40 pages • 1 hour read
C. S. LewisPerelandra
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1943A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 3-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 3 Summary
Lewis recounts several strange arguments that Ransom engages in after returning to Earth about the nature of life, resurrection, and language. Ransom has obtained these new views after returning from his journey to Venus. Lewis says that this journey seems to have changed Ransom even more than the one to Mars.
Ransom awoke in the coffin as he was falling toward Venus. The coffin melts away and leaves behind a viscous substance as Ransom begins soaring over the planet, drinking the water and trying to find land. He encounters giant waves, as tall as mountains, and strange shapes that he tries to comprehend. A floating object hits him but does no damage. He turns back to see it, and realizes it’s a huge thing, taking up thirty acres of area. It sits on the water like skin and curves with the waves.
Ransom feels excessive pleasure at these new experiences but is then struck by an unendurable light. Storm clouds gather and thunder sounds and he suddenly finds it difficult to breathe. At the “very end of the world” stands an enormous green column. As he begins to feel exhaustion, the waves die down until they are smaller than those of the Atlantic Ocean and Ransom can breathe easily again. He sees more of the floating objects and grabs onto one, which seems to pull away.
Eventually, he climbs on the object and finds there is a surface on which he can lie. He looks out across these floating islands and observes the valleys and mountains of their geography change with every movement. He then begins to walk across the island, falling as it moves. With time, he learns to walk on the new planet. He enters a wooded area and begins to explore, tasting a yellow fruit that gives him such a strong sensation that he thinks it would be fought over in wars back on Earth. He attempts to eat another but finds himself full and, even though he wants to experience the sensation again, something makes him stop. Night comes, and the world is so dark that he is unable to see, but he notes that the darkness is warm, and that he can smell sweet scents as he falls asleep.
Chapter 4 Summary
When Ransom wakes up, he sees a tree full of the yellow fruits. The tree has silver leaves and a small red dragon covered in reddish-gold scales coiled around the base. He at first thinks that this is a dream. Ransom then considers the mythological Garden of Hesperides and how he also saw the Cyclops of Greek mythology on Malacandra. He wonders if the mythology of Earth is, on other worlds, a reality. Ransom tries to speak to the dragon in Old Solar, the common tongue. The dragon uncoils itself. Ransom stands his ground. Rather than attack, the animal goes to the water to drink before returning to examine Ransom. After the dragon is done and Ransom sees there is no danger, he looks around. He sees what looks like moving glass reflecting light and moves toward it. The dragon follows beside him.
Ransom finds that the source of the reflected light is one of many globes hanging from the branches above him. He touches it and it engulfs him in a refreshing liquid. He next notices that all of the globes are slowly growing then bursting, releasing a cool fragrance in the air. He perceives that the branches are drawing up water from the ocean and expelling it as these bubbles. He begins to befriend the dragon by petting it. He eats some green berries and finds that the ones with red centers are best, knowing that, on Earth, they would be bred for this redness and overpriced.
Ransom wonders why he is here and thinks maybe it’s to be the first reasoning inhabitant of the planet. He sees fish- and bird-like creatures. The leader of the fish has a strange malformation on its back similar to a hump. As he continues watching, he sees the hump is actually a human form that steps ashore on another of the islands. The figure begins running toward Ransom’s island and he recognizes it as a green man who is shouting atRansom. The alien man turns out to be a female and, upon seeing Ransom, seems disappointed as she was looking for someone else. She is surrounded by animals. He attempts to speak to her and she laughs. He is unsure how to interpret this, but worries that, because she is not human, they may be unable to connect. He speaks again, saying that he comes in peace and asking if he should come to her island. She is unfamiliar with the word peace. Because of the movement of the islands and waves, Ransom gets impatient and enters the water to swim across as darkness falls. After some struggle, he finds land again.
Chapters 3-4 Analysis
Ransom, having returned from Perelandra, shows that his experiences have widened his vision. Ransom, in argument with a man named McPhee about resurrection, states, “Oh, don’t you see, you ass, that there’s a difference between a trans-sensuous life and a non-sensuous life?” (30). Lewis here is working in line with Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” an image that shows up at the end of the novel. Here, he is foreshadowing this by showing the inability of those who have not experienced Perelandra to fully understand Ransom. While on the planet, Ransom finds himself further distant from Earth as he eats the fruit. Lewis tells us, “There was an exuberance or prodigality of sweetness about the mere act of living which our race finds it difficult not to associate with forbidden and extravagant actions” (33). Not only does Ransom feel no guilt in his enjoyment, he also feels no need to gorge himself on pleasure since he is fulfilled. When he eats a more delicious fruit later, he thinks, “For one draught of this on earth wars would be fought and nations betrayed” (37). Yet, he feels no need to eat more. Lewis uses this recurring image to critique humanity’s excesses. He makes this point more clearly when Ransom makes this comparison: “He had always disliked the people who encored a favourite air in the opera—‘That just spoils it’ had been his comment” (43). This exploration of the evils of excess leads to the concept and evils of money.
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