Colonization Leads to Destruction
One aspect that is universal to all colonization is that colonists always promise to bring civilization to natives in the area, or what they consider as “mere savages.” However, in reality, that is not the case. In the Fifteenth Century, Portuguese explorers had begun to colonize the Coast of West Africa. Within the span of a few short decades, the explorers began to round up African natives and selling them into slavery. This would eventually evolve into the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, where over 12.5 million Africans would be torn from their loved ones and sold into slavery. Without all these people, the Coast of West Africa was never again going to be the same. Whole tribes began disappearing, and their …show more content…
In the story, the humans have start to arrive on Mars in crowds, similar to locusts in a swarm. When they land, they begin to shape Mars into a new Earth. Bradbury depicts that “And from the rockets ran men with hammers in their hands to bend the strange world into a shape that was familiar to the eye, to bludgeon away all the strangeness…” (107). The humans here are just arriving on a new world, and worry about how they will survive. But the first thing they do isn’t to find food or water, but is to immediately take apart the Martian environment surrounding them. This goes to show that one of the first things that happens during colonization of any kind is that the imposing colonists will “bludgeon away all the strangeness”, or destroy the surrounding environment, and rebuild according to how they see fit. This process of reconstruction happens so quickly that the Martians and other wildlife in the area will not be able to keep up and will probably be destroyed. Similarly in Bradbury’s “A Green Morning”, a man named Driscoll is helping the humans on Earth breathe, by planting trees. Shortly after planting his trees, he realizes that “As far as he could see the trees were standing up against the sky. Not one tree, not two, not a dozen, but the thousands he had planted in seed and sprout.(101-102)” Although Driscoll is doing a favor to …show more content…
In “The Off Season” from The Martian Chronicles, Bradbury tells the tale of Sam Parker, a man who recently settles on Mars. Sam is counting on his hot dog business to make big money from the impending arrival of more settlers. While he is anticipating their arrival, several Martians attempt to confront him. Believing that the Martians are out to harm him, Sam, acting to protect his interests, “Fired his gun eight times. One of the sand ships fell apart, the sail, the emerald body, the bronze hull points, the moon-white tiller, and all the separate images in it.(185) ” When the Martian finally caught up to Sam, they revealed that they had brought a gift to Sam, and did not intend to hurt him at all. In this passage, Sam, who is a colonist, is directly responsible for murdering several native Martians, which had no intent to harm Sam at all. His lust for money and his greedy attitude lead him to “Fire his gun eight times”, absolutely annihilating the Martians pursuing him. These eight shots fired are definitely overkill, as it takes only one shot to kill someone. It is evident in this situation that colonization is motivated by self interests, which in turn leads to the obliteration of many native inhabitants. Likewise, the article “Effects of Colonization”, by Sandra Marker also provides evidence about the negative effects of colonization. In the
One aspect that is universal to all colonization is that colonists always promise to bring civilization to natives in the area, or what they consider as “mere savages.” However, in reality, that is not the case. In the Fifteenth Century, Portuguese explorers had begun to colonize the Coast of West Africa. Within the span of a few short decades, the explorers began to round up African natives and selling them into slavery. This would eventually evolve into the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, where over 12.5 million Africans would be torn from their loved ones and sold into slavery. Without all these people, the Coast of West Africa was never again going to be the same. Whole tribes began disappearing, and their …show more content…
In the story, the humans have start to arrive on Mars in crowds, similar to locusts in a swarm. When they land, they begin to shape Mars into a new Earth. Bradbury depicts that “And from the rockets ran men with hammers in their hands to bend the strange world into a shape that was familiar to the eye, to bludgeon away all the strangeness…” (107). The humans here are just arriving on a new world, and worry about how they will survive. But the first thing they do isn’t to find food or water, but is to immediately take apart the Martian environment surrounding them. This goes to show that one of the first things that happens during colonization of any kind is that the imposing colonists will “bludgeon away all the strangeness”, or destroy the surrounding environment, and rebuild according to how they see fit. This process of reconstruction happens so quickly that the Martians and other wildlife in the area will not be able to keep up and will probably be destroyed. Similarly in Bradbury’s “A Green Morning”, a man named Driscoll is helping the humans on Earth breathe, by planting trees. Shortly after planting his trees, he realizes that “As far as he could see the trees were standing up against the sky. Not one tree, not two, not a dozen, but the thousands he had planted in seed and sprout.(101-102)” Although Driscoll is doing a favor to …show more content…
In “The Off Season” from The Martian Chronicles, Bradbury tells the tale of Sam Parker, a man who recently settles on Mars. Sam is counting on his hot dog business to make big money from the impending arrival of more settlers. While he is anticipating their arrival, several Martians attempt to confront him. Believing that the Martians are out to harm him, Sam, acting to protect his interests, “Fired his gun eight times. One of the sand ships fell apart, the sail, the emerald body, the bronze hull points, the moon-white tiller, and all the separate images in it.(185) ” When the Martian finally caught up to Sam, they revealed that they had brought a gift to Sam, and did not intend to hurt him at all. In this passage, Sam, who is a colonist, is directly responsible for murdering several native Martians, which had no intent to harm Sam at all. His lust for money and his greedy attitude lead him to “Fire his gun eight times”, absolutely annihilating the Martians pursuing him. These eight shots fired are definitely overkill, as it takes only one shot to kill someone. It is evident in this situation that colonization is motivated by self interests, which in turn leads to the obliteration of many native inhabitants. Likewise, the article “Effects of Colonization”, by Sandra Marker also provides evidence about the negative effects of colonization. In the