Perelandra: Chapter 5

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of Perelandra by C. S. Lewis, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. I recommend reading the book first. It's short, I promise.

Yes, late yet again. I should just aim for Sunday and make the official release date Tuesday. (Except then I'll probably slip until Thursday.)

Elwin Ransom, philologist, was sent to Venus by Oyarsa, the spirit that rules Mars, which planet Ransom visited in captivity in Out of the Silent Planet, the first volume of the Space Trilogy. Venus (known outside of Earth as Perelandra) is an ocean world with giant floating vegetation mats. On his first day he discovered forests with trees bearing food; on his second, he became acquainted with a dragon-like creature that also inhabited his island. He also discovered that Venus has intelligent life: a green woman visiting a neighbouring island, who apparently mistook him for someone else. They could speak to each other in the universal tongue of the solar system, and he resolved to visit her island.

The next morning, Ransom finds that his island and the Green Lady's are only a few feet apart, and several islands have (temporarily?) formed a floating continent. The Lady is right there, singing to herself and plaiting together some flowers, and she initiates a conversation with him. This chapter is heavy on dialogue and light on action, so rather than my habitual plot summary, I'm going to talk about key points in their discussion.

The Green Lady's first words to Ransom are, "I was young yesterday." He doesn't initially understand what she means by that: taking her words at face value, he remarks that she's not that much older now. But she is speaking of her understanding. If I understand the discourse correctly, she finds it strange that Ransom speaks of time and life in terms of past, present, and future; she experiences life in the present moment. As they talk, she is also conversing with Maleldil, who is helping her understand what Ransom is saying.

Maleldil is the chief of all the spiritual beings in Deep Heaven (outer space, the solar system). The hierarchy of life was explained in Out of the Silent Planet: at the bottom are beasts, and above them, hnau (reasoning creatures); then eldila (spiritual creatures), and above all, Maleldil. He is, in other words, God—and it is him who is feeding the Green Lady information while she talks with Ransom.

Think back to Genesis and the creation story: "they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day" (Gen. 3:8). Adam and Eve were accustomed to having the personal presence of God with them in Eden, before the Fall. Clearly, the Green Lady is intended to be the Venusian Eve, and we're meant to understand that Perelandra is yet in an unfallen state. If the paradisaical state of Venus, with its warm climate, delicious fruit, and benign wildlife aren't clues enough, here also we have an utterly innocent—and naked and unashamed—woman who has everyday conversations with Maleldil.

She is aware that there are other worlds, and that Ransom comes from Earth. This bewilders Ransom, because with Venus's constant cloud cover, she cannot possibly observe the night sky. He also wonders why it is that she is shaped like a human woman: he saw no humanoid creatures when he was taken to Mars. The Lady's response is that Malacandra is an older world than either Earth or Venus. On Earth, God created man in his own image (Gen. 1:26). Then God himself became man: "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). If God made man in his image, and then himself took on man's image, why expect Reason to ever appear in another form? "'And after this,' said Ransom, 'it will all be men'"—perhaps sad to see such creatures as he met on Mars fade away.

The Green Lady doesn't know the reason Maleldil became man; being perfectly innocent, Ransom cannot tell her about the Fall or the plan of redemption, which would corrupt her. Yet she knows a second reason, and she also cannot tell him. I wonder what that is? I don't remember whether that revelation comes elsewhere in the novel.

The next day, Ransom asks the Lady to meet her people, and she does not understand: she only knows one other person of her kind, the King, and does not know where he is. When he makes clear he means he wants to visit the place where her brothers and sisters and other kindred and her mother live. To this she replies: "I have a mother? What do you mean? I am the Mother." It is here that Ransom realizes he is not addressing another commoner like himself: the Green Lady is the Eve of Perelandra, the Queen to her King.

The chapter ends on a bit of a sour note. Ransom brings up their first meeting, and notes that when she realized he wasn't the King, she must have been disappointed. It results in, perhaps, an unintentional and small loss of innocence: "You make me grow older more quickly than I can bear," she says, and walks away. Ransom realizes that her innocence is a fragile thing, and he needs to be careful what he tells her.

I'm trying to be on time, I promise. So chapter 6 will ideally drop this coming Sunday.