Perelandra

Lewis recounts several strange arguments that Ransom engages in after returning to Earth about the nature of life, resurrection, and language. Ransom has obtained these new views after returning from his journey to Venus. Lewis says that this journey seems to have changed Ransom even more than the one to Mars.

Ransom awoke in the coffin as he was falling toward Venus. The coffin melts away and leaves behind a viscous substance as Ransom begins soaring over the planet, drinking the water and trying to find land. He encounters giant waves, as tall as mountains, and strange shapes that he tries to comprehend. A floating object hits him but does no damage. He turns back to see it, and realizes it’s a huge thing, taking up thirty acres of area. It sits on the water like skin and curves with the waves.

Ransom feels excessive pleasure at these new experiences but is then struck by an unendurable light. Storm clouds gather and thunder sounds and he suddenly finds it difficult to breathe. At the “very end of the world” stands an enormous green column. As he begins to feel exhaustion, the waves die down until they are smaller than those of the Atlantic Ocean and Ransom can breathe easily again.