Perelandra

Fruit and water appear consistently in the novel. They are used to deal with thirst and hunger, and to fuel Ransom. These recurring imagesare often associated with the denial of excess, a major theme of the novel. By eating and drinking only what he needs, Ransom is able to focus on the task at hand, instead of getting lost in the powerful emotions that the fruit brings up. Lewis uses this to highlight our own excess, stating, “It was like the discovery of a totally new genus of pleasures, something unheard of among men, out of all reckoning, beyond all covenant” (37). Ransom discovers that it is the love of excess that leads down darker paths, as we see later, when the Un-Man gives the Queen a mirror so that she can look at herself. We also see the ways in which our appetites can control us, as each new food causes Ransom to feel new things. When he chases the Un-Man across the sea, he tastes the seaweed. Lewis states, “It gave knowledge as well as pleasure […] He felt his memory […] rapidly fading” (138-139). This is after a few handfuls, the rest of which he tosses aside. Here we see how even a small amount of excess leads to a lack of self-control.

At the end of many chapters, Ransom falls asleep. This seems to happen upon completion of a task or between moments of high energy. During some of these periods, he sleeps for days, suggesting that sleep must be used for the purpose of recovery, regardless of the amount of time it takes. Ransom seems to process new knowledge as he sleeps, meaning that these moments also mark new understanding. We also see images of the effect of a previous day on him. In Chapter 8, he wakes up after spending the night on the Fixed Island. Lewis states, “He had a dry mouth, a crick in his neck, and a soreness in his limbs. It was so unlike all previous wakings in the world of Venus, that for a moment he supposed himself back on Earth” (85). From this, we can see that Lewis uses these images of waking and sleeping to illustrate the difference in day-to-day life on the two planets. By staying on the Fixed Island, the thing that Maleldil commanded the King and Queen not to do, Ransom no longer feels the usual refreshment upon waking. Instead, he is in pain and very thirsty, feelings he has not experienced upon waking since leaving imperfect Earth. We see in this a physical representation of the cost of disobedience.