Deborah
ENGL 3850-02N
Sci-Fi Lit
Dr. Coats
18 March, 1997
The Martian Chronicles
My first encounter with Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles was in third grade. We read "There Will Come Soft Rains" in my reading class. Pretty depressing for nine-year-olds, hmm? But even though it was a sad story, I thought that this was the kind of stuff I wanted to read more of in class. Unfortunately, I didn't encounter more Bradbury until sixth grade. We read more excerpts from the Chronicles and I was hooked. This book is an editing piece de resistance. The short stories flow together smoothly to become a history of the fall and rebirth of two worlds: Mars and Earth both rise and cease to exist within the chapters of this novel.
Re-opening this book was a return to childhood and adolescence for me. I sped through it in a half hour, gulping sentences and chapters like a starving man's first meal in ages. After satisfying my craving, I immediately fell asleep and dreamed about the stories- "Usher II, "Night Meeting," "The Green Morning." I woke up and read it again, more carefully and deliberately this time. Like a wine connoisseur, I sampled each story, noting its place and evolution along the time line. Then I read it again in the manner of a screenplay.
Mars is depicted by Ray Bradbury as a victim of its inhabitants and its conquerors. The Martians were a spiritual group who had reduced everyday tasks to minimal work and maximum spiritual gratification. Their cities spiraled upward to near impossible heights and slid down to canals filled with barges sailing in the lavender wine. They were luminous beings who had no true defense against the "manifest destiny-driven" Terrans.
The Terrans invade, fail, fall back, invade, fail, fall back, and finally prevail with unintentional disease. They proceed to populate Mars with a strange mixture of sacred and profane. Some travel to Mars to escape a polluted and corrupt Earth, some travel to Mars to recreate Earth. But through it all, Mars steadily rotates around the Sun. After Earth is destroyed, it remains. Luckily, there is hope for the sentient beings who remain. They embrace the environment- they will not force it to shape to their desires, but they will conform to its forces.
I really enjoyed revisiting this book. It was hard to pick an example of what I most enjoyed, but under duress I will pick one. (Eyes closed, letting book fall open) Ah. "The Earth Men." I totally agree with Bradbury here. Reality is subjective. How do we know that we are sane? Very Twelve Monkeys. The second expedition lands in a looney bin where they are totally accepted. Unfortunately, there is more to Mars than the insane. Their reality is challenged by a Martian. He attempts to negate their existence by proving that they are mere illusion. He negated them with a little more force than was necessary, but it did prove a point. Be kind to your local lunatic. She may truly be who she claims she is!
As the reader has already guessed, I have loved, still love, and will forever love this book. It is poetic and lyrical. The narrative is smooth and gives a heart-breaking history of the fall of both Mars and Earth and the renaissance of the Human spirit. It is humorous and tragic at the same time. All in all- a classic.