Character Analysis Of Ransom From The Book 'Out Of The Silent Planet'

“Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.” This is a quote by C.S. Lewis. In the book ‘Out Of the Silent Planet,’ Ransom is kidnapped by two men called Weston and Devine and taken to Malacandra (also known as Mars). While he is there he meets the four main native species, Hrossa, Sorn, Eldil, and Pfifltrigg. Is avoiding evil sufficient to make one virtuous or must virtue be an active choice? Using Ransom from the book, ‘Out Of the Silent Planet’ and the quote from C.S. Lewis to answer this question, the answer is no. Three reasons the answer is no are running away from your problems doesn’t solve anything, there can be courage in fear, and because everything we do is a choice. The first reason avoiding evil is not sufficient to make one virtuous is that running away from your problems

Virtue is an active choice. Even the things you don’t think about doing, it is still an unconscious choice. Ransom chose to run away, he chose to live with the Hrossa, and he chose to make the journey to Oyarsa, just to name a few. Ransom’s life at Malacandra was full of choices, just as our lives are full of choices. Some people might say that virtue is not an active choice. But their definition of choice would have to be a conscious choice. You can choose not to eat a certain food just like you can choose whether you are going to be brave or not. Choices can be conscious or unconscious. You don’t consciously choose to wake up in the morning, you can choose to go back to sleep, but you still woke up the first time. Avoiding evil is not sufficient to make one virtuous because running away from your problems doesn’t solve anything, there can be courage in fear, and because everything we do is a choice. Ransom found that out the hard way. He ran away from his problems but he chose to have courage even when he was