J.C. Comeau #4, Perelandra Critiques Earth

In Chesterton’s essay: The Ethics of Elfland, he says that “it is not earth that judges heaven, but heaven that judges earth; so for me at least it was not earth that criticized elfland, but elfland that criticized earth.”  This quote proves useful in analyzing Lewis’ second book in the space trilogy: Perelandra.  In Perelandra, Lewis’ character finds himself in a world of paradise before the fall.  A significant part of the description of his experience there revolves around the world itself.  When we look at the world he’s created you could view it from two perspectives.  The first perspective would look at Perelandra and criticize its fanciful qualities, the land that floats on water, the creatures, the seeming innocence and perpetual dawn that it is in; or you might even target its depiction of Venus compared to what we really know about the fiery planet.  The second perspective would first look at Perelandra, and then criticize earth through that lens; compare the interactions of animals there with the predatory nature of those here, compare the ample sustenance found there with the deprivation still found here today, etc.  The viewpoint we hold to therefore drastically changes the way we see both the fictional world and our real world.  And as Chesterton has stated, we must decide, does elfland criticize earth, or does earth criticize elfland?