# VI: The Great Plain explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Clark Ashton Smith.

## What happens

Roverton and Deming recover from their violent expulsion from the carnivorous jungle and traverse a vast, eerie plain of resilient clay. They discover a table-like elevation with dead plant-monsters and alien ruins, including a monolith carved with bas-reliefs of an unknown race. Exhausted and without food, they rest in the ruins, their hope fading.

## Themes in this chapter

### Isolation and Desolation

The vast, monotonous plain and the dead ruins emphasize the utter isolation and hopelessness of the characters.

### Cosmic Horror and Estrangement

The alien architecture, the dead plant-monsters, and the bas-reliefs of an unknown race evoke a sense of estrangement and cosmic dread.

## Character check-ins

### James Roverton

First to recover; leads the way across the plain and examines the alien ruins.

### Chester Deming

Revived by Roverton; accompanies him in exploring the plain and the ruins.

## Key lines

> The landscape through which they now wandered was like the bottom of a newly dried ocean. It was one vast level of reeking clay, of a peculiar consistency, which yielded a little like rubber or some resilient fabric beneath their feet, without breaking through.

The terrain resembled a dried seabed, a flat expanse of damp clay that felt springy underfoot like rubber.

_Describes the uncanny nature of the plain._

> But somehow it was not dead, but conveyed a sense of somnolent vitality, as if it possessed a dark, secret life of its own.

The plain seemed alive with a hidden, dormant energy.

_Highlights the eerie sentience of the environment._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_9_se/chapters/vi-the-great-plain
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_9_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_9_se/chapters