Most understand Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis to be a Christian allegory, even though the novel is a piece of science fiction. While it certainly functions as a Christian book, just like any complex work it can be interpreted in a number of ways. A legitimate analysis of Lewis’ story is to look at the psychological projection on display throughout it and analyze what can be learned.
Published in 1938, Out of the Silent Planet might at first strike modern readers as odd. After all, it doesn’t follow many of the traditional sci-fi tropes of today or even of the past forty years. It was written before many authors had established norms about space exploration. But more importantly, Lewis wrote the novel at a time when nobody really knew what space was like, so he made some interesting guesses.
He imagined space as unbearably bright and hot when one was in view of the sun, the opposite of the cold darkness modern astronauts have experienced, so one side of a massive spaceship would be sweltering and the other side frigid. His vision of a spaceship being in the shape of a sphere, because that’s how planets are, is definitely odd but also interesting. Funny enough, it’s not too far off from the spaceships in the end of Christopher Nolan film Interstellar, among other works of fiction.
When I first tried reading Out of the Silent Planet as a teenager, I admittedly struggled because of these and other oddities. My young mind lacked the appreciation for how things were in the 1930s when it came to science fiction. After all, Lewis was imagining things many thought would remain fiction forever, something which seems ridiculous now. As an adult I’ve found the novel to be a joy, one far too many Lewis fans overlook.
According to J.R.R. Tolkien, who was a friend of Lewis and a fellow Oxford professor, the novel emerged at first as a challenge. Tolkien put Lewis up to writing a “thriller space-journey” which wasn’t the kind of thing Lewis usually wrote. In turn, Lewis challenged Tolkien to write a “time-journey,” which Tolkien said was never finished thanks to his “slowness and uncertainty.” Lewis went on to publish The Space Trilogy.
Stepping out of his comfort zone of fantasy, Lewis couched his story in Christian allegory, something he did in his works of fantasy as well. The protagonist, named Ransom, is taken against his will on a journey to Mars by two fellow professors, Weston and Devine. The journey is one of conquest and the unwilling guest is to be offered to the aliens as a sacrifice to some sort of god – at least that’s what he’s given to understand on the trip through space.
After landing on Mars, Ranson escapes and makes his way across the strange landscape that’s nothing like the red desert we know of today. Instead, it’s far more bizarre and interesting.
Both during the journey to Mars and the events that unfold on the planet’s surface, Lewis weaves in an undercurrent narrative of the follies of the human condition when it comes to greed and pride promoted by a secularist approach to life.
Ransom of course isn’t too thrilled to learn that he is to be offered up in sacrifice. He finds out the plan in secret and keeps it to himself, being lied to that his role isn’t quite so dire but will require some sacrifice on his part. Even as he tries to not let on that he knows what the other two have planned for him, Ranson isn’t exactly compliant with their wishes. After all, they kidnapped him and brought him on the spaceship, so he isn’t exactly a willing participant.
Finally, the more hardened of the two other professors, Weston, unloads on Ransom during the space journey with quite the diatribe. This is the most salient part:
“It would be easier if your philosophy of life were not so insufferably narrow and individualistic. I had thought no one could fail to be inspired by the role you are being asked to play: that even a worm, if it could understand, would rise to the sacrifice. I mean, of course, the sacrifice of time and liberty, and some little risk. Don’t misunderstand me.”
Weston and Devine frame Ransom’s inclusion in the excursion as a sacrifice for the greater good. Much like the collectivist societies which litter history and exist in the present, the abuse of an individual is justified by the supposed benefit for everyone else. Berated for not embracing their role, those who resists are demonized.
This is where the pschological projection first comes into play. In reality, it is Weston and Devine who are being selfish and not caring for the greater good. Their true interest in the journey isn’t really academic, although they use such pursuits as a shroud. Instead, what they really want is Martian gold, which the aliens trade away for materials that are far less valuable on Earth. It’s a way for the men to become rich and powerful back home.
Weston and Devine view the aliens as brutish, savage, and uncivilized. While Ransom does as well in the beginning, it doesn’t take too long once he’s away from his human companions for him to realize the Martian creatures are not only intelligent but are of perhaps superior moral fiber.
By the end of the book, Weston and Devine are brought by force in front of the angelic creature in charge of Mars, called Oyarsa. The two men still perceive the aliens as uncivilized beasts despite evidence to the contrary. Ransom, having lived among them for a time and setting aside his own pride, knows the opposite is true. He finally sees his human companions as the true savages.
What Weston and Devine have done is project their own greedy, lustful motives onto the native population, soothing their conscience as they engage in activities they obviously know to be morally wrong. I see people do this all the time and have done it myself. Anyone who says they’re immune to projection is kidding themselves and is blind to their inclinations, making me wonder if they aren’t engaging in projection to a heavy degree.
The way Lewis portrays this projection by Weston and Devine makes them look ridiculous, helping to paint the behavior in an appropriate light. After all, it’s rather silly that we as humans tend to believe that if we can convince ourselves and others that someone else is doing something reprehensible, there’s no possible way that we too are doing the same thing. It’s obviously a logical fallacy and yet this way of thinking is so common.
There are a lot of other tremendous lessons packed into Out of the Silent Planet. If you haven’t read the book, I highly recommend checking it out. And if you have, repeat readings help you to unpack even more out of the plot.
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