Solaris: Analysis of Major Characters
"Solaris: Analysis of Major Characters" explores the intricate dynamics between the central characters of Stanisław Lem's science fiction novel "Solaris." At the heart of the story is Kris Kelvin, a scientist grappling with psychological turmoil after arriving at the chaotic Solaris station, where he confronts the repercussions of his past, notably through the reincarnation of his deceased girlfriend, Rheya. Rheya, a phi-creature formed from Kelvin's memories, complicates his emotional journey as she lacks self-awareness and struggles with her existence, ultimately attempting to free herself from her artificiality.
The narrative also introduces other key figures such as Snow, a cybernetics expert who, despite his mental decline, provides insights to Kelvin about the enigmatic phenomena occurring on Solaris. Sartorius, another scientist, remains dedicated to a scientific approach and plays a crucial role in the attempts to communicate with Solaris while also facilitating the dissolution of the phi-creatures. The figure of Gibarian, Kelvin's former mentor, looms over the narrative through his tragic suicide and the memories that haunt Kelvin, emphasizing the psychological toll of their experiences.
Together, the characters navigate themes of memory, loss, and the limits of human understanding when confronted with a sentient, yet incomprehensible, planetary entity. This exploration invites readers to reflect on the nature of existence and the complexities of human emotions in the face of extraordinary circumstances.
Solaris: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Stanisaw Lem
First published: 1961 (English translation, 1970)
Genre: Novel
Locale: A space station above the planet Solaris
Plot: Science fiction
Time: The distant future
Kris Kelvin, a scientist in his early thirties who has just arrived at the Solaris station. Kelvin descends from space to find that the experimental work station he has reached is in chaos. He feels fearful and disoriented when he discovers that his former teacher, Gibarian, has just committed suicide and that the station's two other scientists appear to be insane: Snow and Sartorius often hide in their rooms and speak in a cryptic and paranoid fashion. After waking from a much-needed sleep, Kelvin finds himself confronted with the reincarnation of his girlfriend, Rheya, who committed suicide ten years earlier, after he had left her. Although he is repulsed by this replica of a past love, he also appreciates the opportunity to expiate his guilt over her death and continue, if only in a sham, the experience of their relationship. As he talks to the other scientists, reads books in the station's library, and performs experiments, he gradually comes to understand that she is a projection of his own memories created by the planetary entity he has come to study. When she dissolves at the novel's end, he is left with the desire to get her back again but has little hope that this will occur.
Solaris, the protoplasmic creature that covers the planet of the same name. For more than a hundred years, Earth missions have attempted to understand this multibillion-ton gelatinous oceanic entity. Although the myriad shapes that form on this global creature suggest sentience, no previous attempts at communication have been successful. Hundreds of theories have attempted to account for this blob, but each is flawed. At the time of the story, an illegal dose of X rays has caused the mass to express itself in a new way. Reaching into the minds of the station's occupants, it has created, out of neutrinos, perfect replicas of remembered or imagined people. Although these models, called phi-creatures, are palpable, they are no more intelligible to the crew than any other phenomenon exhibited by Solaris. Although Solaris' human simulacra are destroyed at the story's end, neither they nor the planet itself is understood.
Rheya, the most important of the phi-creatures. Rheya is an almost perfect duplicate of Kris's girlfriend, who was nineteen years old when she committed suicide ten years before the time of the novel. She has no self-consciousness of her own artificiality and differs mentally from the original woman only in her knowledge of some facts she should not know and in an undeniable compulsion to stay in Kris's proximity. Physically, she is exactly the same, except at the subatomic level: Because she is composed of neutrinos, she heals rapidly. As she gradually comes to understand that she is not who she thinks she is, she, like the original, attempts suicide. This effort fails, but with the help of two other scientists, she is able to dissolve herself and leave a suicide note that unintentionally parodies that of the original.
Snow, called Ratface, a cybernetics expert and Gibarian's deputy. Drunk and half mad from his recent experiences on Solaris, Snow tries to help Kelvin understand the situation without appearing to be crazy. His mental struggles have left him haggard, gray, and sunken. He is reticent and only semifunctional. He understands the situation to some degree and aids Kelvin.
Sartorius, the most reclusive and yet insistently professional scientist at the station. Tall, thin, and distracted, Sartorius attempts, despite his own phi-creature, to maintain the scientific method. It is largely through his efforts that the scientists attempt direct communication with Solaris, and it is he who develops the antineutrino device that dissolves the replicas, including Rheya.
Gibarian, Kelvin's former teacher. At the story's start, Gibarian has just committed suicide because of his inability to deal with the Solaris projections. He is still active in the narrative, however, through Kelvin's memories, through his publications, and, finally, in an embodiment that may be a dream or another phi-creature.