When Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic, looking for a new route to the East, he found a New World. In this New World he found a new and strange people. The landscape was different, the climate was different and the natural resources were different. After returning back to Spain and reporting this New World, the European colonialism was started. People from many of the European nations came to what would be called the Americas and laid their claim to the land. Each country bringing their views and cultures and establishing it in the area that they claimed. This colonialism continued throughout history into the 20th century. Africa and Southeast Asia were colonized, by the U.S. and various other European nations, and used as battlegrounds for the U.S. and the Soviet Union to fight their cold war. These wars resulted in the deaths of many soldiers but even more African and Asian people, whose homes were displaced and country torn apart. The affects of this colonialism can still be seen thought these countries in today's times. Robert A. Heinlein, C.S. Lewis and Ray Bradbury deal with the issue of colonialism in the books, The Puppet Masters, Out of the Silent Planet and The

In Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet man is tempted in looking at another world to explore and drain of resources. Although Weston claimed to be interested in traveling to the moon for scientific reasons, Devine openly admits to going to the moon for personal gain. "For the most part is conversation ran on the things he would do when he got back to earth: ocean going yachts, the most expensive women and a big place on the Riviera figured largely in his plans. 'I am not running all these risk for fun.' Devine knew about the gold on the planet and taking it was his only concern. When his life was being decided by the Oyarsa, instead of just pleading for his life he says,"We little people only want sun-bloods. You give us plenty sun bloods, we go back into sky, you never see us no more."(134) Even when his life was about to be taken away from him, all he could think about was the gold. Economic reasons where the reason Columbus' trip was financed by Spain and some of the first settlers were indentured servants to work on farms to bring goods back to the country from which they came. The humans brought nothing but violence to a planet that had no war or fighting between the groups that were on the planet. Weston ended up killing Ransom new friend all for reasons of greed and arrogance that didn't exist on Malachandra. Ransom tells the Oyarsa," Your tribal life with its stone age weapons and bee-hive huts, is primitive coracles and elementary social structure, has nothing to compare with our civilization- with our science, medicine and law. Our right to supersede you is the right of the higher over the lower."(135) That statement made by Ransom embodies all that colonialism is. The belief in superiority of one group of people over another and the one group has the right to use whatever it wants because of that belief.

Colonialism has had very negative effects on the colonized people though out history. War and disease, basically wiped out Indians in the Americas. In Africa, fighting still goes on between groups that were divided against each other by their colonial powers. Vietnam was torn apart by a decade of war because of two colonial powers using them to fight a cold war. The negative affects of colonialism give shape to the three novels. Each author uses the characters to show how colonialism causes grief to those being colonized. In The Puppet Masters, Heinlein shows that people don't want to be colonized even if it could appear to be beneficial through technology or other benefits. S

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Approximate Word count = 1708
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)