Men from the Sea

"Men from the sea
Might rise" -Lucretius

And they do, at least on the planet Solaris.
Each of the scientists has a visitor which is a product of their subconscious turned flesh and blood by the ocean's primordial power.

The hero Kelvin is subject to his deceased lover; the god Rheya is also his muse. The manner in which she adulates Kelvin creates her not as a separate entity but rather entwined wholly with him. Wherever he goes, she follows, so much so that she cannot stand to let him out of her sight. Likewise Kelvin unconsciously needs Rheya.
"And my hand lingered, moved up her warm, rounded arm. In spite of myself I was caressing her. My body recognized her body; my body desired her, my body was attracted towards hers beyond reason, beyond thought, beyond fear."
 All rationale is secondary to this desire and necessity for a lover, for a god. Rheya is not a separate entity but principally a byproduct of Kelvin's mind and secondly as a corporeal manifestation of this need. Even his body is moved "beyond reason, beyond thought" to have her as his muse, as his god, disavowing self-preservation, scientific fundamentals, and all concept of reality.
"We have no need for other worlds. We want mirrors."
As Snow states, the need for other is unnecessary. All that mankind wants in the exploration of new frontiers are "mirrors" with which to reflect himself. The god is a part of the man and his quest seeks affirmation that this god is both unrivaled and unique.

There is only one other visitor which is revealed to readers in the novel; the tall, muscular, black "Negress." Kelvin finds her huge form coiled up against the dead body of Gibarian. Somehow this god figure born of Gibarian's psyche had driven him mad enough to commit suicide and, like Kelvin, was unable to detach himself from her even in death.

Snow's visitor is left purposefully ambiguous. The movie, however, does insert a child into the narrative which is purportedly his dead son.

So how to merge the comparisons of Lucretius and Solaris into a unified project...

Reality

What is reality? There is both the metaphysical and the concrete but there seem to be some shades of gray area. I had an interesting conversation with one of my residents at the nursing home last Monday. Alyce is the resident and Barbie is one of my co-workers.

Alyce: Help!

<laying in bed with no covers on>

Me: What's wrong?

Alyce: Levi, help Barbie! She isn't moving! 

<shakes the edge of her mattress pad frantically>

Me: What do you mean?

Alyce: She crawled in here <pointing between the mattress pad and the mattress> and hasn't come out.

Me: Oh yeah?

Alyce: Yes, and now she isn't moving. I think she's dead.

Me: I think Barbie went home. Her shift was over 2 hours ago.

Alyce: No, she is here. You see her?

<again she shakes the mattress pad as if shaking a person back to consciousness>

Me: No, that's your mattress.

Alyce: This is her blue sweater.

Me: I don't think it's her.

Alyce: Levi, help Barbie! She isn't moving.

Me: How did she get in there?

Alyce: She came in about 10 minutes ago and laid down on the bed.

I proceeded to try and convince her that Barbie was not trapped between her mattresses for about 20 minutes with no luck. Alyce was completely convinced of this situation but the reality was vastly different. To her, it was as real as the nose on her face. The disparity between my reality and her reality was immense. In order to make a little sense, there needs to be some back story. Alyce has lived in the nursing home for 5 years. They took her out of a rodent infested apartment and into the custody of the state and APS. While living in the nursing home, she has had many fantastical imaginings which seem as real to her as anything. The metaphysical realm seemed to be more comfortable for Alyce.

Alyce would gaze out at the courtyard for hours and call me in to witness the sundry forms of wildlife which she saw. Of the many things she saw, I can recall vividly most of them. On one occasion there were baby bobcats in the neighbors basement which Alyce could see peering out the basement window. She was so intensely distressed that I went out to assuage her fears, finding that it was merely leaves piled up in the sunken window. Another time a weasel which girded the birch trees had eaten so much that he became too fat to escape from between the two birch trees. I was summoned to rescue the weasel. Another image was a snake in the reeds that was dead and had a rat in his mouth which was having its eyes plucked out by a blackbird. I remember her telling me there was a dead dog on the neighbors patio one winter. "How could they just leave the poor thing out to die?" she asked. It turned out to be a bag of dog food. I even brought her a pair of binoculars to inspect the animals more closely but her reality remained the same.

Lately Alyce doesn't even think she lives there. She imagines that the staff has pulled an elaborate prank on her, switching her room to a different location while at a doctor's appointment. "What apartment number are you Alyce?" "233" and I showed her the label on the door saying 233 but she would not believe me.

We shall not cease from our exploration

And at the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time

Alyce encounters the world again, only to explore it anew. All her realities are those of a child. She sees things as if they were brand new to her.

The Red Fern

Sketch of the Red Fern