83 pages • 2 hours read
Gary PaulsenThe Transall Saga
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1998A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Part 1, Chapters 1-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary
Content Warning: The Transall Saga includes enslavement, including enslavement of the protagonist. The protagonist briefly mentions race and bigotry as reasons for the conflict between groups.
Thirteen-year-old Mark Harrison is a hiking enthusiast. His parents have allowed him to backpack alone across the Magruder Missile Range; however, his mother threatens to call the National Guard if Mark doesn’t reach their allocated meeting place on the other side of the range within the week.
After his third day of hiking, Mark is preparing to sleep when he suddenly sees a flaming ball of fire streak across the sky and land. He goes to investigate. The ball is gone, replaced with a bright beam of blue-white light, which seems to be projected onto the ground from above. Mark approaches it, taking pictures; the inside of the tube of light is filled with colors. Suddenly, he is bitten by a snake. He jumps back in fright, and falls into the beam of light.
Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary
Mark opens his eyes, confused and disorientated. His surroundings resemble an unfamiliar jungle, the air humid and shadowy. The leaves of the thick trees are red and rubbery; the rain that begins to fall is bitter tasting. Although Mark can’t see any puncture marks from his snake bite, he assumes he must be hallucinating.
Suddenly, a snorting buffalo-like creature charges Mark, and he climbs into a tree to escape it. Mark remembers the beam of light and wonders if he’s even on Earth anymore. He uses his compass to travel north. He stumbles into a ditch of quicksand-like substance, and barely manages to pull himself out using a root.
Mark is then attacked by tubular, scorpion-like insects with long pincers; they bite chunks out of his skin. Panicked, Mark takes off his clothes to shake out the insects. As he does so, the buffalo-like creature attacks again; Mark climbs into a tree to escape it. It destroys Mark’s shirt and takes one of his boots; still, he manages to take back some of his clothes.
Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary
Mark takes inventory of his remaining belongings: jeans, a belt, one boot, a broken compass, a broken watch, splintered matches, a knife, and the tattered remains of his shirt. He feels lonely and hungry. He decides to return to the clearing where he originally woke up.
Suddenly, small furry animals pelt “rocks” at Mark. One of the animals comes down from the trees and opens one of the “rocks”—seed pods—by inserting and twisting its claw. Mark imitates the animal. Using his knife, he opens a pod—which he calls a tree rock—and drinks its milk and eats its flesh.
Back at the edge of the clearing, one of the animals, which Mark calls monkey-bears, demonstrates that he should sleep in a tree by insistently clicking its tongue at him and jumping up and down. Mark settles on a low branch, refusing to follow the monkey-bear up into the canopy.
Part 1, Chapter 4 Summary
Mark sleeps fitfully, falling off his branch a few times. He resolves to find the tube of light and return to Earth. He considers the possibility of the tube being made of matter and antimatter.
Mark names the friendly monkey-bear Willie. The creature follows Mark as he climbs a tree looking for more tree rocks, using a vine to stabilize himself. Mark finds some tree rocks and throws them to the ground below. He falls, but the vine catches him.
Part 1, Chapter 5 Summary
Mark reflects on the survival books he’s read, wondering how to get out of his situation as the tube of light is nowhere to be found. He decides to make a base for himself next to the dark jungle, as tree rocks are nearby and the buffalo doesn’t seem to go in there. He resolves to travel in circles beyond his base daily, making wider circles every day in the hopes of finding the tube of blue light again.
Part 1, Chapter 6 Summary
Mark collects some of the insects that bit him in a sock; he cuts off their pincered heads and finds the bodies edible. He builds a platform in a tree, and a ladder from vines. He tries to imitate Willie’s way of swinging through the vines, but slips and falls from the tree.
Part 1, Chapter 7 Summary
Mark finds himself in significant pain at the base of the tree, and suspects he’s cracked some ribs. He knows he can’t climb back up to his platform, so he falls asleep in some long grass.
Willie wakes Mark by clicking at him. Mark uses scraps from his shirt to tie a tight, makeshift bandage around his ribs, which helps alleviate some pain. He realizes he will not be able to climb for tree rocks, and will need to find a new food source. He resolves to pause his search for the blue light until he heals. Mark thinks longingly of home and his parents.
Part 1, Chapter 8 Summary
Weeks pass, and Mark’s ribs slowly heal. He lives off grub worms and other insects, as well as any tree rocks the monkey-bears drop. He resumes his circling inspection of the area, and adds a ladder and a platform for food to his tree house. Mark discovers a spring of water and sees distant mountains from his base.
Mark carves a spear and tries to make a bow from his shoelace. Twice, he manages to kill and roast large lizards. He continually hears a faint howling. At one point, Mark sees large dog-like tracks in the mud.
Part 1, Chapter 9 Summary
Mark continues his circular, exploratory hikes, sometimes camping away from his tree. He becomes accustomed to the sights and sounds of the jungle. He notices that one patch of jungle is eerily quiet. Mark suddenly hears a squeal, and waits in a tree. He sees nothing; the sounds of the jungle return, but he is left feeling something is wrong. Looking around, he sees a large patch of blood, and an arrow in a tree. Terrified, he pulls the arrow out to inspect it.
Part 1, Chapter 10 Summary
Mark inspects the arrow back in his tree house, and realizes that there are other intelligent life forms on the planet. He wonders whether he should avoid them or try to find them. He practices shooting the arrow with his improvised bow, with his sock serving as a quiver. Eventually, Mark resolves that at some point, he will try to find the people or aliens.
Part 1, Chapters 1-10 Analysis
A prevalent theme is introduced in these opening chapters, through Mark’s journey across the Magruder Missile Range and his resourcefulness on a new planet: Survivalist Courage and Intuition. Mark, only 13, is impressively young to be taking on the week-long trek across the range. He knows how to navigate using a compass, builds fires at night, and treks long distances with a backpack. His preference for this lifestyle is clear: “this was the life he wanted for himself. Someday he’d fix it so that he was always camping under the wide-open skies” (4). In this comment, Mark unknowingly foreshadows the rest of his life on the planet Transall.
Mark is characterized as level-headed and practical, as well as adventurous. On Transall, Mark’s characterization is further established in his calm decision-making in the face of danger. He remembers what he read in survivalist magazines and makes systematic plans to find food and shelter, and learn more about his whereabouts. When he breaks his ribs, he creates a makeshift bandage with scraps from his own shirt, illustrating his resourcefulness. This trait is also illustrated in his tree house: “[I]n between hunting for food and scouting, Mark had fashioned a wooden ladder by securing rungs to two small branches with vines. He had also added a second story, a small platform that held his food supplies” (32). This alludes to an important theme: Creating a Safe Home in an Adversarial Setting.
The strangeness of the planet is established in its otherworldly animals, plants, and landscape. Mark encounters hostile creatures like the “buffalo” and insects, and more capricious species like the “monkey-bears” (Willie). When he drinks rainwater, he notices that “it didn’t taste like the rain back home. This stuff was bitter” (8). The quicksand he gets caught in comprises “red ooze”; similarly, the leaves of the trees are red and rubbery (9). Mark’s composure is made all the more remarkable considering the strangeness of Transall.
In Chapter 9, Mark discovers his first sign of human (or alien) life: “[F]inding the arrow changed everything. It meant that he was not alone in this place. There were other beings here who could think and hunt and make weapons” (37). The discovery of the arrow foreshadows Mark’s later discovery of the arrow people. It also alludes to another important theme: Discovering Friends and Foes.
Despite Mark finding himself in a hostile environment, this section also introduces the idea of foes becoming friends. This is the case of the monkey-bears, who initially attack Mark by pelting tree rocks at him. However, Willie the monkey-bear becomes an unlikely friend. He joins Mark on the ground and demonstrates how to open the tree rocks: “[T]he monkey-bear waddled over, picked up the rock, inserted one of its razor sharp claws in the middle and easily broke it open” (17). Mark is able to imitate this process with his knife, allowing him to access the life-saving liquid and meat within the tree rocks. This moment starts a pattern in which many of Mark’s foes turn out to be people who are simply trying to survive as well.
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