The first example of this theme is the crew of the station that is orbiting Solaris. The idea of life is what you make of it exists in the way that they live. All three members of the crew prior to Kelvin's arrival are treating their visitors in different ways. It appears that Snow has chosen the route of drinking to absorb his problems. Gibarian combated his problems with the ocean with suicide. It appears that Sartorius uses the method of completely diving into working on a theorem, of a way to combat the ocean and stop the visitors, and complete isolation. The method demonstrated by Sartorius seems to be the method that is most effective to solving the problem but least effective in soot

hing his mood. This shows the idea that they control their lives because each of them is being haunted by strange occurrences, that they may or may not control, they still are in control of their life enough to deal with their problems how they see fit. The fact that they all do it differently drives home the idea that they still are making their own life.

In conclusion, I found the meaning of Solaris one that can easily change from reader to reader. I guess the book is somewhat a microcosm for itself as the meaning is whatever you make it, and an easily found meaning is that life is what you make of it. I felt that the book was about making your life what you wanted it to be. I think that making all of the characters seem as if they were being in some way controlled by the ocean, when in actuality, shown through small nuances the characters were choosing their own destiny all along, showed this.

The next example of life is what you make of it is Kelvin's life prior to joining the crew on the station. The author paints his life as one devoted to his loved one, Rheya, until her death where as he became devoted to another love, Solaris. He made his life one of devotion, no one made him choose either of these things and he paid the prices that went along with those life choices. His life was what he made it.

The third example of being making their own life is the visitors that so haunt the crew of the station. Each one of the members of the crew makes their own

Some common words found in the essay are:
Stanislaw Lem, Kelvin Neither, Idea Solaris, main idea, crew station, main idea novel, own life, idea novel, life example, shown actions, haunt crew station, idea novel life, choices life, free kelvin, life visitors, found meaning,
Approximate Word count = 1000
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)