Solaris Essay

In Solaris by Stanislaw Lem, Kelvin is a scientist who is aboard an alien planet, that inhibited by an uncanny alien ocean. The ocean is the representation of a God-like presence because it possesses superhuman qualities. The ocean can not qualify for anything remotely familiar with what appears on earth except for its simulacra outward appearance. The alien ocean can be compared to a God because its abilities are inexplicably affecting the human beings on Solaris. The visitors are a manifestation of the ocean, repeated memories of a loved one. Rheya is Kelvin’s visitor, she is the familiar representation of a past memory suspended in time. Rheya represents the suspension of the same; where they are predisposed to an infinite repetition, the …show more content…
Kelvin’s “Will to power,” his ambition, is to keep his past companion Rheya alive to regenerate herself after she suddenly passes away. The ocean has failed to give Kelvin his one desire, it has taken Kelvin’s purpose away. Kelvin questions the ocean’s actions, that perhaps this God is a false image of divinity. It is the doing of an irrational and imperfect God, that creates without purpose; much like a child building a sand castle at the beach. Kelvin compares the ocean to God and old deities on earth; “In a way all gods of the old religions were imperfect, considering that their attributes were amplified human ones.” (Lem 1970, 197) Kelvin’s contact with the alien planet has changed his initial perception; he no longer has power on the inevitable: life, death, love, pain and the repetition of them. He concludes that it is “A god who has created clocks, but not a time they measure. He has created systems or mechanism that served specific ends but have now overstepped and betrayed them. And he has created eternity, which was to have measured his power, and which measures his unending defeat.” (Lem 1970,

Show More

Wendell Berry Analysis

Perspective Essay

Solaris Essay

Related Documents: Solaris Essay

Wendell Berry Analysis

Perspective Essay