Out Of The Silent Planet

3 Pages 691 Words

The Contrast of Malacondra and Earth
In Out of the Silent Planet, C. S. Lewis contrasts the utopian society, located on the imaginary planet Malacondra, with a futuristic earth. This society consists of several different species of intelligent creatures. Lewis draws many parallels between earth and Malacondra. However, earth deals with many problems that the people of Malacondra fortunately never have to. Unlike Malacondra, immorality, unemployment and lack of respect are three problems that the people of earth deal with continually.
The heartaches and troubles immorality brings about on earth rip apart our society. Promiscuity hurts people in all areas of life, no matter who the offender. Families die, people lose dreams and the wounds left behind scar forever. Over sixty percent of married couples in today’s world divorce. "I do" seems to mean "I might". In Malacondra, the hross have one female. They reproduce once and relish that memory forever. Lust does not drive them on. Mere tempting attraction or the desire for temporary gratification does not stir them to leave their true love, their mate. In
Out of the Silent Planet, the protagonist, Ransom, made many inquiries into the life of the hross. Many of the answers to his questions surprised him. In one situation, Ransom asked about the courting of the hross. The set finality of the pattern of the hross’ courtship and love especially surprised him. "‘When he [a hross] is young he has to look for his mate; and then he has to court her; then he begets young; then he rears them; then he remembers all this, and boils it inside him and makes it into poems and wisdom…I have heard of one that wanted to eat earth; there might, perhaps, be somewhere a hross likewise that wanted to have the years of love prolonged. I have not heard of it , but it might be. I have heard of something stranger. There is a poem about a hross who lived long ago…and last of all they say that he fell ...