Out of the Silent Planet: Chapter 9 Summary & Analysis

Ransom wakes up thinking about another man wandering in the wood who may be able to help him. Ransom practices greeting this man, whispering, “Hullo Ransom,” and then stops as he realizes that he himself is Ransom. He can’t remember who told him not to drink the water, and decides to try it. The water tastes mineral-filled and very refreshing. Steadied by the drink, Ransom puts all thoughts of some other Ransom out of his mind and hopes not to go mad.

Ransom begins walking, stopping every few minutes to remind himself that he is Ransom, and he is the only man in these woods. Hungry, he cuts a piece off one of the purple trees with his stolen knife. He chews it, but it seems more like chewing gum than digestible food. Ransom starts to wander about vaguely looking for food, unable to keep up yesterday’s urgency.

Ransom gets startled when a large multitude of yellow shapes appears around the next group of trees. They are tall, furry, and somewhat giraffe-like, and blink lazily while eating the tops of the purple trees. Ransom is comforted to find that Malacandra has tame animals as well as the dangerous sorns. The giraffe’s feast opens a view to the sky, where Ransom sees the thin, green spires and realizes that they are mountains, rising sharply into the sky. Ransom feels his spirits lift as he gazes at the mountain peaks leaping up towards the heavens.

Ransom’s heart then drops again as he catches a moving blur out of the corner of his eye and thinks he sees a sorn looking for him. Ransom runs back into the thicket of the forest, clutching his knife and praying that the sorn is alone. He runs downhill and finds himself out of the woods, at the edge of a broad river. He drops to his stomach to rest. Suddenly, a round, black animal bursts out of the water, splashing to the shore ten yards from Ransom. Ransom notices that it looks like an elongated seal, with some otter- and penguin-like features mixed in. Ransom lies perfectly still, past even fear at this point, and calmly hopes that the black animal (later introduced as Hyoi) will not notice him.

The black creature (later known as Hyoi) begins to make noises, which Ransom’s linguist ear interprets as speech. Ransom’s entire demeanor changes, as he begins to wonder about the possibility of learning whatever language this creature is speaking. He dreams of unlocking the principle behind language itself through studying this non-human language. Unconsciously, he raises himself up on his elbows and the creature turns to look at him. The two beings stare at each other in silence.

Ransom carefully gets to his knees and the creature (Hyoi) takes small steps towards Ransom. Ransom wants to run, but his curiosity is too strong. The two beings begin a slow, tense dance back and forth as each advances and retreats in turn. Suddenly, the creature turns and begins to walk away. Ransom yells in English for the being to come back. The creature says something, walks about 20 yards, and picks up a shell like an oyster shell.

The creature (Hyoi) fills the shell with water from the lake and then holds the shell up to its belly. Ransom is disgusted to think the creature might be urinating, but then realizes that it is adding a few drops of liquid to the shell. The creature drinks from the shell, then refills the shell in the same manner and offers it to Ransom. Ransom drinks from the shell, filled with both attraction and repulsion for the creature.

The creature (Hyoi) flaps a paw on its chest and says, “hross.” Ransom interprets this as the species’ name and points to his own chest saying, “man.” The hross picks up some soil and says, “handra.” Ransom questions, “Malacandra?” The hross gestures at the whole landscape, confirming that Malacandra is the entire planet. Ransom is thrilled to have this first look at the Malacandran phonetic system, and then pantomimes, eating hoping for some food. The hross invites Ransom to follow him.

Ransom follows the hross (Hyoi) to a boat, where he is both surprised and happy to see that the boat looks much like a boat on Earth. The hross gets a spongey, orange substance from the boat and cuts a length of it for Ransom to eat. Ransom enjoys the food, but is suddenly overwhelmed by the thought that the hross may be working with the sorns, or may not be as intelligent as it seems. Ransom realizes several days later that the trick to stopping these moments of distrust is to think of the hross as a delightful animal with the gifts of rational thought and speech, rather than a disgusting man with furry features and paws.