Jonathan Middleton: Space Trilogy 1

 Ransom's journey is an example, albeit an unwilling one, of a journey through the fantastical. These sorts of journeys are very common in works of fantasy as a mechanism of either escapism or education of the main character and by extension the audience at large.

We see this is in stories like the Lord of Rings where Frodo and Sam are sent on a unwilling journey to destroy the one ring, A Song of Ice and Fire where Bran and his band are sent north of wall (a dangerous and decidedly mythical place in that world) to find someone who could teach him to use his abilities, and these are just two examples. 

This theme of escapism in fantasy allows for the main character to undergo a growth in character as well as learn about there reality. While learning about reality from a fantastical means is ironic it is certainly the case with Ransom as he is afforded the ability to learn much about the universe that he had been previously ignorant of. 

To use Lewis' own words to describe his own work, “In the enjoyment of a great myth we come nearest to experiencing as a concrete what can otherwise be understood only as an abstraction.” (Lewis, para. 10). The ability of fantasy to operate as both a mechanism for education and abstraction (escapism) cannot be understated.

Lewis, C.S. "Myth Became Fact." God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics. Ed. Walter Hooper. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970. 63-67.

 

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