Solaris Visitor

Sue Grafton, a New York Times bestselling author, once said, "We all need to look into the dark side of our nature- that's where the energy is, the passion. People are afraid of that because it holds the pieces of us we're busy denying." People often repress the memories which they consider painful or dark. We try to keep others from learning of the dark things that we have done. Stanislaw Lem uses these dark memories in Solaris. Each guest on the planet Solaris has a visitor. Who are these strange visitors? The visitors, or Phi-creatures are replicas of family members, friends, wives, or possibly children from everyone's past. As the readers, we have not been formally introduced to each visitor, but we can make assumptions based on the one visitor we have met and spent time with. These visitors are coming from a dark place, or dark memory, in each character's mind.

Memories are moments that stick with us forever. We do not often forget …show more content…
The visitors do not go away. The Phi-creatures linger with the person from whose memories they are created from. After Kelvin sends the first Rheya imitator into space, Snow tells Kelvin some surprising news. "Consequently, we have two or three hours at our disposal. . . . Am I getting on your nerves?" (Lem 67). The visitors would eventually come back, even if you sent them into space. The creatures are indestructible. Even when the new Rheya tries to commit suicide just as the original Rheya had, she fails. There appears to be no way to get rid of the visitors. "I feel afraid, not of some thing or person- there's no focus, only a sense of being lost. And I am terribly ashamed of myself. Then, when you come back, it stops. That's what made me think I might have been ill" (Lem 148). Rheya describes her feelings of need to Kelvin. She feels lost without his presence near. This desire for connection is the ocean trying to communicate and watch the workers at the