Isaac Sullivan

Preface: This letter contains a lot of references from Out of The Silent Planet, by C.S Lewis. The two main things that should be considered is that in the book there are two main kinds of species on Mars, on is the Hross who are more into singing and poetry (even though they don't write it down), and then there are the Sorn who are more intellectual and read a lot and stuff like that. 

If your reading this you have gotten my letter (or else you wouldn't be reading it), this is Eoj, I am a Sorn who is stuck on Thulcandra (Earth); if you are a Sorn you will know what to do with the contents of this letter, if a Hross has found this please give it to a sorn. Thulcandra is not exactly like we thought. I have found many writings regarding the entrance into and settlement of unexplored territory. And it has given me vast insight into the creatures here. They believe that what they have to say is very significant, are very careful about describing their thoughts and their circumstances, and use writing to communicate ideas.

One of the oldest pieces of writing that I found was a letter from a princess thanking one, Cabeza de Vaca, for his writing down his observations, "Since you yourself, Governor Álvar Núñez Cabeça de Vaca, resident of the city of Seville, gave us an account, saying that you had written a book entitled Account of What Occurred in the Indies, in the fleet with which you went as Governor, and that likewise you had written another one entitled Commentaries, both of which deal with the conditions of the land and the customs of the people in it, very useful works for those going to those places" (The Princess). Apparently, they are more like us Sorns, who, of course, see the value in writing information down. After these writings were transmitted through the clan, more people gained interest in traveling to the land that Cabeza de Vaca described. It was not uncommon for leaders to send people out to explore, "Governor Pánfilo de Narváez departed from the port of San Lúcar de Barrameda by authority and order of Your Majesty to conquer and govern the provinces which lie on the mainland from the River of Palms to Cape Florida." (Cabeza de Vaca) The creatures here are very curious they are not content to live the same way as their ancestors. They have a lot of hope and sometimes express themselves in poetry and verse like the hross, except they choose to write this down as well, rather than simply singing it.

I found some verses that were written done by one Anne Bradstreet, not only does she attempt to describe the world around her but she also attempts to describe how even though she attempts to she cannot do it justice, " Nor can I, like that fluent sweet tongued Greek /Who lisped at first, in future times speak plain. /By art he/gladly found what he did seek,  /A full requital of his striving pain. / Art can do much, but this maxim's most sure:  / A weak or wounded brain admits no cure" (ll. 19-24). She is so concerned with capture the things of life and containing them in her words, Ryan Widuch, a student of these writings, noticed that, "It's as if [Bradstreet] feels that her writings are never perfect, like she is still raising them as she would a child; always a work in progress" (Widuch). In poetry these creatures write in extensive (though abstract) detail, though emmersed in allusions and imagery, there is a substantial point being made. I have noticed that they make great efforts to be very descriptive in retelling events, even if it is about the horrors of life.

Descriptiveness is very plain to see in the writings of these creatures, and it turns out that this descriptiveness is used for varying purposes. It could be describing in detail the affliction of others, as is the case of  De Las Cases, as he described one clan's take over another's land, "They snatcht young Babes from the Mothers Breasts, and then dasht out the brains of those innocents against the Rocks; others they cast into Rivers scoffing and jeering them, and call'd upon their Bodies when falling with derision, the true testimony of their Cruelty, to come to them, and inhumanely exposing others to their Merciless Swords, together with the Mothers that gave them Life." (De Las Cases) Perhaps it would have sufficed to say simply that there were great injustices going on, but De Las Cases chose to write with exquisite detail in order that his writing might be used as a tool to conjure emotions that elicit a response among other to come against the injustice. Or they will even write about afflictions in their own life, "my brother-in-law (being before wounded, in defending the house, in or near the throat) fell down dead, whereat the Indians scornfully shouted, and hallowed, and were presently upon him, stripping off his clothes, the bullets flying thick, one went through my side, and the same (as would seem) through the bowels and hand of my dear child in my arms. One of my elder sisters' children, named William, had then his leg broken, which the Indians perceiving, they knocked him on [his] head. Thus were we butchered by those merciless heathen, standing amazed, with the blood running down to our heels. My eldest sister being yet in the house, and seeing those woeful sights, the infidels hauling mothers one way, and children another, and some wallowing in their blood: and her elder son telling her that her son William was dead, and myself was wounded." (Rowlandson). In this case she is not writing these horrors captivity narrative to get a response as was the case with De Las Cases, but she was writting, "for her private use, and now made public at the earnest desire of some friends, and for the benefit of the afflicted" (Rowlandson). For one reason or another, they choose to be descriptive in their writing. 

One thing is certain, these creatures love to write, wether it is to fulfill their own desires like Ben Franklin who wrote in his Autobiography, "I shall a good deal gratify my own vanity" (Franklin), or wether it is to serve their  God like John Woolman, who said in his Journal, "I have often felt a motion of love to leave some hints in writing of my experience of the goodness of God" (Woolman), they see value in writing. And in a post by a student of these writings I found that. Not only do the write history with great descriptiveness but they make great efforts to describe even the indescribable things of life on this planet. I don't know if they are more like the Hross or the Sorns but they are interesting and they have certainly left enough writings to get some understanding of their nature.