Elwin Ransom
• His name (Elwin) Means “ Friend of Angels” (Ransom) in the story has 2 meanings
1. Ranolf’s Son
2. A payment or tribute for something.
• He is loosely based on JRR Tolkien and his Personality.
• Like Tolkien, Ransom is Phylologist which means he studies languages
Professor Weston
• He is a Physicist who builds space ship and kidnaps Ransom.
• He is narcissistic by nature and believes that by going into Space and conquering other worlds for colonization Mankind can achieve its full evolutionary potential.
• He is Loosely based on characters by HG Wells and embodies what Lewis refers to as “ Scientism”
Devine
• He tends to be vary self centered in his actions and motivations.
• His personality can be described as Sociopathic
• He is different from Weston in the sense that Westons is motivated by what he believes is best for Mankind. Devine however only thinks of what is best for him. He represents Human Nature.
The Different Aliens on Mars
• There 3 different Aliens on Mars
• The Sorns – The first aliens Ransom sees but is scared of them at first
The name comes from Gaelic which means Kiln. They are the thinkers and Scholars on the planet.
• The Hrossa – They act as hunters and artists
• The Pfifltriggi – They act as the builders and architects
In addition to the 3 alien species
• The Eldila – They are angel like beings who act as messengers. After meeting them Ransom makes a realization that perhaps the stories of Angels, ghosts, and “ Specters” which often appear are really the Eldila who live on Earth.
• Oyarsa – Not really a God but more closer to an Angelic Ruler. Ransom learns that each planet in fact has an Oyarsa who rules over it and the space within that planets Sphere
What the Aliens represent
• Lewis uses these aliens to tackle issues such as conflict and racism. Through the fact these races really don’t fight each other but work together.
• They have clear differences but these differences don’t really create any real conflict between each other
The other aliens
• The Eldila of course represent the Angels from Biblical belief
• The Oyarsa which you learn much more in the next book represents higher ranking angels or heavenly beings which are given rulership. Based largely on the Ptolomeic idea of the universe.
Plot Summary
• Elwin Ransom gets Kidnapped and taken to Malacandra. He overhears he is taken to be a sacrifice to the Sorns. After they land and he sees the sorns he runs away and meets the Hrossa. The Hrossa teach him about their language and the philosophies they all follow. Ransom tries to understand the culture and realizes how different this culture is from Earth. He then learns that the locals think he may be from Thulcandra which he learns means Silent Planet.
• Ransom really doesn’t understand why Earth would be called Silent so he is told to ask the Sorns. Then Weston shows up and kills 3 hrossa including his friend and at the request of an Eldila he goes to Malidil. There he meets with a Sorn named Augrey who explains why the Earth is called Silent and it is because the Earth is Quarentined or separated so no Oyarsa speaks to the others so the Earth is Silent.
• Ransom then meets the Oyarsa and Weston and Devine show up. After Weston and Devine make fools of themselves thinking the locals are very primitive they find out that they do have a leader and they are in front of it. They try to explain themselves and the Oyarsa is disturbed and even troubled by what has happened to Ransoms people. So rather then kill the 2 he decides to let them go back to Earth.
• Ransom also returns but not before learning about everything he needed to know and agreeing to helping Oyarsa with freeing Thulcandra.
Ideas of Space
• Lewis in Chapter 5 talks about space and uses this quote from John Milton
“ Happy climes that ly
Where day never shuts his eye
Up in the broad fields of the sky”
• Lewis describes space as not being what we think it is.
Continued
Ransom describes space much like it is pregnant as if with purpose.
• He can feel that Space is somehow coursing with life like a drum beat outside the spaceship and he compares this experience with his old belief.
“ A nightmare, long endured in the modern mind by the MYTHOLOGY that follows in the wake of Science, was falling off of him.”
• What is this mythology leaving him?
• What leaves him is this idea that anything outside the earth must be a monster that wants to destroy and conquer. “ War of the Worlds”
• He realizes SPACE is the wrong word and the more appropriate word is “ The Heavens”
“ You cannot see things clearly until you know what they are.”
• He is pointing out what happens when you encounter something alien or foreign.
If you don’t know what it is all your left with is the color and perhaps its shape and we often try to associate it with what we know.