The Martian Chronicles

Mart Chron

Ray Bradbury's the Martian Chronicles

In Ray Bradbury's the Martian Chronicles, the story of "The Martian" one of the last Martians poses, as long dead loved ones of the human colonists. The paragraphs below will explore how the Martian's ability to shift shape and identity amongst the colonists due to their personal desires and how this literary idea reflects the changing times in which Bradbury wrote this novel.

Like so many men and women after the Second World War, the Martian represents a person without a country or identity due to the loss of its own culture because of Human influence. This is a common theme worthy of exploration by many writers of this time not just science fiction writers. This theme clearly acts on many levels to emphasize man's inhumanity to man. This comes across really strongly as the colonists start to fight over the Martian. Still it is the Martian's ability at first to bring hope and happiness to the colonists that makes this story so compelling. Mr. LaFarge says, "Tom, if that's you, if by some chance it is you, Tom, I'll leave the door unlatched" (Bradbury 152). Maybe this represents the hope Bradbury felt for a changing world society where people are treated as equals. Possibly it is the selfish hope that through the collective character of the colonists like the LaFarges that they can regains what they have lost from the old world experience by taking advantage of a new world and its people. This is not unlike the role of England claiming the new colony of America. This becomes more apparent as the Martian feels trapped by the feelings it absorbs from the Earthlings and tries to express the situation to Mr. LaFarge in the form of Tome "I don't know how to explain it to you, there's no way, I can't tell you, even I don't know, it's strange" (Bradbury 154). With that the LaFarges still take him to town even as Tom protests and warns them of a new loss because "the people...Changing and changing. The trap"(Bradbury 156). To this extent the Martian is a metaphor for the new world and operation of the colonist desires because the Martian represents how easily people were lost after the Second World War. Because many people were without a nation or home and therefore lacked identity, the majority in power easily took advantage of them. They were easily swallowed up by Americanization in a need to survive their new world and fit into society. This in turn, resulted in a loss of their culture.