C.S. Lewis (The Author)
As an expository, persuasive nonfiction work, The Abolition of Man comes from the perspective of its author, C.S. Lewis, who is thereby the primary character. Lewis is a professor, classicist, Christian apologist, and writer, and his goal in writing this work is straightforward: he wants to give a warning about the dangers of abolishing objective value. He goes about this task in an intellectually competent yet humble fashion, clearly and comprehensively making his points in a logical order and progressing in the course of the three essays to his final message.
Gaius and Titius
Lewis begins this book with a reference to a particular children’s book written by two unnamed authors (Lewis calls them, for the sake of pseudonymity, Gaius and Titius). These men have written an educational textbook for children’s schooling, but Lewis points out a dramatically incorrect worldview inherent in the text: the transformation of objectivity into subjectivity. The specific scene Lewis references concerns Coleridge at a waterfall, and Gaius and Titius argue that his label of the waterfall as ‘sublime’ is merely a description of his own personal feelings. This rejection of objective value, seemingly so innocuous but in fact quite dangerous, is the basis for Lewis’s argument through the book.
The Innovator
In the second part of The Abolition of Man, “The Way,” Lewis undertakes to imagine what it would be like for someone to invent a system of living or beliefs from outside the Tao (the Way of Life). This theoretical person he calls the Innovator, as he attempts to innovate a new religion of sorts. Lewis proves the task of the Innovator to be entirely futile and clearly impossible.
The Conditioners
In the third and final chapter of the book, itself called “The Abolition of Man,” Lewis describes a bleak future in which Man uses Science to take complete control over Nature. The men in charge of this power are called the Conditioners, but “man” is not really a good description: in order to rule over the world, these men have lost their humanity by stepping outside the Tao and therefore opening themselves to the control of Nature and her whims. These Conditioners are the manifestation of the cruel irony that when Man gains complete power over Nature, Nature will have gained complete power over Man.
Headmaster
The headmaster supervises the school where Lewis delivers his lectures on The Abolition of Man. He is described as a very kind and cheerful man. He is also a man who will not stand up to "the authority" in the face of evil, and in fact, he calls Lewis's lectures "untimely." The headmaster's inability to use his judgment when confronted with evil foreshadows the more significant problem of dehumanization that Lewis fears. This unnamed headmaster is never presented in-depth or complexity; his only purpose is to be a mouthpiece for Lewis's ideas.
The Future "Technicians"
Lewis addresses the idea of future "technicians" in Part III, or people who could use human nature to their own advantage. These figures are not specific individuals; rather, they stand for the possible outcomes of a society that rejects objective morality, which could result in a dehumanized and controlled future for all people.
