Out of the Silent Planet: Chapter 2 Summary & Analysis

Ransom comes in to Weston and Devine’s sitting room, remembering again how little he liked Devine at school. Everyone at Wedenshaw and Cambridge thought Devine was hopelessly boring, even if he was inexplicably successful in London after graduation. Devine himself interrupts Ransom’s thoughts, bringing in a tray with a bottle and glasses for whiskey.

Ransom gratefully waits to be handed a drink, but Devine gets distracted asking why Ransom is in this part of the country. Ransom explains that he is on a walking-tour. Devine asks if Ransom picked up the habit from his time in the army, but Ransom replies that the walking tour is the exact opposite of the army: Ransom can make his own choices about where to go that do not need to consider anyone but himself. Ransom says he has specifically left no forwarding address so that no one can find him and call him back to his place as a don at Cambridge before he is ready.

Devine suddenly notices that the whiskey bottle is empty and gets Ransom a glass of water. They sit in two expensive chairs in the sitting room. Ransom asks why Devine has a house in this rural area. Devine explains that he is funding Weston’s experiments, which promise to further the march of progress and the good of humanity. As Devine speaks, Ransom finds himself unable to focus and then has the strange feeling that Devine is actually sitting a mile away. Ransom’s body goes numb and the room fades away.

Ransom has what he thinks is a dream, but the narrator explains that it might have bearing on future events in the novel. Ransom dreams that he, Weston, and Devine are trying to climb over a wall to get out of a bright, pretty garden. Ransom fears the darkness on the other side of the wall, but Weston insists that they must go. Peeking over the wall, Ransom sees Weston and Devine talking to very strange looking people. The strange people say “hoo” like owls. Ransom makes it to the top of the wall, then stops because his left leg feels “dark” outside the garden, and his right leg feels “light” inside the garden.

Ransom regains consciousness and realizes he has been drugged. Over Ransom’s head, Devine tells Weston that Ransom will “do quite as well as the boy.” Weston says he is reluctant to substitute Ransom for Harry, as Ransom feels more human, but finally agrees that Ransom carries a lower risk of people looking for him when he disappears. Ransom realizes this might be his one chance to escape and flings himself toward the door. He struggles more violently than he thought possible, but falls unconscious again after a blow to the head.