Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles describes man’s exploration and colonization of Mars. Knowing it is written by Ray Bradbury and during the 1950s; one should note that this is a Si-Fi fantasy. It begins in the year 2030 when the first astronauts are sent to Mars to explore. The Martian people keep killing the astronauts, because they believe they are illusions created by the mind (to clarify, Martians have telepathy). After a few waves of ships, the “deadly” disease chicken pox, spread by the first explorers, wipes out almost all of the native Martian life. This allows for Captain Wilder and his crew to colonize Mars. The colonization takes place in several waves. The first wave includes outlaws and ranch men. They provide heavy labor
…show more content…
After the priest come city folks. They build modern houses and bare children who become the first children born on Mars. There are now cities, and Mars is turning into a second Earth. This is the point where the “red tape” men come. They try to regulate and order everything in society, just like it is on earth. A few people fight back like William Stendhal. The final wave is the elderly who come to Mars. This is also the point where some native Martians try to join human society by shape shifting into dead relatives and living among their families on Mars. During this whole time, an atomic war on earth is growing imminent. Once the war begins, almost all the humans on Mars go back to earth to fight in this Great War. This leaves Mars an empty place with only a few people left for years on end. After these long years, humans again return to Mars, but this time for good. They escape the war on earth and plan to make a new society on Mars. Earth is destroyed and Mars is now home to human life. Overall, I enjoyed The Martian Chronicles. I believe this is Ray Bradbury’s greatest work, but I felt the book had some minor flaw that alienated me as a …show more content…
Bradbury jumps right into the story from the start. No introduction is used which confused me a little at the beginning. His rapid moving around can be seen within the first two chapters. The first chapter is about rockets and an Ohio village, and the second chapter goes straight into the life of a Native Martian, Ylla. This abrupt transition left me with a lot more questions than answers. Also, if one did not pick up on the fact that this is written as an actual chronicle, one would almost certainly be confused by the constant switches from person to person as time passes. Bradbury uses too much purple prose in this work. He describes such unimportant details that it drives me absolutely insane. This leads to me dozing off in the middle of reading. The major example of this is his constant descriptions of Mars: “Outside, the immense blue Martian sky was hot and still as a warm deep sea water. The Martian desert lay broiling like a prehistoric mud, waves of heat rising and shimmering” (33). Every two seconds he speaks of Mars. If Bradbury only spoke of Martian terrain once or twice, I would be fine. But, since it is a constant reoccurring description, I have to write this down as a minor flaw. Overall, the major critiques of this book do not outweigh the greatness of the book
After the priest come city folks. They build modern houses and bare children who become the first children born on Mars. There are now cities, and Mars is turning into a second Earth. This is the point where the “red tape” men come. They try to regulate and order everything in society, just like it is on earth. A few people fight back like William Stendhal. The final wave is the elderly who come to Mars. This is also the point where some native Martians try to join human society by shape shifting into dead relatives and living among their families on Mars. During this whole time, an atomic war on earth is growing imminent. Once the war begins, almost all the humans on Mars go back to earth to fight in this Great War. This leaves Mars an empty place with only a few people left for years on end. After these long years, humans again return to Mars, but this time for good. They escape the war on earth and plan to make a new society on Mars. Earth is destroyed and Mars is now home to human life. Overall, I enjoyed The Martian Chronicles. I believe this is Ray Bradbury’s greatest work, but I felt the book had some minor flaw that alienated me as a …show more content…
Bradbury jumps right into the story from the start. No introduction is used which confused me a little at the beginning. His rapid moving around can be seen within the first two chapters. The first chapter is about rockets and an Ohio village, and the second chapter goes straight into the life of a Native Martian, Ylla. This abrupt transition left me with a lot more questions than answers. Also, if one did not pick up on the fact that this is written as an actual chronicle, one would almost certainly be confused by the constant switches from person to person as time passes. Bradbury uses too much purple prose in this work. He describes such unimportant details that it drives me absolutely insane. This leads to me dozing off in the middle of reading. The major example of this is his constant descriptions of Mars: “Outside, the immense blue Martian sky was hot and still as a warm deep sea water. The Martian desert lay broiling like a prehistoric mud, waves of heat rising and shimmering” (33). Every two seconds he speaks of Mars. If Bradbury only spoke of Martian terrain once or twice, I would be fine. But, since it is a constant reoccurring description, I have to write this down as a minor flaw. Overall, the major critiques of this book do not outweigh the greatness of the book