Solaris is supposedly science fiction, but since it isn't really interested in explaining any of the science very clearly, much of it can also be interpreted as mystical, or even religious. You have dead people resurrected; a vast, unknowable consciousness that is both outside and able to read your inmost thoughts; miracles and—when explorers are destroyed by the ocean structure—devastating natural disasters as acts of (some sort of) god.
At the end of the novel, Kelvin suggests that the ocean may be an imperfect god—but we don't know enough about it to figure out if it's imperfect or perfect. And, of course, its unknowable nature only makes it seem more divine.
Questions About Religion
- Could Kelvin's imperfect god be the writer of the novel, Stanislaw Lem? Explain your answer.
- Is the ocean too much like the humans to be a god, or too different from them?
- Does the book suggest that science produces miracles? Explain your answer.
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Kelvin is in hell being punished for his sins.
The ocean answers prayers.