Out of the Silent Planet: Chapter 6 Summary & Analysis

Ransom wakes up feeling much better, hoping that he can master his own fear. Over the course of the day, the temperature in the space ship drops and the light seems to change. Ransom can’t call it “darkening” because the quality of light remains the same—it is simply half as much light with the same intensity. Ransom goes to the kitchen and tries to explain this to Devine, but Devine just laughs. Weston comes in to the kitchen and explains that they are entering Malacandra’s gravitational pull, and all three men soon feel sick at the return of their body weight. They get dressed in warmer clothes to prepare for Malacandra’s cold climate.

Ransom mourns the loss of the heavenly light as they enter Malacandra’s atmosphere. Ransom realizes that he can never again think of space as devoid of life. Instead the planets seem to be dark, heavy gaps in the living brightness of the heavens. He wonders if beyond the solar system is the true void, or if there is another level of brightness and life even better than the heavens. The ship lands on Malacandra with Ransom still stuck in these philosophical thoughts.