Welcome to Tumnus’s Book Shelf where we review any and all books related to Narnia and CS Lewis! For this weeks review, we will be looking at CS Lewis’s That Hideous Strength
Book Title:That Hideous Strength
Author: CS Lewis.
Publisher: Scribner (March 4, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0743234928
ISBN-13: 978-0743234924
Summary of the book:
Some Possible Spoilers.( Please Highlight to read)
Jane Studdock was home alone as her husband would be working late. It wasn’t like it really mattered to her. The two weren’t close to begin with and it gave her time to get some work done. She decided to read the newspaper before doing some work on her doctorate.
She was startled by a picture in the paper. The article it accompanied was on a man named “Alcasan” who had been sentenced to death. She had seen the man’s face before in her dreams. She had seen the man’s head removed and carried away, still talking.
This head soon transformed into another. An ancient druidical looking man and the head was attached to a body. The man was dead and buried. People were trying to excavate his grave. As they were digging the man would come to life and she’d warn them to stop. They would refuse to listen and keep digging. The man would come out of the grave and start speaking. It would be at this moment when she’d wake up.
The picture in the paper was the head of the first man. She felt hat this story probably brought the nightmares on. Seeing it upset her enough that she decided to gather her things and leave the house.
Her husband Mark was at a meeting with some of his fellow professors from Bracton College. A matter they were discussing was the possibility of the sale of Bragdon Wood (which belonged to the college) to an organization called the National Institute of Co-ordinated Experiments , or the NICE a key person in this discussion is one Lord Feverstone,SPOILERS! who was formerly known as “Dick Devine”.END SPOILERS!
There had been a lot of deliberation due to the importance of the wood. Not only had it in the possession of Bracton College for centuries,SPOILERS!but it was believed that the wizard Merlin was buried in that wood. This sale of the wood was disapproved of by many.END SPOILERS!
Meanwhile, Jane went to visit her teacher Mr. Dimble and his wife. The friendly couple talked with her about the sale of the wood. It turned out that if the college did sell the property to the NICE, the Dimbles would have to sell their home as well as it was part of the area of land in the agreement. They didn’t feel that the director of the NICE, Horace Jules, or any one in his organization would care if Merlin was unearthed. They’d only want to tear the area up for their uses.
She told them about her dream, hoping they could analyze it. They were unable to. Mr. Dimble was called away by another student. As he was leaving, she asked if she should go see a noted psychoanalysts, a choice which neither of them approved of. If she did need help, she should only go to some one they recommend.
After the meeting, Mark went for drinks with Feverston, and some of the others. Many of them spoke favorably about the NICE and their goals. They planned to use the sciences to advance humanity better and solve it’s problems, Mark was interested and Feverston convinced him he should join the NICE and meet it’s deputy director, John Wither.
Mark returned home to find Jane very frightened and upset. She had come home feeling much better and was thinking of her dream as just an “irrational fear”. It was in the mere thinking of it at all that sent her evening down hill. She called the Dimbles and got the name and number for the person they’d recommend, Mrs. Grace Ironwood, but very little help otherwise as they were in a hurry.
Mark went to visit Wither the next day, after he was sure Jane was feeling better. They asked him to join the NICE and offered him a position teaching at their college. Wither answered none of Mark’s questions and had him leaving with even more. He was invited to come to the committee meeting the next day in order to learn more.
After the meeting he discussed with William Hingest aka “Bill the Blizzard”, the sale of the wood and the organization itself. Two men, Steele, and Cossar were in the Bristol with them, and Hingest told Mark if he wanted to know anything to speak with them. Among the topics is who to avoid and who to get on his side. Among those to get on his side was , “The Fairy” Hardcastle, the woman in charge of the NICE’s police who he is introduced to.
Meanwhile Jane went to visit Grace Ironwood. After walking through Ironwood’s beautiful, almost otherworldly garden, Camilla Denniston took Jane to see Grace. Grace took notes on Jane’s dreams as she told her about them. SPOILERS! Grace came to the conclusion, based on the dreams and that Jane came from the Warwickshire Branch of the Tudor line, that she had the ability to see visions. Ironwood gave her the offer to join the group she was part of. She refused the offer.END SPOILERS!
It was night by the time Mark’s meeting with the Fairy ended. She had continued his education in the NICE. To his surprise there seemed to be a lot of conspiracies in the group as she told him to be aware of Steel, Wither and a man named “Frost.” As he left the Bristol, Hingest tried to convince him not to join the NICE and stay at Bracton. Hingest told him that the NICE was dangerous.
Jane returned home and tried to dismiss what Ironwood said as nonsense.SPOILERS! At that moment Mrs. Dimble called her and asked her to come over. She arrived at the Dimble’s home and found that they were being turned out of their home by the NICE as the sale was going through. All the homes near them were to be torn down and the area was looking like World War II had been lost. She offered to let Mrs. Dimble stay with her as Mr. Dimble would stay at the college. The Dimbles planned on heading to a place called St. Anne’s the next day. Later that night Jane had another dream in which three men fought and killed another. This man was different than the first man.END SPOILERS!
The next day Mark met with another member of the NICE before the committee meeting, one Parson Stairk. He was not affiliated with any church or theology. Stairk indoctrinated Mark in his ideas that the NICE is God’s tool to bring the Kingdom to Earth as they have the power.
That afternoon Mrs. Dimble left Jane to head for St. Anne’s. While Jane was going to the Market she meet Mr. Curry a colleague of Mark’s.SPOILERS! Curry told her of the death of Hingest the night before. She realized by the details of Curry’s account that she witnessed his death in her dream. She began to wonder what she should do. Should she stay alone and sink into madness, or go to Ironwood and dive deeper into this?END SPOILERS!
Mark spoke with Mr. Cosser after the meeting while he was drafting plans for a city called “Cure Hardy”, which they planned on building on the property. This included Mark getting to see the forest and old buildings that would be destroyed. When Mark returned home, both he and Jane kept their conversation trivial as they didn’t feel the other would like or understand what was going on.
Mark returned the next day and inquired about his position. Mr. Steele brushed him off and told him he knew nothing. Wither was congenial but rather busy and couldn’t tend to him and he‘d have to make an appointment. The only one who offered much was Miss Hardcastle. He told her either they give him the job or he’ll leave. She assured him that it’s all part of the process of being initiated into the organization.
Then she told him what he’d really do. SPOILERS! His sociology department would be scrapped and he’d be responsible for writing their propaganda for them that would help reform the image of Alcasan. They were going to recondition the way people thought, which was only by thinking as the NICE wanted. At first Mark said he’d refuse as he wasn’t a journalist but despite his feelings he still wanted the job they‘d give him.
Mark arrived for his appointment the next day to see if he was offered a post. Wither assured him that he had the job. Mark continued to ask further questions but as Wither became engaged in reading a letter he had no choice but to leave the office.
Mark received a letter from Curry. Feverston told the college that Mark resigned. Mark was about to send them a letter saying contrary but he ran into Feverston who threatened that if he left the Institute, he’d be ruined.END SPOILERS!
In the nights that followed Jane would refuse to sleep out of fear of her dreams. SPOILERS! She frequently met with Camilla and her husband Arthur, both of whom she was getting to know better. She learned from them about an organization they worked for. It was led by a Mr. Fisher-King, a great traveler who had been wounded. A great threat was coming to humanity and it’s falling point would be England. When the time came they would find a seer who would see visions that would help them combat this threat. Jane was that seer. She didn’t want to join their group just yet. But she would tell them about the dreams as they came.END SPOILERS!
Mark went to see Wither who was still absent minded but all pretense was off. Wither sternly told him to make himself useful and treat his job like a vocation, or calling, and behave himself. He also ran into Hardcastle and she told him to do as he’s told. He decided he’d stay with them.
As time progressed, NICE continued to tear down the forest, drained the river and drove away the college. The town was going down hill, and there was fights, threats and complaints against the behavior of the NICE work men. People felt that the real police couldn’t handle the NICE as they were too over run. The paper reported nothing and dismissed it all as rumors as NICE controlled the press and that was an area of work that Mark handled.
Mark had not returned to Jane who was trying to just hang on. SPOILERS! Her dreams continued. She was hesitant to inform the Dennistons as she didn’t want to be drawn into their group. Mark began his work with rehabilitating the image of Alcasan. He found that the Institute had gained even more control and it grew harder to leave. They killed any one who crossed them.END SPOILERS!
Mark was invited into the inner circle of the NICE. After some time he came alone not needing support from any one. He was given a new assignment. A riot took place in Edgestow and he was to give their account of it. He discovered that they engineered the disturbances, reported the news with their slant, and put the article in the next issue, usually writing the article the day before anything happened. The problem was to be blamed on the people of Edgestow and NICE would be their savior.
Jane awakened one night, her dreams troubling her even more. That day she was out on the street when she passed a NICE car. A man came out of the shop nearby, spoke to the driver and got in the car. Despite the heavy fog , she could recognize the man. She saw his face in a dream. She decided to get on a train and head for St. Anne’s that moment.
She arrived at St. Anne’s and told the Dennistons of her dream and seeing the man, who was identified as Augustus Frost, and agent of the NICE. She accepted the invitation from the Dennistons to meet with the director who goes by Mr. Fisher-King. She was interested in joining, but Mr. Fisher-King wasn’t sure as her husband worked for the NICE. She didn’t want to leave as she was alone and afraid. He conceded to let her join their organization, but she must go home. Reluctantly, she complied.
She returned to Edgestow and found that a riot had erupted on the platform. She tried to run home but was caught by Fairy Hardcastle and her officers. She was arrested and to be taken to Belbury. The officers tortured Jane by burning her with their cigarettes. As they were dragging her along, the riot got worse and one of the NICE was caught by the rioters. The Fairy had no choice but to leave Jane in a doorway and separate or else they all could have been caught. Two kind strangers happened by the doorway in a car and offered to take Jane home. She told them to take her back to St. Anne’s.
The next morning Fairy Hardcastle was reprimanded for her actions the previous night. Meanwhile, Jane awoke at St. Anne’s refreshed and feeling better than she had in a long time. She was given time to rest, relax and explore. One discovery she made was that this place is the home of the Dimbles, The Dennistons, and many others who have been chased away by the NICE.
Wither asked Mark about Jane, and informed him that in spite the rumors about her, that they would like to have her there. Mark was not as sure as Jane would not be able to tolerate the phoniness of the other members. Wither took his refusal to have his wife come as a sign of his resistance to work for them completely. Neither Wither or the Fairy took too lightly to this.
Another member, Filolostro informed him that the order to have Jane brought to them didn’t come from Wither, or even Director Jules, butSPOILERS! from the Head. When Mark inquired about who it was, he made a startling discovery. It was Alcasan. They had brought him back to life and intended to use the same technology they used for Alcasan to help usher in a new age of humanity. In that age they would conquer all time and space. They had tried once before, with Professor Weston, and failed. Now, with the Head they would succeed. Seeing the Head was part of the initiation process. Mark was led to the room where the Head is kept to undergo the ritual.
Jane witnessed his encounter with the Head in her dream. As soon as he heard of this, the Director ordered a council meeting. Mark was in trouble. The enemy was growing stronger, and they must be prepared for battle. Jane would not be allowed at the meeting as any talk of this may dilute the dreams and they were crucial to winning.END SPOILERS!
Mark awakened the next day, SPOILERS! still sick from his encounter, but feeling that he must send for Jane. He was curious as to why they wanted her. He learned from Fairy Hardcastle of her encounter with Jane. Mark is told that he must sign a form for her to take Jane. Doing so would protect her from being one of their experiments. The Fairy’s actions ,angered Mark and he refused.
Mark went to Wither to announce he was taking a leave of absence. He found the man in a meditative state. When he came out of the state, he was curt and dismissive with Mark. Mark resolved to leave the Institute and return to Jane. Along the road he saw Dr. Wither and was forced to return.END SPOILERS!
That evening as per the instructions of Mr. Fisher-King, Jane inquired from another resident, Mr. MacPhee about the history of their organization. She learned that The Director, Mr. Fisher-King SPOILERS! was none other than Dr. Elwin Ransom. She also learned of Ransom’s travels and of the war of the Oyéresu and the Eldils between the bent Eldil’s of Earth and believed it all.
Ransom and the others held their council meeting. They were uncertain if the dream was real as they question if the head could exist with out the body. All information from Jane revealed that it was true. Ransom informed them that this would be part of the enemies strategy : they would declare that this was the next phase of human evolution. Humans would either become like The Head, or be it’s food. Nothing can be done to combat it yet. The strategies to fight this would come from Melidil, not Ransom or any of them.END SPOILERS!
They turned their attention to greater matters: the body of Merlin beneath Bragdon Wood . Merlin was not “dead” physically, he was just removed from regular Earth-Time and was returning to that spot. The fact of this is made evident by both Jane’s dream and the purchase of the wood by the NICE. They had to get to him first because if NICE got to him and gained his trust all would be lost.END SPOILERS!
Mark had been unable to sleep that night SPOILERS! after his encounter with the Head. Wither called him into his office as he had a matter to discuss. Hardcastle reported to Wither that her police had found Mark’s wallet near Hingest’s body. They were using this as leverage to get him to stay. If he stayed in Belbury, he’d be fine. If he left he’d be arrested. All he’d have to do is stay put and have Jane brought to the Institute.
Mark escaped to try and warn Jane and try to leave England. He knew it was pointless as they had power everywhere. As he was running he saw something following him. The figure vanished suddenly. He arrived at a bus stop near a pub. He went into the pub to wait for the bus and saw a throng of people enter. They were refugees from Edestow. Mark discovered that the propaganda had done it’s job. None of them were indignant about the loss of their homes.
Along his bus ride home he saw just how strong and sinister the NICE really was, as every home was boarded up and bought by the NICE. He returned home to find that Jane was gone and there was a note from Mrs. Dimble. He resolved to go see Mr. Dimble and get Jane back. Seeing how powerful the NICE was convinced him it was safer to be on the inside than the out.
Dimble refused to give him Jane’s address for her safety. Mark worked for the enemy, and they had tortured Jane, that alone meant that he could never know. Mark told Dimble he’d leave and help bring down the NICE. Dimble was not convinced and said if he was serious, then he should join the side of St. Anne’s at once. As Mark left and thought about what he’d do, the police arrested him for the death of Hingest.END SPOILERS!
Dimble returned to St. Anne’s SPOILERS! and was given a new assignment by Ransom. In her dream Jane saw the location of Merlin in Bragdon Wood. This area was not in the part of the land bought by the NICE, which meant that they could get in easier. They had to meet him before the NICE do. Arthur Denniston and Jane would accompany Mr. Dimble.
They were to command him to accompany them in the name of God, the angels and the Pendragon. They had to put their trust in God to help them. Jane was afraid to go because of Merlin’s power. Ransom told her to put her trust in Meledil. She doesn’t know of Him or His ways, but she would trust Ransom. He said that would have to be enough for now.
Guided by Jane, Denniston and Dimble headed for the wood to find Merlin. As they were traveling in the woods, she contemplated everything that happened at the house. She leads them to a fire that she saw in her dreams. They come to the camp site and couldn’t find any one. However, they kept seeing something moving in the woods.END SPOILERS!
Hardcastle wanted to torture Mark,SPOILERS! but Wither refused as those methods could defeat themselves. They needed Jane as much as the people at St. Anne’s did and they wanted Mark to think she’d be safe. She gave them her report on how they found him and dismissed herself, leaving Wither and Frost to discuss the importance of not only her dreams but as she and Mark are eugenically perfect for breeding children for the organization. In order to get him to comply they would mentally break him by first leaving him in total isolation and that would lead to desire. He would want his wife with and he would do what they wanted.
Mark didn’t know where he was and didn’t care. To the best of his knowledge he was in a regular prison. He had really been taken in by NICE agents and put in a cell at the institute. He was in agony wrestling with all that happened and longing for death. He regretted his choice to go to Belbury as well as the rest of his life’s choices. In the midst of his despair the door opened to his cell and Frost came in to examine Mark.
Wither was called by one of their workers and informed that they found the tomb of Merlin. The body was missing and they had sent search parties to find him. He also left instructions for any one who saw Merlin. Wither was pleased as it was exactly how he would have handled it.
Jane, Dimble and Denniston had gotten lost in the forest. Suddenly they heard a nose. They looked and saw a giant man riding on a great many legged horse. Just as soon as they saw him he was gone in a flash.END SPOILERS!
During Frost’s examination of Mark,SPOILERS! Mark became increasingly aware that he was in the institute. If he continued to do as he was doing Mark would be killed as Hingest was, as he had gotten in the way. He lectured Mark on the importance of being objective and not trusting his emotions. Frost reassured Mark that he was to be let in to the NICE, all that he was going through was part of his initiation. They were to become like the Head, all mind and no emotions. They were interrupted by a loud knock. Mark fell asleep having gone an emotional roller coaster ride ranging from an intense desire for Jane and to be at her side, to his bitter loneliness and longing for death and his fear of the NICE. END SPOILERS!
Frost joined Wither in the Great Room SPOILERS! were four young men were tending a man with a long grey beard. He had been found a quarter of a mile away from the tomb in a trance. The man had looked to them to be a man of Numinor or Atlantis, an ancient civilization that predated human cultures. The man woke up and Wither tried using secret phrases in Latin to communicate with the stranger to no avail. After two draughts of beer the man laid down again, not speaking to them.END SPOILERS!
SPOILERS! The horse rider arrived at St. Anne’s and insisted on speaking to the master of the house. Ransom said it was him. The rider did not believe it as he was dressed as a slave. Ransom proves his identity by conversing in Latin with the Stranger about matters that are known only to two men, one was the reigning Pendragon. Ransom is the Pendragon. At that revelation the stranger knelt before him.END SPOILERS!
Wither and Frost wondered SPOILERS! how to speak to the stranger that came to them as he spoke some form of Celtic. They needed a linguist, and Frost advised they call for Ransom. Wither would prefer that they leave it in the family and suggested Parson Stairk who knew the language. They also decided that Mark would be another suitable candidate along with Stairk to watch over the Stranger. Mark and Stairk will take turns watching over the Stranger until he awakened.END SPOILERS!
Jane, Dimble and Denniston returned to the manor and joined MacPhee in trying to find SPOILERS! Ransom as MacPhee feared that the rider may harm him. They found the two of them in the lobby talking in Latin about how to combat the enemy. They could sense Jane was listening and stopped talking. Dimble and MacPhee demanded an explanation. Ransom introduced the rider: he was Merlin.END SPOILERS!
Later that night,SPOILERS! Merlin discussed the grave matters at hand. Merlin wished to do as he had in the past, but Ransom reminded him times had changed. Merlin wondered why he has awakened. Ransom’s explanation was that the hideous strength that built the tower of Babel was on the move and sought to ensnare the world again. It would not be by their own power that their enemies would be vanquished but by something greater.END SPOILERS!
Frost returned SPOILERS! to the cell and continued to try to indoctrinate Mark. He led him back to the ante-chamber to take him to the Head. Alone in the room, the surreal moment in the ante-chamber sent Mark on another panic attack and left his mind broken. Frost returned and led him to the room where the Stranger lay. As he was trying to eat, the Stranger awakened and spoke in cockney English.END SPOILERS!
The next day, while Jane tried to help Mrs. Dimble prepare the lodge for a couple that lived in the manor and thinking about marriage and her relationship with Mark, she fell asleep. She had a horrifying dream. SPOILERS! Mrs. Dimble woke her up and Jane asked to see Ransom.END SPOILERS!
Mark continued trying to converse withSPOILERS! the stranger in the times he was awake. The stranger was delirious. After several moments, he managed to piece together some things about the stranger, save his identity and where he came from. The conversation was interrupted by Wither and Frost’s attempts to speak with the stranger.END SPOILERS!
Jane spokeSPOILERS! with Ransom and discovered what it really meant. She had been running and repressing God. She must become a Christian and accept her task of loving Mark. Then Ransom announced that she and the other residents may not come up stairs that night. Merlin would be brought before the Oyéresu of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn or as they are really named Viritrilibia, Perelandra, Malacandra, Glund, and Lurga. Merlin would be sent as an interpreter to the NICE. He would render all them useless and the powers behind the NICE would have no choice but to destroy the NICE.
Jane went off by herself for a moment and thought about all she had seen and heard. She was afraid of religion and it’s power. She realized however that Ransom and the others had never talked about religion but about God. Despite her fears and doubts she gave herself over to Him.END SPOILERS!
That night the other residentsSPOILERS! felt the presence of each of the Oyéresu enter the home and place power upon Merlin. It was an over whelming experience as love ,war, and celebration came upon them all suddenly. Merlin was now ready for the challenge ahead of him.END SPOILERS!
The next morning Wither and Frost SPOILERS! brought the real Merlin into the room with Mark and the stranger. Merlin awakened the other stranger and the two spoke in a strange language that was neither Latin or English. The real Merlin worked to further confuse Wither and Frost as to who the real Merlin was.END SPOILERS!
After a long and heated attempt at conversing with SPOILERS! the two Merlins, Wither and Frost dismissed themselves to discuss what to do. That night was the inaugural banquet. Director Horace Jules was going to be in attendance and the two guests could not be left alone. Wither ended up taking the two of them on a tour of the Institute as per the instance of the two Merlins.END SPOILERS!
Frost took Mark back up to the objective room SPOILERS! for his final test. On the floor is a large crucifix. Mark must spit at, mock, and desecrate the crucifix in any manner he choose. To Mark that seemed as subjective as worshiping it. To Frost it was part of the purging of the subconscious of any associations with the cross.
Mark ended up pondering the cross and it’s importance, not just as a matter of religion but of history and art. The icon ended up taking on a human quality. Mark had no choice but to take the middle ground and refused to do as he was ordered. Frost did not approve of this, but before Mark could be punished, Wither entered with the two Merlins.END SPOILERS!
Director Horace Jules arrived for the banquet that night. The situation was tense as he was a very arrogant man and could be difficult to talk with.SPOILERS! Wither entered the room with the two Merlins. Wither presented the false Merlin as Dr. Ambrosius. Jules was not pleased with this as the two men looked like religious leaders, and it was their job to abolish religion as it was a heart matter.END SPOILERS!
The banquet began and Jules rose to make a speech. SPOILERS! As he spoke his speech became nothing but gibberish. Shortly the room went into hysterics as no one was able to communicate even in writing. As the situation grew chaotic the two Merlin’s left the banquet, the true Merlin having placed the curse of Babel on them.
Violence erupted in the banquet hall. Animals that had been in their possession were set free by Merlin and the beasts trampled, mauled and ate many of the guests. Others died by gun shots from Hardcastle’s hand gun or in the brawls. Some like Wither, Frost, Stairk, Fiolostro, and Feverston, escaped only to meet their deaths by their own devices.
After the true Merlin finished releasing many of the NICE’s prisoners, he returned to the banquet hall and found the sole survivor: Mark Studdock .He bid Mark to come with him. He gave Mark a letter telling him that Jane was waiting for him at St. Anne’s. Merlin grabbed Mark’s hand and took him away from Belbury.END SPOILERS!
The next day Jane assisted the women in preparing a cottage they believed was for the Dimbles. Jane told the other women of another dream she had.SPOILERS! She had seen that Merlin’s purpose was fulfilled. He would never return to Earth.END SPOILERS!
After dinner they gathered around the fire place in the dinning room.SPOILERS! Ransom was bidding them farewell. He was to return to Perelandra, which was now his true home. Like Enoch, Elijah, King Arthur and a few others he would never know death. He told how he became the Pendragon after his return from Perelandra.
Ransom bid them all farewell as his ship was arriving. None of them could stay and see him leave. Before sending Jane away he left a final blessing with her. The cottage she prepared was for her and Mark. She would have no more dreams or visions but a happy marriage with her husband and many children.END SPOILERS!
Review.
Despite many people’s assumptions, science fiction is a broad genre with many different branches. One branch is more of “Space Fantasy” , these stories, such as the Star Wars films, don’t rely heavily on science or mathematics and tend to have more fantastical elements to their story telling that could never occur in the real world. Another is Dystopian science fiction, such as 1984 or Brave New World, which tends to cast a grim outlook on humanity and shows that our attempts at progress will lead to our downfall.
While the first two volumes of Lewis’s Space Trilogy fall into the first vein, his third and final volume,That Hideous Strength falls more into the latter. However unlike typical dystopian stories where things are far more “realistic” this one has it’s share of twists turns and surprise that have their basis more in fantasy. It is not only the books “fantastical elements”, but Lewis’s own Christian faith that help make this not only a unique twist to dystopian fiction, but also help it serve as the antithesis to many works in that vein.
It is this dystopian aspect of the story along with the lack of space travel that gives it a different feel than the other two novels. SPOILERS! Elwin Ransom does not get into any ships and go any where until the end. All the action is situated on Earth. We do not see anything remotely otherworldly until half way through the book. All action takes place on Earth.It has been often noted by some scholars that at the time he was writing this, Lewis began a corrispondence with noted father of science-fiction, Arthur C. Clarke, which may have led to this shift in locations.END SPOILERS!
It is not only the seeming lack of other worldliness that makes this book feel different then it’s predecessors it’s also the fact that a majority of the story focuses on a whole new cast of characters.SPOILERS! While Elwin Ransom and Dick Devine from Out of the Silent Planet are in the story, they are so well relegated to the background that a reader may miss them if they don’t pick up the hints and clues. A first time reader of the trilogy may end up feeling lost as their hero is seemingly absent for most of the book, only to discover he is now just a mentor.END SPOILERS!
Notably,SPOILERS! Ransom himself is quite different because of his experiences traveling through space. He speaks in a more regal manner and possesses a greater knowledge of the supernatural. This change in Ransom as a character was influenced primarily by the fact that Charles Williams began to have a greater influence on Lewis at the time, which is evident by the presence of aspects drawn from the Arthurian legends. Many biographers and scholars have noted that Ransom in That Hideous Strength is more like Williams, than JRR Tolkien in the first two volumes.END SPOILERS!
As That Hideous Strength is more dystopian, the enemy is not limited to one person but a massive organization, which is ironically referred to by the acronym of the NICE. Like any organization bent on world domination they claim to be about the advancement of human society and promote themselves as lovers of peace. They also claim to not be a political organization. In secret, however, they conduct unethical experiments , stage massive riots in town in order to clear people out to gain more power and put there own spin on what happens.
Based on the real world Fabian Society, one of the people at the helm of this group is the director Horace Jules. Jules is an arrogant man whose main focus is on advancing humanity strictly through the sciences and distancing itself from religious practices. The character has often been seen as a parody of HG Wells in terms of his appearance, mannerisms and ideals, such as the removal of Christianity and all other religions. Notably the character, much like his real life counterpart, had also written several essays and stories.
Augustus Frost is responsible for indoctrinating people such as Mark into the theories and philosophies of the NICE. Among them is a set of ideals that some think closely mirror those of Objectivist Ayn Rand, which were featured prominently in many of her books like Atlas Shrugged.
A far more “benevolent” villain is John Wither, the Deputy Director who appears at times to be nothing more then an absent minded professor. At the core he is a very cruel person who does not like it when people cross him.
Other members of the organization include the “Fairy Hardcastle” the cruel leader of the NICE police who delights in torture methods and has some passing similarities to “The Head Mistress” in The Silver Chair. Parson Stairk, a cleric who presents a watered down and altered form of the Christian faith that is so laughably off it seems unbelievable, much like the Vicar mentioned in The Screwtape Letters. In the background is “Lord Feverston”, who is revealed to be “Dick Devine” from the first novel. There is also the ambiguous figure known asSPOILERS! “The Head” a rather grizzly figure as it is a disembodied and reanimated head of a murderer named “Alcasan.”END SPOILERS!
In the middle of it all is one of the two main protagonists, Mark Studdock, a sociology professor at Bracton College who becomes part of the NICE. Initially hired to be a professor, he discovers his true vocation with the NICE. SPOILERS! Much like the character of Winston Smith in 1984 his job is to write the propaganda, which is a revised version of history. He is also just as wishy-washy as just when it seems like he is going to stand for his beliefs and leave the NICE, he or Jane is threatened and he gives into the pressure.END SPOILERS!
His wife Jane is a major heroine in the story. SPOILERS! Gifted with the ability to see visions she is urged heavily to join Ransom’s group by her mentors. Her dreams are key to winning the battle against the forces of darkness. With out her or her dreams the NICE would have been able to win.END SPOILERS!
SPOILERS! Ransom’s role as mentioned earlier is greatly changed. No longer the one going off on adventures, he is rather the one sending others out. His time on Perelandra has blessed him with nearly eternal youth. He knows much more about the supernatural due to his time among the Oyéresu. An alias he goes by is “Mr. Fisher-King”, based on a figure from the Arthur legends who suffered from a wound to the leg that could not be healed, but he did not die from it.
Ransom has also obtained a new position. He is the Pendragon. Like his alias of “Mr. Fisher King” his rank is drawn from the Arthurian legends, Lewis reveals that the Pendragon is not actually a last name but a title of authority. According to the legends Arthur, or the Pendragon would return to England in a time of great need. Usually, he is reincarnated or physically returns from Avalon. For Lewis it is something new and fresh. The Pendragon is actually a title of authority that is passed down from one person to the next. There is a Pendragon in every generation, and Ransom is the one to be it for his.END SPOILERS!
It is the presence SPOILERS! of Merlin and other supernatural aspects of the story that help give this story it’s fantastical elements. Lewis not only uses archetypal aspects of Merlin but enhances the legend. First of all there are two Merlin’s in the story , a Welsh man who is the false version and the Latin one Merlinus Ambrosius who is the true Merlin. This is based of some accounts of the legends that indicate that there were in fact two Merlins, both of similar origins.
However, Lewis changes some aspects of the origins of Merlin, primarily his birth. In the legends Merlin was the son of an Incubus and a nun. Merlin discloses to Ransom that he was not born in that manner. Drawing from another legend, Merlin is a learned man from Atlantis, or Numinor.
The use of Numinor is a reference to Tolkien’s manuscripts for The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings. This is intentional on the part of Lewis as he indicated in the introduction that if any one was curious about the fate of Numinor, they would have to wait for the stories contained in Tolkein’s manuscripts. Lewis having heard the stories many times in meetings for the Inklings,loved ths stories and was one of Tolkien’s few supporters in his endeavor. The deliberate use of Numinor is evident. Lewis spelt it differently,( Tolkien spelt it Numénor) but it is still intended to serve as a connection point between Middle-Earth and the present day( and to lesser extent this ties Middle-Earth and Narnia together unintentionally as Atlantis figures into the means for allowing humans from our world to go into Narnia).At some points Earth is even refered to as “Middle-Earth.”END SPOILERS!
Some have noted further allusions SPOILERS! drawn from Tolkien’s stories, namely that the Oyéresu bare some similarity to the Valar, or the angelic beings who preside over Middle-Earth. Another similarity is that Ransom’s wound continues to cause him pain like that of Frodo Baggins. Also much like Frodo, he is taken away at the end to a better world with out dying.END SPOILERS!
Unlike most dystopian stories,SPOILERS! this one has a happy ending. In stories such as 1984 the hero has to not only loose but at times die in the end of the story. The villain or secret society has to win as they are the ones with the power. In this book the secret society looses, and many of the villains die by their own devices.END SPOILERS!
The reason for this is that Lewis is showing SPOILERS! no matter how matter how hideous the strength evil may have, God is stronger. It doesn’t even have to be through human actions that evil is stopped. Not a single human lifts a finger. Merlin simply places the Curse of Babel upon the NICE at their banquet and it leads to chaos and confusion.END SPOILERS!
Unlike the other volumes in the space trilogy, SPOILERS! this story deals a bit less with the fall of man and it’s affects on the rest of the universe, and more with ideas of ethics and education, many of which Lewis addressed in The Abolition of Man. The question posed in the book is what is right and wrong in an increasingly advancing world.END SPOILERS!
The CS Lewis character from the first two books is also absent. Lewis himself is simply an omniscient narrator. For some readers the sudden omniscience of the narrator could be jarring and leave them confused as the action in the first two books tended to be very much one sided as it was from Ransom’s perspective. However in terms of the scope of the story it is a much wider and broader story and it shows that this conflict is much bigger than just Ransom.
In the course of the story, Lewis also addresses any continuity problems people may have with this story (such as how and when Ransom became the Pendgragon). However, he does state that the book can be read on it’s own and not necessarily as part of the trilogy.
Despite the few problems with the book, it is influential on latter sci-fi and fantasy stories, partiularily those written by Christians. POSSIBLE SPOILERS! Stephen Lawhead notably depcited Merlin as being decendend from the people of Atlantis, and not sired by an Incubus. The Global Community in the loquacious Left Behind series has many similarties with the NICE, complete with similar world views, their uses of propoganda, their own police force, and constructing problems to make themselves out to be the saviors.END SPOILERS!
SPOILERS! The absent narrator,the swarm of new characters, the lack of space travel, the smaller role for Ransom and the dystopian feel, plus the Arthurian aspects make this book difficult at times for some readers. However, while discernibly different from the first two volumes in the trilogy,That Hideous Strength is an enjoyable read that puts a unique twist on dystopian stories and the Arthurian legends. It is also a book that will spurn the reader to ponder similar questions of ethics in our own age and gives a chilling look at how we may end up.END SPOILERS! Ultimately, it also a good capper for a great trilogy.
4 out of 5 shields.