Danyelle Catoe- Ransom’s first trip to another planet

In the first book of C.S. Lewis’ space trilogy, readers join Ransom on his first journey to another planet. As we observe Ransom’s new surroundings and the new creatures he interacts with, we begin to see Ransom’s outlook on life start to change. As he interacts with his new friends, they bring up the idea of a memory versus an experience. The new creatures on this planet do not understand why Ransom would have the desire to repeat many experiences over and over. To them, the memory of the experience is far more valuable. This is a completely new concept to Ransom, and to many of us. This idea seems to really impact Ransom later on. Later in the series, readers can see how Ransom has started to adopt this outlook. During his fist trip to Perelandra, Ransom is searching for food to eat. He takes a bite of some fruit that was growing on a nearby tree. As he takes his first bite, he describes the ecstasy of his new snack. It was one of the best things he had ever tried! Most people from Earth would immediately begin to gather as many fruits as they could find and eat this new food until they simply couldn’t eat any more.
However this is not Ransom’s reaction. Instead, he simply enjoys the fruit that he is currently eating, then savors the memory of the initial ecstasy experienced in the first bite. He understands that the initial joy and surprise captured in that first bite is not something that can be repeated. He may not be able to recapture this initial joy, but he can savor the memory of it.
This idea can be applied to many things in our lives. Many people spend majority of their lives searching for the next high, or trying to recapture a joy experienced earlier in their lives. However, what would our lives look like if, instead of constantly trying to improve our lives, we simply enjoyed our lives as we lived them? Instead of constantly planning for the future, why don’t we enjoy the present?