacing appearance but they truly were pretty gentle creatures. Their knowledge seemed to be a little more vast then the hrossa, but I think it was because of the topic Ransom and Aultura(?) were talking about.
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the book where Lewis says that there were a series of events that had prevented them from publishing sooner, was this true or just part of the story? And do you think that this was a real adventure or actually just fiction?
I think Lewis was attempting to write this in a way to make it seem as if it really happened. This really comes out in the other two books in the series. Amber and Ericka, I think you might find the second book, Perelandra, really interesting.
ReplyDeleteOh okay, so he's basically making us doubt ourselves hahaha. Will we be reading any of the other books this school year?
ReplyDeleteAnd do you think that something like this story could happen in real life. Man is constantly trying to be one step ahead of the game, but are we really will to move the whole race to another planet just to live on? I don't think it would be possible since we need specific living conditions, but if it were, you'd you go along with it?
Sorry I haven't been on in a while. I went to Oregon for 11 days and didn't have internet....but I'm back! I'm almost done with the book and every chapter has something that I would never have thought of on my own. One example is how he describes Augray as this strange creature in chapter 15. "Its knees rose high above its shoulders on each side of its head - grotesquely suggestive of huge ears - and the head, down between them, rested its chin on the protruding breast. The creature seemed to have either a double chin or a beard."
ReplyDeleteAnother example comes from chapter 16, where the sorn carries Ransom through the old forests of Malacandra. One may have thought it strange how the sorn randomly has oxygen with him when traveling at the heights that he does when he doesn't need it. I know Ransom needed it in order to breath at the elevation that they were at, but how did the sorn get it and why did he have it?
Amber I think the sorn might have had it with him because Oyersa had destined Ransom to come to him. And since he seems to know everything, he probably suggested that Ransom, being human, would need it since he is not built for that elevation. as to how he got it, i have know idea. but i think it might have been made because if you read the the last chapters, the inhabitants of Malacandra have ways on doing specific things.
ReplyDeleteMr. Rea can you please go over to the page for Caves of Steel? I have SO many unanswered questions hahaha
ReplyDeleteSorns have grown accustomed to living in high altitudes where the air is thin. Similar to the people of Nepal who act as guides for the tourists who want to climb Mt. Everest. They have much greater endurance.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they were trying to move people from earth to Malacandra necessarily, Devine was more interested in the gold on Malacandra. He wanted to trade Ransom for the gold.