Parallel to the World We Live in: Perelandra

Catherine Porter

C.S. Lewis’ work entitled Perelandra from his Space Trilogy tells a story involving the possible destruction of a new planet by the dark forces. Dr. Ransom, however, struggles in his efforts to keep Perelandra a peaceful planet. In some way, this story is applicable to the human nature we are born into. Thus, the sin, or the “dark force” has caused damage to the world which God created perfectly. Also, Dr. Ransom, like some human beings, recognize the problem and desire to be a part of helping to restore the world to what God intended it to be. Perelandra also demonstrates how the darkness is not to be taken lightly. For instance, C.S. Lewis writes “The darkness was packed quite full. It seemed to press upon his trunk so that he could hardly use his longs: it seemed to close in on his skull like a crown of intolerable weight so that for a space he could hardly think.” The darkness that Ransom faced, just as the darkness we face hear on earth, is not light but instead a “crown of intolerable weight” that requires strength and determination to resist. This idea can also be related to C.S. Lewis notion that this world is “a shadow world of symbols”. In other words, because we come to understand our world through the use of symbols and language, it is through fairy stories (Perelandra) that we are able to make sense of the world we live in.