"The Last Thing..."

"Virgin Planet."

Davis Bertram begins to think:

"The last thing he wanted was -" (p. 66)

- to cause strife on Atlantis. However, he interrupts himself to acknowledge that the first thing that he had wanted was glory - then money and adoring women. Here, the narrative strays into CS Lewis territory. Lewis' narratives are primarily moral. He shows us that a character acts from discreditable motives that he does not acknowledge even to himself. When the main protagonist of That Hideous Strength, Mark Studdock, has been thoroughly betrayed, he realizes that he should have seen through his supposed friends and allies from the beginning. Why did he not? He also realizes that such thoughts had occurred to him before but had been dismissed as inconvenient to his preferred life-style. James Blish said that he wished that Lewis had written more fiction precisely because of this ability to analyze inner thought processes and self-deceptions. I am unable to quote Lewis directly because books are boxed for moving. This will continue to be the case for several weeks. But I recently reread that realization by Mark while looking for something else.

Mark Studdock goes through a profound spiritual transformation. Davis Bertram will not although he might learn something.