C.S. Lewis used the core themes, values, and interpretations he explored and dissected in The Abolition of Man as the backbone of the devilry aspect of That Hideous Strength to demonstrate that even when fully fictionalized, the reality of these themes is truly omnipresent.
Upon further reflection of whom Lewis refers to in The Abolition of Man as “Gaius” and “Titus”, it is revealed that these men were not in fact using their status as the authors of the mentioned textbook to benefit the students who need a wide understanding of literature the most, but to instead impose their own narrow-minded beliefs and understandings of the english language upon them. This, of course, may not be what they fully intended to do, but Lewis points out just how little they leave open to interpretation nonetheless.
Using the one tourist’s description of a waterfall as “sublime” in the story of Coleridge at the waterfall, Gaius and Titus write that “he was not making a remark about the waterfall, but a remark about his feelings” (2). Here, Gaius and Titus make use of a well known story to make an attempt at teaching the reader what was “actually meant” in the text. In this example, the two authors inform the reader of their own close-minded opinion as opposed to leaving such a description open to further interpretation. In this way, they effectively mislead every student reader of their text into believing something that simply is not true. Lewis reflects back on this to reassure the reader that “Even on their own view—on any conceivable view—the man who says This is sublime cannot mean I have sublime feelings” (3).So what does this close-minded teaching aspect, to the detriment of all those who read such words, have to do with the finale of Lewis’ space trilogy, That Hideous Strength? In a similar academic setting, now fictional of course, a conversation about Dick Devine, Lord Feverstone, resonates with this exact theme. When Dick’s affiliation with the College is brought into question, Curry makes a point which directly aligns with Lewis’ own feelings of the aforementioned “lesson” by Gaius and Titus. He questions “Isn’t it important for a college like this to have influential connections with the outer world?” (16) and supports such a question with “Dick in London has been a damn sight more use to the College than Glossop and half a dozen others of that sort have been sitting here all their lives” (16). The use of”the outer world” demonstrates just how narrow-minded the others have to have become at this institution. It becomes evident that the outside, differing opinion truly must make a difference in a world of stagnant others imposing their far-from-sublime beliefs onto students.