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 7-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary
Devine is first to exit the ship, toting a revolver. Weston orders Ransom out of the ship next, and he takes his first steps onto the pink, vegetation-covered ground of Malacandra. The ship has landed on the shore of a body of water. Ransom is briefly thrilled to recognize a house, believing that it indicates human inhabitants. However, he soon realizes that the house belongs to Devine and Weston, who have been to Malacandra previously and set up camp.
As Ransom works alongside his captors to unload cargo from the ship, he takes in his surroundings. Malacandra is beautiful, far from the horrorscape he imagined. They are surrounded by water, rippling with unearthly waves that are “the wrong shape […] too high for their length, too narrow at the base, too steep in the sides” (44). The water surrounds them on at least three sides (the fourth is obscured by the spaceship). Across the largest stretch of water, Ransom sees a puffy rose-colored formation that looks “like the top of a gigantic red cauliflower” (45). On the nearer shore is a forest of strange purple vegetation, soft, thin stalks ending in a transparent canopy. Devine calls the men in for lunch, and Ransom eats copiously in anticipation of his upcoming escape attempt. Suddenly, Devine and Weston rise, taking Ransom between them and walking him toward the nearer shore. Across the water stand six humanoid figures, “stalky, flexible-looking distortions of earthly bipeds” (46). These are the sorns to whom Ransom was promised. Turning to flee, Ransom is apprehended by Devine. One of the sorns calls out across the water. As Weston and Devine attempt to pry Ransom from the shore, a large, toothy creature appears in the water and races toward the men. A panicked Weston loses his grip on Ransom, who breaks free and runs. Ducking behind the spaceship, Ransom runs through a shallow river and into a forest of the strange purple plants.
Chapter 8 Summary
A half hour after his initial flight, Ransom has slowed to a walking pace. Making his way through the purple forest, he reflects on the appearance of the sorns. While they are not the “Wellsian fantasies” (48) he imagined on the spaceship, the sorns trigger a more primal terror. Despite his fears, he is no longer considering suicide and is resolved to fight for his life. As he walks uphill, tall ridges of earth begin to appear in his path. These ridges are also narrow and strangely shaped, with pointy tops and small bases. Ransom theorizes that Malacandra must be lighter than earth, and its flora and fauna therefore “free to follow [their] skyward impulse[s] on a super terrestrial scale” (49). He wonders if he is on Venus or Mars or even the dark side of the moon, an idea that fills him with desolation. Warm streams begin to appear along his path, making him aware that the air is chilling as night falls. As he is unsure how cold a Malacandrian night can get, Ransom decides to rest by one of the warm streams. He finds a small waterfall and is tempted to drink from it, but it looks quite poisonous, so he lays down beside it instead. Hugging his knees, Ransom feels an “almost filial” love for himself and his body.
Chapter 9 Summary
Hours later, Ransom wakes up thirsty. He is relieved by the knowledge that there is another man wandering in the woods—a newcomer named Ransom—until he realizes that he is experiencing a bout of dissociation. His delusions about the other Ransom repeat every few minutes as he wanders on, looking for a food source. After a while, a group of fluffy, giraffe-like creatures appear and eat some leaves from the purple treetops. Ransom is comforted by the presence of such placid animals. The holes the creatures chew in the canopy of leaves expose a view of oddly-shaped mountains that Ransom previously glimpsed from across the lake when the ship first landed. He also sees a sorn steadily making its way toward him.
Ransom bolts, barreling out of the purple forest until he finds himself on the bank of a river. As he lays on the bank to rest, a large, seal-like creature emerges from the water on its hind legs. The creature makes noises that Ransom, with his linguistic background, instantly identifies as language. His curiosity overcomes his fear, and he takes a step toward the creature, which backs away before hesitantly moving closer to Ransom. Their approach is “like the meeting of the first man and the first woman in the world” (57), each afraid and excited. The creature fills a seashell with water, adds a few drops of liquid from a kind of “skin bottle” on its belly, then hands the shell to Ransom. Upon drinking it, Ransom deduces that it is some kind of alcohol. The creature slaps its chest and says “hross,” indicating the name of its species. Through a series of gestures, it painstakingly teaches Ransom the word “handra,” which means earth in its elemental form. The hross then leads Ransom to a boat that closely resembles an earthly boat and offers him food. As he eats, Ransom begins to find the hross “unbearably ominous.” Only days later does he realize that his fear stems from mischaracterizing the hross as human because of its apparent rationality. As a human, it is terrifying, far too tall and alien—but, viewed as animal, it is astonishing, gifted with “the charm of speech and reason […] as though Paradise had never been lost” (59).
Chapters 7-9 Analysis
Finally arriving on Malacandra, Ransom is surprised to find that the planet is not a ghastly wasteland. As with outer space, a dreaded unknown has turned out to be unexpectedly beautiful. Ransom’s first real trial on Malacandra arrives when he is faced with the creatures to whom he is promised as a sacrifice. Although he knows nothing about the sorns except what the untrustworthy Weston and Devine have told him, the sorns’ physical strangeness provokes his suspicion and terror. Although the sorns’ intentions are ambiguous, Ransom has so far assumed danger where there is none. One example is the Malacandrian water, which he assumes is poisonous but later drinks with no consequence. With this in mind, a reader can speculate that the sorns may not be the bloodthirsty monsters that Ransom fears.
While wandering the Malacandrian forest, Ransom notes a “skyward impulse” that causes flora and fauna to take on a strange shape—everything from the sorns to the waves to the trees is unusually tall and pointed, tapering like the spires of a cathedral. The explanation for this shared shape is twofold. As Ransom notes, because Malacandra has a thinner atmosphere than Earth’s, its plants and creatures are less weighed down. However, the tapering physiognomy also hints toward the spiritual life of Malacandra; the life forms’ skyward reach physically illustrates that Malacandra is not only literally out in space, but symbolically closer to heaven than Earth is.
Ransom’s meeting with Hyoi is the first time he is able to overcome his fear of all things Malacandrian. As a linguist, Ransom finds language fascinating and believes it indicates rationality. Hyoi’s ability of language subverts Ransom’s assumptions that all Malacandra’s creatures must be primitive. Here Lewis returns to the role of science in the fantastic. Ransom’s scientific curiosity leads to his trusting the Hyoi. His curiosity motivates him to push past his terror and meet the hross with mutual interest and respect, showing that he is capable of surmounting his prejudices and connecting with unfamiliar creatures. This quality sets him apart from Weston and Devine, who have no interest in Malacandra beyond what they can take from the planet.
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By C. S. Lewis
