Perelandra by C.S. Lewis

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Perelandra

Setting

The setting of this story takes place on the planet Prelandra, also known as Venus. This planet consists of many floating islands. The islands are quite beautiful, the clouds are purple and the sky is a golden color, the seawater is green and drinkable, from the distance the water looks like glided glass. The islands are not very stable, and they can shake if water hits the mobile islands. All of the islands are mobile, except the main island, which remains stationary. Maledil, the people’s god, forbade them to spend the night on the main island; therefore the inhabitants of Perelandra stay on one of the mobile islands. There are many different types of inhabitants on Perelandra, dragons, exotic fish, possums, and unusual looking birds. Ransom, the books main character, mistook the birds for bat-winged reptiles when he first arrived on Perelandra. The tropical climate provides a pleasant atmosphere on Perelandra, thus allowing the inhabitants to move about freely, basking in the agreeable weather.

Character Descriptions

The main characters in this story are Ransom, Weston and Lady. Readers will be familiar with Ransom and Weston, both having appeared in the prequel to Perelandra, Out Of the Silent Planet. Ransom has been brought to Perelandra and he does not know why. He supposes that it was to keep a watchful eye on Lady because she is naive and does not understand the concept of evil or deception. Ransom is in his late thirties and is quite handsome, due to the weather on Perelandra, Ransom walks around nude because it is so hot and wearing clothes would be uncomfortable. Ransom receives curious looks due to his “tan.” When he was transported in the coffin, one half of his body was in direct sunlight, which is why one side of his body is very tan and the other side is very white. Ransom’s personality has changed since Out of the Silent Planet, he now lives a moral and godly life and falls under the authority of God.
Weston is a scientist who has come to Perelandra to conquer the planet so that mankind may exist on Perelandra and make Perelandra a civilized planet. Weston is an immoral man who does not believe in organized religion, especially Christianity. Weston believes that he is guided by a supernatural force, that force is really a d...

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...en the Perelandra and the garden of Eden. Lady, much like Eve, was tempted to gain knowledge of good and evil by Weston. Ransom, acting like a conscience explained to Lady why she should not disobey Maledill’s will. I thought that C. S. Lewis was trying to communicate the story of the fall of man to his readers through this story. I would recommend this book because I thought it most interesting and very enjoyable, packed with action and adventure and mystery.

Inspiring and Instructive

The theme of Perelandra was overcoming temptation. This story was very inspiring to read, watching Lady be tested by Weston to gain the knowledge of mankind. Often in our Christian walks, we are tempted to do several things and experience things that seem to be off limits to a Christian. God gives us a conscience and the Holy Spirit to help guide us in our decisions, just like Oysara sent Ransom to Perelandra to help guide Lady in her situation. By reading Perelandra the reader is left with a comforting feeling that knowing that God never will abandon us to evil without giving us a guide, all we have to do is seek him for the answers in the situations we encounter.

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