Out of the Silent Planet- Buddy Powers

Ransom's philosophical wondering, as the space ship is landing on Malacandra, is an interesting exploration of ontology. Before his kidnap by Weston and Devine, Ransom saw the world as the point of reality on an otherwise empty and lifeless universe. The dull void of Space was the nothing from which the Earth, the reality, had come. However their unbelievable journey through space opened up his mind to a broader perspective of reality, shifting his ontological perspective. "Now... he saw planets- the "earths" as he called them in his thoughts- as mere holes or gaps in the living heaven" (p. 41 Out of the Silent Planet). After seeing the unfiltered brilliance of the heavens on his space journey, Ransom could no longer see the "earths" as more life-filled than Space. His ontological perspective is inverted and carried further: if the earth is the void to the magnificence of Space, than is Space the void to some greater brightness? In the previous chapter, the narrator explains that Ransom is a pious man and as their space journey comes to an end, he can not help but wonder about the immensity of God.