User:Aethridge

Out of the Silent Planet: The Synopsis and Political Arguments

Summary:

This fascinating story of intergalactic space travel begins in the humble setting of a dark narrow road in the middle of the English countryside. Dr. Ransom, a philogist from Cambridge is taking a walking tour of the area as he has temporarily completed all his duties at home. Now, although the journey has been pleasurable, the hour has grown late, and it is essential that he find a place to stay. Unfortunately, finding lodging is actually hard to do when the innkeepers of the area refuse to rent out rooms. So, in his attempt to find shelter, he stumbles upon a distraught woman, desperately seeking her poor half-wit Harry who has failed to return home from work this night. In an attempt to ease the woman’s fears and find his own lodging for the night, Ransom enters the house of Harry’s employer and eventually begins one of the greatest adventures of his life.

Eventually drugged and intoxicated by the house’s inhabitants, Professor Weston and Dr. Devine, Ransom is kidnapped and taken to an unknown location. Much to his utter shock and to a degree delight, he finds himself embedded in a strange, outward-bound flying aircraft…a spacecraft heading toward a planet called Malacandra. Confused with what he sees and feels, Ransom begins to question his captors about his purpose in this voyage. Sadly, they mutely refuse to answer most of his queries as they know a secret he does not. Nevertheless, he eventually overhears Weston and Devine discussing how they kidnapped him in order to sacrifice him to some creature called a sorn. And so for the next several months he lives a vigilant life, constantly planning and preparing for any chance to escape. Finally, after countless days battling against the gravitational pull, the overbearing sun, and penetrating silence, the group safely lands in Malacandra.

Once they arrive, Weston and Devine try to hand Ransom over to the sorns, but fortunately he escapes into the wild and eludes their grasp. After staying in the “woods” for a few days, he ultimately overhears an otter-like creature speaking some form of language. Since he is a philogist (an expert in linguistics, reasoning, and expression), Ransom is intrigued by the “otter” and initiates contact. Fortunately for Ransom, Hyoi turns out to be a member of the hrossa, a friendly group of people who live off the water and land. Hyoi eventually takes him to his abode, and there he lives among the hrossa for a good period of time. Ransom successfully learned their language, participated in their culture, and ultimately gained a good reputation by helping kill the hrossa’s main enemy, the shark-like creature hnakra. Sadly, by participating in the hnakra hunt, he ultimately alerts Weston and Devine of his location and gets Hyoi killed. The two men shot Hyoi in their attempt to recapture Ransom, and Whin (another hrossa) said this horrific event occurred because Ransom disobeyed the orders of the eldil. Now, the eldil are spirit-like creatures that work for Oyarsa, the governing eldil of the land. As a result, Ransom has no choice but to obey this authority and flee the area, traversing up to the cold outer layer of the planet. There he meets Augray, a friendly sorn who ultimately takes him to Oyarsa (the ruling eldil), and the one who summoned him to this planet. There Ransom discovers the true location/identity of Malacandra (Mars), the meaning of the universe, the role of the spiritual world (i.e. the eldil, Oyarsa, and Maleldil), the fall of mankind, the upcoming epic battle between good and evil, and Ransom’s role in solving the conflict. On top of that, Weston and Devine are captured, brought in for questioning, and then banished back to earth. Because Ransom must help preserve the universe, he also returns home in an attempt to monitor these two servants of Thulcundra, a warped Oyarsa bent on the destruction of the universe. Fortunately, the story ends with these three gentlemen finishing their perilous journey by safely returning home to Earth, and by completely altering their character. No longer were Weston and Devine as devious as before, but instead they were more subdued and Ransom more vigilant than ever. He realized that it was up to him to ensure Thulcundra’s evil plans were stopped, but that he should not fear as any time he needed them, the Malacandrans come to his aid.

Politics:

One interesting element of this story, however, is the political aspect of it. From the beginning, the audience is peppered with negative political interactions as Ransom is abducted and forced onto a voyage that he did not want to embark upon. In fact, he is held as a slave, prisoner, and even an “offering” for the unknown beings lying on the other side of the universe. Interestingly, a theme of authoritarian rule pops up with the human interactions and is continued by the Malacandran form of “government”. Once the visitors arrive in Malacandra, they seem to discover a political hierarchy, with the hrossa, sorns, and pfifltrigg (tapir-like creatures that specialize in mining) all being ruled by the eldil, who in turn are ruled by Oyarsa, a governor of the Maleldil’s worlds. Interestingly, however, the goal for each authoritarian rule is quite different. Sadly, the humans came to Malacandra for one of two reasons: first to strip the land of its sun’s blood (gold) and star’s milk (silver), and second to annex the territory for mankind’s own use. Ultimately, this situation brings us back to the quintessential political struggle over resources, which has dominated political conflicts for decades. Interestingly, however, the Maleldil, Oyarsa, and eldil, govern in an authoritarian matter because it is more of an aristocratic society, where those with the most knowledge have the privilege of promoting peace. And the ironic thing is that the Malacandran form of government was far more effective in promoting the values we humans hold so dear.

As a result, another political issue addressed involves the theme of personhood. This book begins to thoroughly question the definition of human as two out of the three humans on Malacandra act more inhumane than the alien-like hrossa, sorns, pfifltrigg, and eldils. Weston and Devine murder innocent hrossa, manipulate sorns, and disrespect the eldil, Oyarsa, and Maleldil, while Ransom is consumed by fear until he starts taking on hrossan characteristics, ultimately becoming a better person. Sadly, the humans’ corruption by fear, greedy, and sheer malevolence makes them seem less desirable or human than their “alien” counterparts: “[Thulcundra] has left [Weston] because a bent [bad] hnau [person/living creature] can do more evil than a broken one…but [Devine] he has broken, for he has left him nothing but greed. He is now only a talking animal [and if] he were mine I would unmake his body for the hnau [human-nature] in it is already dead” (151). In fact, it is Oyarsa not the humans who initiates a peaceful political contact with the human beings. After all, “Two years ago…this ship entered the heavens from your world…I [Oyarsa] sent certain sorns [many times] to…teach the strangers our language [but they] were very un-teachable [and kept stealing gold. So] I told my sorns to treat them like cubs” (131-132). So, in the end, mankind ends up looking like the barbaric inhuman individual, while the others bask in their lenient, human-like qualities…causing the irony to be on the heads of the so called “human” individuals.