Arena by Karen Hancock
"Arena" by Karen Hancock is a science fiction novel that explores themes of self-discovery, trust, and personal transformation through the journey of its protagonist, Callie Hayes. An aspiring artist constrained by societal expectations and a lack of support from her friends and family, Callie volunteers for a psychological experiment, unaware that it serves as a front for an alien conflict. She finds herself in a perilous alien environment known as the Arena, where she must navigate her way through three distinct layers, confronting both external threats and internal struggles.
Throughout her journey, Callie partners with Pierce, a fellow human who has been trapped in the Arena for five years. Together, they face various obstacles, including corrupted humans and hostile alien forces, while also learning to trust one another and the alien leader, Elhanu. The narrative emphasizes the importance of self-knowledge and the necessity of seeking guidance and support to overcome personal and collective challenges. In the end, Callie emerges transformed, gaining the confidence to pursue her artistic dreams and advocate for herself, while also maintaining a connection to her faith and the lessons learned during her time in the Arena. The novel serves as an allegorical exploration of the human experience, particularly regarding the struggles of faith and the journey toward self-acceptance.
Arena by Karen Hancock
First published: Minneapolis, Minn.: Bethany House, 2002
Genre: Novel
Subgenres: Allegory; romance; science fiction
Core issues: Conversion; doubt; guidance; psychology; self-knowledge; trust in God
Principal characters
Callie Hayes , a woman who undergoes a profound personal enlightenmentMeg Riley , Callie’s best friendPierce , guide of the WitnessesRowena , Callie’s oppositeGarth , leader of another Arena groupElhanu , leader of the Aggillon, aliens who kidnap humans
Overview
The Arena is an investigation of how much some people have to go through to learn enough about themselves to make the changes needed to improve their lives. The protagonist, Callie Hayes, is an artist trapped in a world in which her friends and family believe that art can never be more than a fun hobby. Armed with an unwanted bachelor’s degree, Callie has been taking poorly paying jobs that bore her. For extra cash and from a desire to do something different, she agrees to join her best friend, Meg, and volunteer for a college psychology department experiment.
The experiment is merely a cover for aliens who are battling among themselves for influence over the galaxy in a place they call the Arena. After rejecting the advice of her experimenter, Callie is dumped rather unceremoniously into a hostile alien environment. Armed with a bag of small items and a manual describing how to leave the Arena, she begins a journey that will last more than a year in her life but less than half a day back on Earth.
Callie is unprepared to use the manual and unwilling to fully trust the aliens, so she tries to find her way out on her own. She fails and teams up with a man named Pierce, who has been in the Arena for five years. He has thrown out his own manual and seems very rough, but throughout the novel, he helps Callie and receives help from her in return. Together they find his old group of survivors and continue to search for the gate, which will let them out and allow them to return home.
The Arena is a complex place. Throughout, there are animals, planets, and people corrupted by their own desires and by the Tohvani, the enemies of the Aggillon, the aliens who kidnapped the earthlings. While the humans fight for a way out, they also seem to be fighting one another and themselves, suggesting that this battle is not so much between the aliens and the humans as it is within the individual men and women.
The Arena has three layers. One can easily leave the first layer by following the manual, using the tools given, and simply asking to be let out. It takes Callie six months of hardship to figure it out. She, Pierce, and a few others leave this first area only to find themselves in a safe haven where Meg and others have been waiting all this time for a guide to finish reading the manual and lead them to the next exit.
Pierce turns out to be this guide, even though he has been in the Arena for five years and has survived some horrifying experiences. While he reads and communes with the Aggillon leader, Elhanu, the humans train as though they are preparing for war. In a way they are, because once they leave the safe haven, they must find the next exit, which is guarded by the Trogs, corrupted humans who have given in to the dangers and pleasures of the Arena’s wild areas.
After this exit and the loss of some of their group members, Callie and Pierce find themselves in another safe haven, this one headed by Elhanu himself. Here they study the manual, learn from the Aggillon ruler, and prepare to fight their way through hostile cities to the final exit. Through the kind encouragement of the Aggillon, Callie and Pierce together discover love and an inner strength to lead the rest of their team, now called Witnesses, through the most dangerous regions of the Arena.
The cities they must cross have placed bounties on their heads and are hunting them down. Meanwhile, their former teammates have been living a bit like Trogs, their bodies and minds growing a touch more corrupted as they try to find the exit on their own. This corruption leads to the Witnesses being captured by one city whose ruler possesses one of the old team’s members in an attempt to scare Callie and Pierce into submitting to their own physical desires and personality weaknesses. It is only by remembering the promises of Elhanu and trusting in him that they are able to escape from the cities. In the end, though, only Callie makes it through the final exit, while Pierce sacrifices himself for her.
The changes in Callie allow her to remember and fully use all the lessons she learned in the Arena to a degree that no one else she met there can. She embraces her art, moves to another part of the country, and starts to stand up for herself against her family and friends. She learns to rely on herself and her faith in Elhanu to guide her life, which includes a possible reunion with Pierce.
Christian Themes
The predominant theme of Arena is that human beings must acknowledge their doubt in God, confront it, and learn more about themselves to survive. They are placed in dangerous situations that they must survive as individuals and as a group. They can read the manual that they each have received, but after a certain point, they can no longer understand the texts and must wait for someone to guide them through them. Before the humans can use the manual, however, they must be aware that they need it; most of the main characters are so angry at being kidnapped that they toss the manual away or ignore it. They must realize that they need help and guidance to deal with their psychological issues.
These psychological issues are not the only hurdle the humans in the Arena have. Almost all of them have been betrayed by their families, their jobs, or their own desires. They have stopped trusting others and sometimes themselves. Slowly, over the course of months, they learn to trust each other, the manual, and Elhanu, who has given them the manual and provided the safe havens throughout the Arena. Their growth and their conversion, by which they come to accept the help and opinions of others, are slow and steady, constantly pushed by both the dangers of the Arena and Elhanu’s refusal to let them just relax for too long.
The greatest message of the novel is the importance of self-knowledge and the choice to trust in God. While Elhanu never allows anyone to just stay in his safe havens, he also offers them ample opportunities to choose other paths and switch group alliances. Those who become the most self-aware return to Earth with more of their memories intact and a new purpose in life that allows them to pursue their dreams in positive ways.
Sources for Further Study
May, Stephen. Stardust and Ashes: Science Fiction in Christian Perspective. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1998. While older than Hancock’s Arena, this still provides a good overview of the state of science fiction and Christianity and could be used to compare Hancock’s work and earlier works.
Nelson, Marcia Z. “Karen Hancock: Fantasy Serving Truth.” Publishers Weekly 249, no. 24 (June 17, 2002): 523. Brief interview with Hancock about her philosophy and background.
Seed, David, ed. Imagining Apocalypse: Studies in Cultural Crisis. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000. Several articles that focus on different aspects of Christian science fiction, especially those that examine modern attitudes toward sex, science, and government.