Essay Questions

How do the characters Ransom learns about on Malacandra represent the central figures in Christianity?

While on Malacandra, Ransom is taught about the order of the universe and its governing entities. "The Old One" appears to be the Malacandran name for God, as "Maleldil the Younger" is their name for Jesus. The eldila appear to be spirits that have the function of angels, watching over and protecting those dear to the Old One. The Oyarsa, both the one on Malacandra and those watching over the other planets, is a type of eldil that watches over entire planets and seems to be higher in power and authority than a typical eldil: they are essentially analogous to archangels. This corresponds with the situation of Earth (The Silent Planet); it is said that the Earth's Oyarsa fell from goodness and perverted his kingdom, polluting it with sin. This fits in with the Christian narrative of the angel Lucifer rebelling against God and turning to sin. The Malacandran view of religious hierarchy becomes clearer in the next two installments of the Space Trilogy as well.

How might Out of the Silent Planet be viewed as a social commentary?

The names and characters of Weston and Devine are highly intentional. Lewis intended for these two to represent vital elements of Western culture: progress-focused utilitarianism and materialistic greed, respectively. He seems to take a stand against these points of view, as evidenced by his unflattering and clearly negative portrayal of these men and their actions. In the final scene between Weston and Oyarsa, the latter demonstrates the imbecility of the former, kindly showing the flaws of his philosophy. This flawed philosophy is the predominant one in academic culture in today's Western society, so clearly Lewis is criticizing both its utilitarianism and its individualistic materialistic greed.

How does Lewis seem to redefine personhood in this novel?

The humans' concept of what makes a person is turned on its head in the course of the novel. Ransom meets large otter-like creatures (hrossa) who build boats and write poetry, tall and thin feathered giants (séroni) who enjoy abstract theoretical philosophy, and great mantis-like beings (pfifltriggi) who are experts in building and technology. Oyarsa includes all of these in the word hnau, which comes to be the word representing a personal entity with the capacities for reason and salvation. People do not have to be human-shaped to have souls.