Perelandra

He smiled bitterly at the folly which had made him so glad, that morning, to exchange those floating paradises, where every grove dropped sweetness, for this barren rock... Uselessly he quickened his pace. Before he had got down into the valley, the grove where he had left Weston was a mere cloud of darkness. Before he had reached it he was in seamless, dimensioned night... When he lay down he discovered that the solid earth and moss of the Fixed Land was very much less comfortable than the surfaces to which he had lately been accustomed. That, and the thought of the other human being lying, no doubt, close at hand with open eyes and teeth clenched on splintered glass, and the sullen recurring pound of breakers on the beach, all made the night comfortless. "If I lived on Perelandra," he muttered, "Maleldil wouldn't need to forbid this island. I wish I'd never set eyes on it."

This passage was taken from C. S. Lewis's "Perelandra", the second book in his Space Trilogy. In this passage, Ransom (the main character) begins to doubt himself, his mission, and its success. He has just made one of his biggest mistakes, and is now stuck on a forbidden island with a possessed man, who may or may not be dead. Since his arrival, Ransom has been clueless as to why he was sent to Perelandra, though he hasn't really been bothered by that fact until now. He feels lost and understandably uncomfortable, given his predicament: naked, hungry, and stuck on a strange planet with no idea what he is supposed to do. I would be freaking out too. Given that, this passage has a somewhat depressing tone, as Ransom ponders his next step. It is actually the first time something really interesting has happened in this book and so mixed with depression is a sense of adventure, suspense, and curiosity. I like it.