OSP E9 Chapter 9: Ransom has big plans for writing a Malacandran grammar book!

Coldplay returns here in chapter 9 with probably the most ideal song for the key theme of this chapter which is language & communication.

Ransom finally appears to get a break from the tension and terror of the past month upon meeting the hross by the river. As a philologist, Ransom immediately recognizes that the creature has language as it speaks to ‘someone’ as it emerges from the river. Who or what the hross speaks to will be revealed in the next few chapters.

Ransom and the hross cautiously regard one another at first but then engage in basic communication. Ransom momentarily forgets about his desperate situation and imagines all the books that he could write on Malacandran grammar. The creature offers Ransom a drink - which is clearly alcoholic - and which is utterly delightful to Ransom. Ransom learns some basic words in the Malacandran language and decides to accept the hross’s invitation to follow him to his boat.

In this chapter we see some new twists on familiar themes - mostly language and seeing - as Ransom’s preconceived ideas continue to be shattered. He has moved beyond the desire to kill himself as this encounter with the hross breathes new life into him. Ransom manages to keep his fear at bay as curiosity and some desire for adventure guide his thinking.

Episode Roadmap

• Chapter quote, intro, & chapter summary: 0:00 - 4:17

• Chapter 9 Themes Analysis: 4:18 - 25:15

  • Theme 1: Perpendicularity / vertical nature of Malacandra 4:18

    • Ransom seems drawn to the mountains of Malacandra

  • Theme 2: Language & communication 8:50

    • Malacandran vocab list:

      • Hross - the creature Ransom meets (hross means ‘horse’ in the Norse language); hrossa is the plural

      • Hman - Malacandran word for man or human

      • Handra - the ground, dirt, earth (not the planet earth); Ransom correctly sees ‘handra’ as the root in the word ‘Malacandra’

      • Handramit - the valleys and lowlands of the planet near the water

  • Theme 3: Body position 15:38

    • Kneeling vs hugging one’s self

  • Theme 4: Seeing and perspective 18:04

    • Seeing humanity in the animal-like hross

    • Uncle Andrew from The Magician’s Nephew

  • Comment on Ransom’s flight from the sorn and The Great Divorce: 25:15

    • The Hard-Bitten Ghost, the Self-Conscious Ghost and the Unnamed Bright Spirit, the herd of unicorns, and meeting George MacDonald

• Wrap up 27:39 - end

Episode music - “Talk” by Coldplay