Out of the Silent Planet

Ransom is initially terrified of all of Malacandrian creatures, consumed by visions of classical science fiction monsters and boogeymen. He instinctively avoids all unfamiliar creatures until he meets Hyoi, the hross who becomes his first friend on the planet. Ransom is initially empowered to approach Hyoi after hearing the hross speak what is unmistakably language (it is later revealed that Hyoi was communicating with an eldil). Hyoi is able to teach him a few words of the hrossian language within minutes of their meeting, and this moment represents the first crack in the barrier of understanding between Ransom and the hnau of Malacandra. As a linguist, language is fascinating and important to Ransom, and his appreciation of the hrossa’s rationality grows as he learns more of their language.

The hrossian vocabulary highlights the utopian qualities of Malacandra. Ransom often struggles to translate human concepts like war and poverty into hrossian because such words do not exist in the language due to the peaceful lifestyles of the hrossa and their fellow hnau. They do not even have a direct translation for the word evil—“bent” is the closest approximation. Unlike the concept of evil, bentness implies the existence of an essential good that has become distorted.

At Meldilorn, Ransom struggles to give a hrossian translation for Weston’s self-aggrandizing speech about colonizing the universe, and the translation he gives to Oyarsa is noticeably less violent and arrogant than the original English. Despite Weston’s attempts to sound grand, the hrossian vocabulary exposes the foolishness of Weston’s ideals by denuding his weak motives of their impressive diction. Translated sentences like “though he doesn’t know what will happen to the creatures sprung from us, he wants it to happen very much” (136) show that Weston is confused and misguided by fear.

Ransom’s understanding of hrossian evolves alongside his appreciation of Malacandra. When he first hears the hrossa singing in Hyoi’s village, he finds their song rhythmless and incomprehensible, regarding it as a low form of art. After undergoing a long journey to Meldilorn and speaking with Oyarsa, Ransom once again hears the hrossian song, this time as a pack of hrossa send off their dead. Now, Ransom’s love of the hrossa and the time he spent among them enables him to understand their song deeply, and its power “[bows] down his spirit as if the gate of heaven had opened before him” (130). The transformation of their language—from something off-putting an unfamiliar into something beautiful and enlightening—is emblematic of Ransom’s transformed attitude toward Malacandra as a whole.