Majority vs. Individuality in Bradbury's Martian Chronicles

Introduction: Colonization as Metaphor

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 had a significant impact on the book. There were also serious social issues manifest prior to WWII that Bradbury touched on through metaphor and analogy — such as the way European settlers infected Native Americans with diseases they had no immunity to. But the overall themes of The Martian Chronicles focus to a large extent on the mindless yet powerful "manifest destiny" philosophy of America, and on how the will of the majority can be morally and socially wrong — even in a legal sense.

Issue: The Majoritarian Will on Mars

Following the IRAC format, this paper begins with the Issue: the colonization of Mars — following closely in theme with the American colonization of the West, of Hawaii, and of 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 inhabit. It is about "might makes right," especially when the majority demands it. The minority will simply 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 comes into direct conflict with the values and perseverance of the individual. There is a violent clash between archaeologist Jeff Spender and Captain Wilder, both members of 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 celebrate, so they open bottles of liquor and proceed to make fools of themselves on the Martian surface. The majority on this mission regurgitate on tile floors and throw empty wine bottles into a clear blue canal. Eventually, Spender is fined by Wilder, and after Spender kills several crewmen for their disgraceful behavior, Wilder must confront a troubling question: is he punishing Spender because Spender is wrong, or is he simply unable to identify with Spender's individuality and his rejection of the majority's will?

On page 90 of The Martian Chronicles, Wilder voices questions that are clearly 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 truly believe rather than simply 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: Individuality Versus Conformity in Law and Literature

Bradbury's personal editorial concerns, expressed through literary symbolism and philosophy in the aforementioned chapter and others, clearly deal with the issue of individuality versus conformity. This theme also resonates in legal scholarship — including the essay "Neutral Principles and Some First Amendment Problems" by Robert H. Bork, former Solicitor General of the United States, former Federal Appeals Court Judge, and once an unsuccessful nominee 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 than that they are majorities" (Bork, 1971, p. 2). But the model also offers a "counter-majoritarian premise… [in that] there are some areas of life a majority should not control." 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 pointed assertion on the majority versus minority issue makes a great deal of sense when read alongside The Martian Chronicles: he states that "neither the majority nor the minority can be trusted to define the freedom of the other" (Bork, p. 3). Only through the U.S. Constitution — fairly and objectively applied through constitutional theory — can the freedoms of both majority and minority be properly defined.

Conclusion: The Stamp of Majority Power

Bork writes that the nature of the U.S. Constitution will change, "often quite dramatically, as the personnel of the Supreme Court changes" (p. 1), and in the same context the behavioral dynamics in The Martian Chronicles changed when the values and actions of a majority of those intruders shifted from what had existed there previously. Albeit arrogant, the majority in these stories left one world before it blew up in order to put its wrongheaded majoritarian stamp on another. Bradbury's enduring message is that the will of the majority, left unchecked by principle or conscience, is as capable of destroying a new world as it was of exhausting the old one.

Works Cited

Bork, Robert H. "Neutral Principles and Some First Amendment Problems." Indiana Law Journal, vol. 47, no. 1, 1971, pp. 1–19.

Bradbury, Ray. The Martian Chronicles. Buccaneer Books, 1977.