| While on a walking tour, Ransom is looking for a warm meal and a bed for the night. Instead, he is drugged by his hosts and wakes on a spaceship leaving earth with his captors. They are traveling to a planet named Malacandra and he will be handed over to the Sorn. Ransom vows to escape the Sorns as they descend onto an alien world. Series format: Episodical While the three books occur sequentially, each book can be read independently. Out of the Silent Planet: Ransom is kidnapped and taken to Malacandra (Mars). Perelandra: God is creating life on Perelandra (Venus). Ransom is sent on a mission to keep Perelandra’s Eve from disobeying God’s command. That Hideous Strength: Newlyweds Jane and Mark find themselves caught up in the schemes of an evil company. |  |
Positive elements
The inhabitants of Malacandra are naïve to evil. The three races cooperate with one another, each with a specialized skill. A dying Hross forgives Ransom for mistakenly bringing the other humans to their village.
On Weston and Devine’s first trip, Oyarsa takes great pains to make them feel comfortable when making contact, awaiting them to get settled, sending the most human-looking race to greet them, teaching them the language.
Oyarsa cares for those in his charge, which extents to Ransom.
While Weston wants to seek other worlds to colonize when the earth dies, Oyarsa emphasizes that his planet is fading, but they haven’t invaded earth. Instead, they will accept their end, knowing that species have an appointed time and will not rob humanity.
Theme: Bent Humanity
While there is death on Malacandra, evil is a new concept to the three races. They are shocked by some of Rasom accounts of earthly life and are often confused by his questions (like which race rules the others). Weston and Devine’s willingness to harm one from their own race shows Oyarsa how bent they are.
Earth has no ‘oyarsa.’ Instead, each human aspires to be ‘their own little oyarsa.’ Bent creatures are full of fears.
Earth’s history explains its evil: Earth’s assigned oyarsa rebelled before any life was created. This Bent One wanted to spoil other worlds, too. This triggered a great war in the heavens until the others bound the Bent One to his own world. But God would not give earth entirely over to the Bent One. Instead, He ‘dared terrible things’ to wrestle with the Bent One on earth.
Religious/spiritual content
When Ransom first wakes on the spacecraft, he wonders if already in the ghost life. While on the voyage, describes ‘space’ as teeming with life, like a womb. ‘Space’ is the wrong word: ‘the Heavens’ is a better description.
Malacandra is ruled by a spirit-being called Oyarsa, who serves under God. He has other spirits that roam the planet and the heavens, bringing back information or delivering messages for him. Humans can’t see them, though Ransom sees Oyarsa for a moment.
We learn the history of the cosmic war: Earth’s ‘oyarsa’ rebelled and damaged other worlds, but the others bound him to earth. God, however, didn’t abandon earth and took ‘strange council’ to wrestle with the Bend One.
Oyarsa tells Ransom they are both copies of God and that God is the maker of all races.
Family structure/gender roles
Of the three races on Malacandra, we learn the Hross is a patriarchy while the Pfifltriggi is a matriarchy.
There are few female characters in the story.
The Hross male must court the female he wishes to marry, and the Hross pair stays married for life.
Sexual Content
During the voyage, the men walk around the ship naked because of the high heat. Devine plans to buy ‘the best expensive women’ when they return to earth.
Devine says if Weston so fond of Malacandra’s inhabitants, they’ll save one or two for Weston to sleep with.
When Ransom first meets Hyoi, a Hross, he assumes a ‘complication’ on his belly is his g*nitals and thinks he is ur*nating into a shell-cup (and it is at this point Ransom realizes that the ‘complication’ is a pouch Hyoi wears).
Ransom compares his first encounter with Hyoi to a courtship: although strange and mildly repugnant, it is easy to overcome with the first emotional tingling of intercourse.
Ransom asks if ‘the begetting of young is pleasurable to Hross’ and suggests Hross might indulge in ‘love’ too often and bear too many children to feed. This confuses Hyoi, and they argue about the purpose of any pleasure until Ransom gives up.
Ransom mentions ‘prostitution’ while explaining earth.
A hill is described as rising ‘like a woman’s br**st.’ When studying a diagram of the solar system, he realized Venus has br**sts drawn on.
Drugs/alcohol content
To kidnap Ransom, Devine drugs him.
Devine drinks often, at least twice becoming drunk. He tries to teach the ‘natives’ how to smoke.
When Ransom returns to earth, he stumbles into a pup and orders a pint.
Language
“D*mn” and “God” appear a handful of times each.
“The devil” “H*ll” and “*ss” appear 1-2 times each.
‘Because we’re not perfect idiots,’ Weston snaps at Ransom.
Violence
When Ransom tries to flee Weston’s home, they knock him out. While adjusting to the low-gravity of the space ship, Ransom hits his head on the skylight.
Hyoi kills an alligator-like creature, who wallows on its side, ‘bubbling out its black life.’
(Spoiler) Hyoi is shot by a rifle. He suffers with his fatal wound before his whole body contorts and a gush of blood and saliva comes up from his mouth.
Other negative elements
While flying close to the sun, the ship passengers endure dehydration and severe heat, including ‘blackened lips.’
A special needs boy is called ‘idiot son’ and ‘halfwit.’ He’s the kidnappers’ first choice since he is ‘incapable of serving humanity.’
Weston is a ‘big picture’ man and justifies Ransom’s kidnapping because an individual’s rights mean nothing in comparison with their grand quest. Any act is justified, since it may prolong humanity. Might makes right.
When asked why he wants to visit Malacandra, Devine jokes about the ‘white man’s burden’ and ‘the blessings of civilization.’ (In reality, he wants Malacandra’s gold.)
Weston and Devine discuss vivisecting Malacandrans.
When Ransom learns he’ll be taken by the Sorns, he decides he’d rather commit suicide. He steals a kitchen knife for that purpose.
After his escape, Ransom suffers a spell of seeing himself in the third person and being confused when he wakes up alone, wondering where ‘Ransom’ is. He almost dies why hiking over a mountain due to low oxygen.
When Hyoi takes Ransom to his village, Ransom gets seasick and vomits into the river, feeling ashamed.
All three men assume they are the ‘intelligent’ race and the Malacondrans are the unlearned savages. Ransom realizes his mistake after he learns enough of the language to hold conversations with the Hross.
Final thoughts
C.S. Lewis has again done an excellent job of creating a new world: The plants, animals, people, language, and worldview are unique to Malacondra. You feel as if you’ve entered an alien world, and it offers a fresh view of the human condition and the cosmic battle around us.
The inhabitants of Malacandra are naïve to evil. The three races cooperate with one another, each with a specialized skill. A dying Hross forgives Ransom for mistakenly bringing the other humans to their village.
On Weston and Devine’s first trip, Oyarsa takes great pains to make them feel comfortable when making contact, awaiting them to get settled, sending the most human-looking race to greet them, teaching them the language.
Oyarsa cares for those in his charge, which extents to Ransom.
While Weston wants to seek other worlds to colonize when the earth dies, Oyarsa emphasizes that his planet is fading, but they haven’t invaded earth. Instead, they will accept their end, knowing that species have an appointed time and will not rob humanity.
Theme: Bent Humanity
While there is death on Malacandra, evil is a new concept to the three races. They are shocked by some of Rasom accounts of earthly life and are often confused by his questions (like which race rules the others). Weston and Devine’s willingness to harm one from their own race shows Oyarsa how bent they are.
Earth has no ‘oyarsa.’ Instead, each human aspires to be ‘their own little oyarsa.’ Bent creatures are full of fears.
Earth’s history explains its evil: Earth’s assigned oyarsa rebelled before any life was created. This Bent One wanted to spoil other worlds, too. This triggered a great war in the heavens until the others bound the Bent One to his own world. But God would not give earth entirely over to the Bent One. Instead, He ‘dared terrible things’ to wrestle with the Bent One on earth.
Religious/spiritual content
When Ransom first wakes on the spacecraft, he wonders if already in the ghost life. While on the voyage, describes ‘space’ as teeming with life, like a womb. ‘Space’ is the wrong word: ‘the Heavens’ is a better description.
Malacandra is ruled by a spirit-being called Oyarsa, who serves under God. He has other spirits that roam the planet and the heavens, bringing back information or delivering messages for him. Humans can’t see them, though Ransom sees Oyarsa for a moment.
We learn the history of the cosmic war: Earth’s ‘oyarsa’ rebelled and damaged other worlds, but the others bound him to earth. God, however, didn’t abandon earth and took ‘strange council’ to wrestle with the Bend One.
Oyarsa tells Ransom they are both copies of God and that God is the maker of all races.
Family structure/gender roles
Of the three races on Malacandra, we learn the Hross is a patriarchy while the Pfifltriggi is a matriarchy.
There are few female characters in the story.
The Hross male must court the female he wishes to marry, and the Hross pair stays married for life.
Sexual Content
During the voyage, the men walk around the ship naked because of the high heat. Devine plans to buy ‘the best expensive women’ when they return to earth.
Devine says if Weston so fond of Malacandra’s inhabitants, they’ll save one or two for Weston to sleep with.
When Ransom first meets Hyoi, a Hross, he assumes a ‘complication’ on his belly is his g*nitals and thinks he is ur*nating into a shell-cup (and it is at this point Ransom realizes that the ‘complication’ is a pouch Hyoi wears).
Ransom compares his first encounter with Hyoi to a courtship: although strange and mildly repugnant, it is easy to overcome with the first emotional tingling of intercourse.
Ransom asks if ‘the begetting of young is pleasurable to Hross’ and suggests Hross might indulge in ‘love’ too often and bear too many children to feed. This confuses Hyoi, and they argue about the purpose of any pleasure until Ransom gives up.
Ransom mentions ‘prostitution’ while explaining earth.
A hill is described as rising ‘like a woman’s br**st.’ When studying a diagram of the solar system, he realized Venus has br**sts drawn on.
Drugs/alcohol content
To kidnap Ransom, Devine drugs him.
Devine drinks often, at least twice becoming drunk. He tries to teach the ‘natives’ how to smoke.
When Ransom returns to earth, he stumbles into a pup and orders a pint.
Language
“D*mn” and “God” appear a handful of times each.
“The devil” “H*ll” and “*ss” appear 1-2 times each.
‘Because we’re not perfect idiots,’ Weston snaps at Ransom.
Violence
When Ransom tries to flee Weston’s home, they knock him out. While adjusting to the low-gravity of the space ship, Ransom hits his head on the skylight.
Hyoi kills an alligator-like creature, who wallows on its side, ‘bubbling out its black life.’
(Spoiler) Hyoi is shot by a rifle. He suffers with his fatal wound before his whole body contorts and a gush of blood and saliva comes up from his mouth.
Other negative elements
While flying close to the sun, the ship passengers endure dehydration and severe heat, including ‘blackened lips.’
A special needs boy is called ‘idiot son’ and ‘halfwit.’ He’s the kidnappers’ first choice since he is ‘incapable of serving humanity.’
Weston is a ‘big picture’ man and justifies Ransom’s kidnapping because an individual’s rights mean nothing in comparison with their grand quest. Any act is justified, since it may prolong humanity. Might makes right.
When asked why he wants to visit Malacandra, Devine jokes about the ‘white man’s burden’ and ‘the blessings of civilization.’ (In reality, he wants Malacandra’s gold.)
Weston and Devine discuss vivisecting Malacandrans.
When Ransom learns he’ll be taken by the Sorns, he decides he’d rather commit suicide. He steals a kitchen knife for that purpose.
After his escape, Ransom suffers a spell of seeing himself in the third person and being confused when he wakes up alone, wondering where ‘Ransom’ is. He almost dies why hiking over a mountain due to low oxygen.
When Hyoi takes Ransom to his village, Ransom gets seasick and vomits into the river, feeling ashamed.
All three men assume they are the ‘intelligent’ race and the Malacondrans are the unlearned savages. Ransom realizes his mistake after he learns enough of the language to hold conversations with the Hross.
Final thoughts
C.S. Lewis has again done an excellent job of creating a new world: The plants, animals, people, language, and worldview are unique to Malacondra. You feel as if you’ve entered an alien world, and it offers a fresh view of the human condition and the cosmic battle around us.
