How to Analyze 'The Martian Chronicles' by Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury was bored while watching Michael Anderson's adaptation of "The Martian Chronicles". You don't want your professor to say the same thing after reading your assignment on this fix-up.
Bradbury published "The Martian Chronicles" in 1950, which was a few years before his dystopian classic, "Fahrenheit 451". Edgar Rice Burroughs's Barsoom stories would be Bradbury's inspiration for the fix-up, which may prompt you to look for Disney's version on streaming. Don't. (You would miss by a mile.) You might wonder if Bradbury was staring at the Sonoran Desert for days while thinking of the Martian landscape. It should make you suspect Bradbury, who was born in Waukegan, Illinois, as a landscape writer. It would be another mistake after the author likened the abandoned cities to the Greek (or Roman) ruins.
"The Martian Chronicles" seemed like a science-fiction classic, but it would be far from it. This article should guide you (while writing an assignment on it).
Essay Topics to Pique Your Curiosity
Would "The Martian Chronicles" lost its appeal if it was published as a plain novel? The short story could stand by itself, yet linking the stories together was a must. One tale (or any other tale) won't suggest man's Sisyphean quest to colonize Mars. Furthermore, the irony and humor wouldn't get lost if Bradbury opted for a plain novel. There would be a good reason behind the fix-up. You would be right if you cited Bradbury's reaction to the TV series. Humor would be an attempt on not putting a grave tone on a very serious matter, but the fix-up would enable readers to look at Bradbury's fascinating tales differently. No need for a good guess after reading the accounts of the first four expeditions (to Mars) carefully. The next one might not surprise you at all.
Discuss post-war America. Americans were looking at an exciting future while the rest of the world was rebuilding their lives (after World War II). It may seemed like an irony after the outbreak of the Korea War. The Cold War played a part here. It was also the driving force behind the Space Race. It should make America wary of Cuba, which was smaller than Florida (in terms of land area). Bradbury would look at the events differently, which should be seen in "The Martian Chronicles". You might wonder if Bradbury didn't consider the fact that it would take three hundred days to travel from Earth to Mars (and vice versa), which should make the short stories a fairy tale of sort. You hit the nail on its head (on this one). Let's proceed to the next intriguing topic.
What to make of Bradbury's biting remark on America's attitude towards the arts. A few stories would make reference to Edgar Allan Poe, where Bradbury would declare that there was something rotten beneath mankind's grand scheme of colonizing Mars. There was no doubt that Bradbury admired the European view on traveling. (“We travel for romance, we travel for architecture, and we travel to be lost.”) There's a good chance of finding a lopsided romantic on the other side of the Atlantic, but it doesn't mean that there won't be one in America's big cities. (Truman Capote would attest to it.) You haven't answered the question (and you're about to veer away from the topic). Is America a doomed society? This question would provoke readers, even suspect the Catch-22 situation behind these tales. Make a good guess here. Don't browse Poe's “The Fall of the House of Usher”, as you need to brush up on popular culture from yesteryear.
Can colonization be justified? This question would allude to Bradbury's comparison of the settlers' invasion (and occupation) of the West, of how they would be responsible for a virus that infected (and killed) the native Indians. The author would justify colonization for certain reasons, such as mankind's quest for progress. Some would see greed, which Bradbury didn't imply in these tales. There was no doubt about man's ignorance about the Solar System, though. It would remain unchanged centuries afterward. Agree to disagree? The answer would require days of research, but it should help you understand “The Martian Chronicles” better.
How do you interpret the last set of short stories? If you read too many books, then these tales would be far from apocryphal accounts. On the other hand, it would reveal a horrifying fact about human nature. It would be a huge mistake to make a reference to "Fahrenheit 451". What was good (or bad) about Truman's term? The answer should prompt you to think of the state of the world during the 1950s. It won't resemble the Mars that Bradbury described in the book, where silver-like canals crisscrossed the craters that marked the planet. Recall Poe's stories. Loneliness wasn't a scary thought as it first seemed to be.
How to Conclude Your Essay
You may be thinking of concluding your arguments on one more question. It would be better to make a bold prediction about the future. You don't need tarot cards after reading the tales (and browsing it afterward). “The Martian Chronicles” is a stern reminder, which you should figure out after you figure out the humor. You ought to know by now.
