Classic Science Fiction Review: C. S. Lewis’ “Out of the Silent Planet”

Out of the Silent Planet represents C.S. Lewis’ first venture into the science fiction genre. If the story of its inception is true, the whole idea was predicated on a challenge between himself and his friend J.R.R.Tolkien to write a good science fiction story about space travel. After reading the story I think that Lewis was not meant to write science-fiction, but rather should have focused on fantasy which later garnered him a lot of fame in his Chronicles of Narnia series.

Complaints

I expected to enjoy this novel for many reasons, and that’s why I think I was a little disappointed. Maybe my expectations were too high, but either way, I’m starting with my complaints.

Science fiction, or speculative fiction, is often praised for accurately predicting, or at least reasonably guessing, what conditions will be like in the future based on an extrapolation of modern sciences. While it’s true that Lewis does a surprisingly good job describing some the conditions of space travel, considering that he wrote the book in 1938 before we had even put a satellite into space, Lewis admits that his space travel trilogy is influenced by Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and David Lindsay’s A Voyage to Arcturus. This makes me want to take credit away from Lewis when it comes to his ideas about space travel, since those authors had already written about many of the details that Lewis assumes for his reality in Out of the Silent Planet.

If scientific speculation is the main goal of the genre, I think a close secondary goal is to have literary value and to be entertaining. Through that lens I think that Out of the Silent Planet also misses the mark. The story starts off in a very confusing way, with the protagonist being kidnapped from Earth by a scientist and an entrepreneur who wish to take him to another planet (Mars) to please the natives of that planet. Okay…what…why? Later in the story Lewis tries to explain it by saying that God (going by an alien name) wanted the protagonist to come to Mars, so he designed the whole thing. This explanation isn’t wholly disappointing because of the stories highly religious theme, but it becomes annoying that just about every action that is taken by the natives is attributed to Deus Ex Machina. Why not just call the book “Lack of Character Motivation: God Controls Our Every Action.”

I’m not attacking people who believe that God has a plan, or that we are a part of it. I’m just saying that it’s lazy writing. You can believe it all you want, and admittedly the nature of God is a central focus of Silent Planet, so it almost works in this novel, but I still think it’s lazy.

Besides the heavy Deus Ex Machina, I think the story is also let down by how one dimensional it and its characters are. From beginning to the end I feel as though I am marching in a straight line that never wavers. Sure the line expands a little, goes from one lane to two, but bad characters remain bad, good remain good, curious remain curious, and each gets the end that you would expect from a Christian point of view. Again, nothing wrong with that view, it’s just not great from a literary stand point because it is predictable and lazy.

In that same vein, I am deeply concerned by the three different alien tribes in the story. Each has their own niche. They stick to what their good at and they largely stick to their own kind. They co-exist peacefully, but also separately. Many read this to be a criticism of the racial divides in our society—that we should all be peaceful with those of us who are different—but it felt to me like an argument for segregation. Stick to your own kind, only do what you’re good at. Others have also said that it’s an argument that we should treat beasts like our brothers, because not all of the Martians are humanoid, but again, I was distracted by the separate but equal undertones.

One last complaint before I give this story any praise. The time spent showing us how the protagonist learns the alien language, and continually going back to the fact that there is a language barrier is somewhat interesting, but largely a waste of ink. Creating a new language should not just serve the purpose of flavor in a science fiction novel, that’s what fantasy is for. We’re all impressed by Lewis’ friend Tolkien when he does it in LoTR, but creating an immersive world was Tolkien’s primary goal with that series. Yes it makes sense that the aliens speak another language, but Lewis did not need to spend chapter after chapter adding new fake words to our vocabulary for no big pay off. Yes, it’s interesting that the aliens have no word for hate, or no precise translation for murder, but it’s silly the number of pages Lewis devotes to linguistics in a supposed SPECULATIVE FICTION NOVEL. Take that stuff to the fantasy genre.

Allegory

Alright, I think I’ve calmed down. Now let’s talk about the reason that Silent Planet is successful by first examining Allegory.

Biblical Allegory - repackaging the teachings of the Bible into a fresh and more modern parcel. Or, in the words of Lewis himself, “theology can now be smuggled into people’s minds under the cover of fiction without them knowing it.” I don’t hate allegory, though many literary scholars would consider it a tool for teaching children. I think that some people reject some ideas outright because of their source material, the Bible in this case. They ignore the ideas because they have had a bad experience with the religious institutions that claim to purport them. Then, along comes Lewis with Silent Planet and Narnia and now those people are exposed to those ideas.

Some readers resent the fact that they need to be tricked into eating their broccoli, and I would actually agree with that. Allegorical stories, as soon as they are exposed as such, no longer serve the purpose that Lewis wishes to use them for. They become viewed as condescending and can become as tainted as the Bible for non-believers. To me, allegory is not so much a tool to convert the masses, but instead is more valuable as a tool to expose the faithful to a concept of their beliefs that they have forgotten or are ignoring to the detriment of all.

For instance, many Christians used Bible verses to argue for continuation of slavery and segregation in 19th and 20th century. To convince those Christians that what they are doing is wrong you have to put biblical philosophy in another context, because pointing to a verse that is directly in the Bible will only allow them to point to their own verses a few pages away. Some people have to be shown the correct philosophy either through fiction or in real life experiences to truly understand the meaning without the distraction of their own interpretations.

My favorite example, just because it is so strange to me, is how X-Men hooked young readers in with lasers, claws, and telekinesis, and then injected them with a beautiful concept shared by biblical teachings; love thy neighbor. A person then who grew up with parents that used the Bible to promote segregation might become attached to one of the many X-Men characters who were discriminated against just for being different. They would grow to understand that those people are people despite even the most alien of differences, and that they deserve equality just as much as anyone. Not only that, but they would not then be able to find a page in an X-Men comic that says “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.”

What’s to Like?

Out of the Silent Planet is not so much a physical journey as it is a philosophical and philological journey. More specifically it is interested in juxtaposing human determination with biblical determinism.

If the only thing you are looking for in a novel is a positive, Christian message, then you will love Out of the Silent Planet. Whether you’re a Christian or not, the philosophical discussion that occurs in the story is mostly interesting and valuable. The main point that I could see upsetting non-Christians is that Lewis, through the Martian angel, argues that scientific advancement shouldn’t be done unless morality is considered first. You might wonder why this would upset non-Christians, since it is a typical science fiction theme, but the difference is that Silent Planet seems to be advocating a Christian morality that is guided by the authority of an almighty God. It’s easy to read the story and come away with the understanding that humanity should not only check its social and scientific advancement, but that it should be submissive and even self-sacrificing to an all powerful God. If this doesn’t bother you, then you might enjoy Silent Planet.

If you want to understand determinism and a Christian morality when it comes to scientific and social advancement, then I would suggest reading Out of the Silent Planet. While I had my complaints, I will admit that it is more entertaining than a scholarly paper on the matter. Also, I should mention that Silent Planet is part of a trilogy, and that I did not read the second two. From what I have read about those sequels is that the Christian allegory is more overt and, if that’s not your thing, overpowering.

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