55 pages • 1 hour read
C. S. LewisOut of the Silent Planet
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1938A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 10-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 10 Summary
After eating, Ransom and Hyoi board Hyoi’s boat and paddle out onto a large lake. The lake widens into a marshland surrounded by green mountains, which are “the serrated bastion of immeasurable tablelands, higher in many places than themselves” (62). They seem to be travelling through a long, straight gorge in the tablelands. Hyoi explains that the high ground that surrounds them is called the “harandra,” and the gorge through which they are traveling is the “handramit.” The boat catches a fast current, making Ransom seasick. When the current eases, they are in a shallow. Hyoi easily picks up the boat and carries it, with Ransom in tow, deeper into the handramit. Ransom comes to understand that the handramit is not a valley at all, but a crack in the harandra, which he suspects is the “true surface” of Malacandra. Hyoi explains that all “hrossa” live in the handramit, while the “séroni” (the plural form of sorn) occupy the harandra. Ransom grows tired as the handramit darkens. Soon, he and Hyoi reach a village of hrossa, where, in a dreamlike state, Ransom eats at a campfire with the creatures before going to sleep.
Chapter 11 Summary
Several weeks pass, and Ransom finds himself enjoying life among the hrossa. Although he initially thinks of them as primitive and limited in their understanding of the world, this assumption is shattered by several realizations, including that they create art (a rhythmless form of song and poetry that is indecipherable to Ransom) and are experts at boating. After learning more of the hrossian language, Ransom is surprised to discover that the hrossa think of him as primitive and assume that he has no knowledge of the cosmos. A hross named Hnohra informs him that the hrossian word for Earth is “Thulcandra,” which means “the silent planet” (68). When Ransom asks about the origins of this title, Hnohra tells him that only the séroni know the answers to such far-reaching questions. The hrossa advise him to go to a being named Oyarsa, who will protect him from the “bent” or evil men who are after him. Oyarsa, who resides in a place called Meldilorn, “[knows] everything and [rules] everyone” (69). Ransom asks if Oyarsa created Malacandra, but the bemused hrossa explain that the world was, of course, created by Maleldil the Young, who lives with a being called the Old One.
Hnohra clarifies that Maleldil and Oyarsa are not “hnau,” a classification referring to corporal and intelligent creatures. Humans, hrossa, and sorns are all hnau, as are a species that Ransom has not yet encountered called “pfifltriggi,” who delight in digging in the earth and making art. When presented with a piece of pfifltriggi art, Ransom realizes that it is made of gold, and he suddenly understands Devine’s motives for coming to Malacandra; the planet is rich with gold, which the hrossa call “Arbol hru,” or “Sun’s blood.” Ransom marvels at the fact that Malacandra is home to three rational species who coexist peacefully, but he concludes that the séroni, as the apparent keepers of advanced knowledge, must be “the real rulers, however it is disguised” (70).
The hrossa are very interested in Ransom’s encounter with the reptilian animal that attacked the humans when they first landed on Malacandra. The creature, a “hnakra,” has not been sighted in the handramit for many years. Hunting hnakra is a hrossian tradition, and the village begins to prepare. Hyoi and Ransom set off for Hyoi’s boat, passing a hross cub speaking into thin air. When Ransom asks whom she’s talking to, she responds, “the eldil.” Ransom concludes that she is playing pretend and walks on.
Chapter 12 Summary
As Ransom and Hyoi prepare a hunting boat, Ransom asks whether there is ever war on Malacandra. Hyoi finds it difficult to grasp the question. If the other hnau wanted more food or resources, they would simply share, as Maleldil ensures that resources always grow plentifully. Ransom pushes him—what if the hrossa had too many cubs to sustain on the vegetation of the handramit? Hyoi can’t understand why a hross would overbreed because they have no need to repeat pleasure. To them, “a pleasure is full grown only when it is remembered” (74), and the pleasure of courtship and lovemaking, although it happens only once in a hross’ life, is sustained in memory forever.
Ransom asks if hrossa ever become bent like humans. Hyoi doesn’t think so, but he recounts for Ransom the legend of a hross who lived long ago and saw everything doubled. This doubled vision broke him from reality and made him desire two mates. Ransom marvels at the fact that the hrossa are apparently monogamous by nature and wonders why their instincts “so closely [resemble] the unattained ideals of the far-divided species Man” (75). Feeling defensive, he brings up Hyoi’s desire to kill the hnakra. Hyoi explains that the hnakra is “our enemy, but also our beloved” (76). Hrossa and hnakra naturally hunt one another, but neither wishes for the total extinction of the other’s species. The evil of the hnakra provides a contrast to the sweetness of everyday life. Hyoi recounts the time he journeyed to Balki, “the place of most awe in all worlds” (76). As Hyoi stood at Balki with Maleldil, the joy of the moment was heightened by the awareness that the water before him was full of many “hnéraki” (the plural of hnakra).
Ransoms asks who Hyoi was speaking to on the day that they met. Hyoi replies that he was speaking to an eldil—a sort of hnau from Oyarsa. Eldila are transparent and hard to see unless they want to be seen, explaining why Ransom could not see the eldil to whom the young hross cub was speaking.
Chapters 10-12 Analysis
These chapters introduce the idea that Malacandra is a sort of utopia. Through living with the hrossa, Ransom begins to understand the inner workings of Malacandrian society. His assumption that the hrossa must be primitive or uncivilized is disproven by their advanced knowledge of the solar system and sophisticated religion. The fact that the hrossa, too, assume that he is uneducated highlights the irony of Ransom’s assumptions while conveying that some doubt is normal when meeting the unfamiliar. Open communication allows both Ransom and the hrossa to move past their mistaken assumptions.
Chapter 11 introduces the Malacandrian religious system, which loosely parallels Christianity in several aspects. Oyarsa is the leader of the eldila, whose light-bodied appearance recalls angelic depictions. The Old One parallels the Christian idea of God the Father, while Maleldil, who is born of the Old One, is a Christlike figure. Ransom is surprised by the religion’s complexity. The hrossian faith guides them to the type of virtuous and peaceful life that humans struggle to achieve on a large scale. The hrossa are like “unspoiled” humans, seemingly impervious to the dark impulses that prey on humanity. Evidence of this is even in the hrossian language; when Ransom attempts to translate questions about exploitation and war into hrossian, he struggles with their vocabulary, which has no words for such dark and unfamiliar concepts.
In discussing the solar system, Hnohra refers to Earth as Thulcandra, the silent planet. Based on the novel’s title, Out of the Silent Planet, as well as expectations set by typical science fiction narratives, readers may have assumed Malacandra to be the silent planet. By instead assigning the dark title to Earth, Lewis renders the familiar ominous and encourages the reader to step outside their preconceptions of their planet as the center of the universe.
From the hrossa, Ransom learns about being hnau, a categorization including rational, corporal animals like humans, séroni, and hrossa. This shared title connects Ransom to Malacandra’s nonhuman inhabitants and illustrates the interspecies unity between hnau. Despite their vast physical differences, they emphasize their similarities through a common label. Even in the wake of this surprising discovery, Ransom is unable to stop himself from applying terrestrial conventions to Malacandra; because humans live under a hierarchy of power, he assumes that one species must rule over the others despite the hrossa’s indications to the contrary.
Hyoi’s explanation of the hrossa’s relationship to the hnéraki provides insight into the relationship between good and bad on Malacandra. The danger of the hnéraki deepens the hrossa’s appreciation for their good and peaceful lives. Although they are enemies, neither seeks to exterminate the other’s entire lifeline. This relationship suggests that there is a balance of good and evil, even within utopia.
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By C. S. Lewis
