Martian Chronicles Ray Bradbury\'s Martian

Martian Chronicles

Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles

There were many political problems and controversial social issues on Planet Earth during the post-WWII period, during which time Bradbury wrote The Martian Chronicles. Those events and issues obviously had a huge impact on the book The Martian Chronicles. Of course there were serious social issues that were manifest prior to WWII that Bradbury touched on through metaphor or analogy -- such as the way European settlers infected the Native Americans with diseases they had no resistance to. But the overall themes of Bradbury's Martian Chronicles focused to a large extend on the mindless yet powerful "manifest destiny" philosophy of America, and how the will of the majority -- even when that majority is morally and socially wrong in a legal sense.

ISSUE: Following the IRAC format, this paper begins with Issue: the colonization of Mars -- following closely in theme with the American colonization of the West, of Hawaii and other territories -- is characterized by ignorance, greed and self-indulgence. The majority must have its way even if it means pillaging the land it wishes to conquer and/or inhabit. It is about "might makes right," especially if the majority wants it that way. The minority will just have to step aside or be crushed beneath the weight of the majority.

In the seventh chapter of The Martian Chronicles ("And the Moon Be Still as Bright") the powerful will of the majority butts up against the values and perseverance of the individual. In fact there is a violent clash between archaeologist Jeff Spender and Captain Wilder, both on board the Fourth Expedition to Mars. Spender is outraged at the actions of his crewmates after they land on Mars. Parkhill, Biggs, and other crewmembers want to party so they open up bottles of liquor and proceed to make fools of themselves on the surface of Mars. They majority on this mission proceed to regurgitate on tile floors and throw empty wine bottles into a clear blue canal. Eventually, Spender is fined by Wilder, and after Spender kills off several crewmen for their bad behavior, Wilder has to come to terms with this: is he (Wilder) punishing Spender because Spender is wrong, or is he (Wilder) simply unable to identify with Spender's individuality and rejection of the will of the majority?

On page 90 of The Martian Chronicles, Wilder asks questions that are obviously Bradbury's way of challenging the notion of Americans blindly following the momentum of the majority:

"I hate this feeling of thinking I'm doing right when I'm not really certain I am," Wilder explains. "Who are we anyway? The majority? Is that the answer?" Wilder continues, used brilliantly by Bradbury to suggest that Americans should ask themselves what they really believe in rather than just go along with everyone else. "What is this majority and who are in it?" Wilder asks (p. 90). "And what do they think and how did they get that way and will they ever change and how the devil did I get caught up in this rotten majority? I don't feel comfortable."

RULE: Clearly Bradbury's personal editorial concerns expressed through literary symbolism / philosophy in the aforementioned chapter (and others) deals with the issue of individuality vs. conformity. And there are legal essays that deal with majority vs. majority, including the essay "Neutral Principles and Some First Amendment Problems" by Robert H. Bork, former Solicitor General of the U.S., former Federal Appeals Court Judge and once nominated (unsuccessfully) for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. In his essay Bork argues that according to one aspect of the "Madisonian" model, in "wide areas of life majorities are entitled to rule for no better reason that they are majorities" (Bork, 1971, p. 2). But also, the model offers a "counter-majoritarian premise… [in that] there are some areas of life a majority should not control," Bork goes on. Some areas of life under the Constitution should be guided by "individual freedom," Bork insists, "and coercion by the majority in these aspects of life is tyranny" (Bork, p. 3).

Bork writes, "Majority tyranny occurs if legislation invades the areas properly left to individual freedom," and "Minority tyranny occurs if the majority is prevented from ruling where its power is legitimate" (Bork, p. 3). Bork's most poignant assertion associated with majority vs. minority issues makes a great deal of sense when reading The Martian Chronicles; he stated (p. 3) that "…neither the majority nor the minority can be trusted to define the freedom of the other." Only through the U.S. Constitution (being fairly and objectively instituted into the discussion, e.g., constitutional theory), can the issue of majority and minority freedom be defined.