He Speaks!

He Speaks!

Connections with Lewis: Space Trilogy

October 17, 2016

Ransom has been on the run from his captors in a foreign world. Suddenly, he spots movement off in the distance. A sorn! He cowers low in dread, hoping not to be seen. Then, the sorn speaks! A single sound, the uttering of one word changes everything. Fear quickly slips his mind at the excited thought of the possibility of discovering a foreign language. Passion has gripped Ransom, causing him to rise from his hiding with courage and call out back to the sorn. It is the power of language that awakens and compels him to confront the sorn. Without language the sorn is seen as a dangerous alien. With language, there is hope for understanding and connection. It is not only a fundamental human function but a capacity bestowed upon all living creatures. In this moment, Ransom realizes this. The sorn is radically other from a human being; yet it is language that seems to bestow some kind of innate dignity in all things. It is language that creates a sense of approachability to something other than us. Without understanding what the sorn is saying, Ransom is ecstatic by the fact that it speaks. To understand would be a significant plus, without a doubt. But it is not total understanding that first excites and empowers Ransom. It is merely the fact that the creature speaks. Language provokes the hope for connection and understanding before any connection or understanding is reached. It may even be saids that language is the condition for the possibility of relationship and knowledge.