1. Martian Chronicles By
Ray Bradbury

2. January 1999 Rocket Summer Sets scene for the rest of the novel
Introduces the exploration of Mars
“Summer” image is a rebirth from winter – like a rebirth for the people of Earth – comes from technology
Sets up a comparison of later changes on Mars to the changes on Earth created by the rocket.
Rapid temperature change parallels the rapid change humanity is about to go through – foreshadowing???

3. February 1999 Ylla Describes Martian life and lifestyle
Differences and similarities between humans and Martians are highlighted
Domestic problems/issues
Male dominance
Misconceptions about the solar system
Jealousy
This humanizes the Martians: allows the reader to identify with them.
Describes the demise of the 1st human expedition: foreshadows the difficulties humans will have.
Trivial nature of the cause of 1st expedition’s death makes the effort to go to Mars appear less important.

4. August 1999 The Summer Night
Singing songs in English
Earth culture coming to Mars
Establishes telepathic communication
Lord Byron’s poem “She Walks in Beauty . . .”
Challenges traditional notions of beauty
This opens the reader to the beauty of the Martians and Martian culture.
Makes the terrible end of Martian culture more tragic.

5. August 1999 The Earth Men
Describes the failure and death of the 2nd human expedition to Mars.
Humorous, wacky events aggravate and frustrate the reader.
Reinforces the humanization of the Martians – they are as petty and screwed up as humans.
Trivial nature of the cause of 2nd expedition’s death makes the effort to go to Mars appear less important.
Highlights the level of instability in Martian culture – comment on human culture??? Foreshadows eventual human research into psychosis.
Closed-mindedness – comment on humanity???

6. March 2000 The Taxpayer
Provides/explains human motivation to go to Mars – war is coming.
Sets up the 3rd expedition to Mars.
Taxpayer feels entitled to go to Mars – commentary on human feelings of entitlement.

7. April 2000 The Third Expedition
Martians perpetrate a mass hallucination to defend Mars against human settlement.
Mars finally sees Earth as a threat.
This is a turning point – Martians finally reveal their superiority.
This sets up the parallel of Europeans vs. Native American’s.
Humans unknowingly bring disease.

8. June 2001 “—and the moon be still as bright.”
Spender is concerned about keeping Martian history and culture intact.
Most Martians are dead due to Chicken Pox.
Shows examples of undesirable human behavior:
Drunkenness
Hatred
Violence
Pollution
Lack of appreciation for other cultures: e.g. Cortez
Crush dissenting opinions – send Capt. Wilder to Jupiter in later chapters.

9. June 2001 “—and the moon be still as bright.”
Ironic that Capt. Wilder kills Spender because the Capt. is the only other human who cares or understands the importance of Martian culture.
Spender’s actions support Bradbury’s notions that humans are not entitled to colonize Mars.
In this sense, critics generally agree that Spender serves as Bradbury’s voice.
This story parallels the colonization of new worlds by Europeans – U.S., Australia, Africa, etc.

10. August 2001 The Settlers Opening lines parallel Tale of Two Cities
Outlines human reasons for coming to Mars.
Shows that people are coming to colonize – exploration is over.
Government sanction parallels the WWII recruiting posters – propaganda???
Loneliness felt by settlers makes the move feel unnatural and improper to the reader.

11. December 2001 The Green Morning
This chapter parallels the Johnny Appleseed story.
Benjamin Driscoll plants trees to generate oxygen and make the atmosphere breathable.
Bradbury uses liberal amounts of poetic/artistic license in this chapter:
Plants grow over night
Plants grow all over the surface of Mars
Trees, grass, bushes, etc all grow without difficulty, in spite of the fact that Driscoll only planted trees.
Note: this adds to the irony of destroying Mars for the sake of Earth. This destroys Martian ecology and makes it Earthlike.
At the end of this story, Driscoll’s fainting shows that Mars continues to resist this transformation.

12. February 2002 The Locusts
Locusts are an insect that devour and destroy large areas of cropland.
Bradbury makes the parallel that the human settlers are consuming all of Mars.
Furthers the notion of destroying all that is Martian, and transforming it into something Earthlike, and familiar.
Allusion to biblical plagues visited on the Egyptians in Judeo-Christian tradition.

13. August 2002 Night Meeting
Tomás Gomez meets up with a Martian from a different time – time warp?
Tomás Gomez is an ordinary human (no special qualities) who has a conversation where he has to explain what humans have done to an ordinary Martian.
This makes the Martian culture real to the reader, and evokes pity at its loss.
This story lays the blame on the settlers, not on the Government that organized the trips.

14. October 2002 The Shore
First men – from the American frontier, Cattlemen, ranch hands, explorers, etc. Bradbury highlights their roughness, abilities, and their preference for solitude.
First women – prostitutes.
Second men – Urban poor from US cities.
“Roman candles” foreshadows fall of the US, like the Roman Empire.
Americans are running away from war, but will eventually have to return to deal with it.

15. February 2003 Interim
They have now destroyed and replaced the Martian culture
Everything the Martians tried to prevent happened anyway
Introduces religion to Mars

16. April 2003 The Musicians
Makes it seem as though the Martians are a joke-the kids are making fun of them
Another chapter that evokes pity
The Firemen start fires rather than putting them out – reoccurring theme in Bradbury’s books
Also, Firemen burning any traces of the Martians making it appear there were no Martians to begin with

17. June 2003 Way In the Middle of the Air
All the African Americans leave together to go to Mars
Ending makes it seem like the African Americans just disappeared as opposed to leaving. e.g. all their belongings are scattered everywhere
Bradbury describes a lot with the colors black and white
Story is told through the eyes of a racist non-sympathetic main character
Lots of biblical references – the assumption of the oppressed into heaven; the oppressors are left behind.

18. The Naming of Names
Martian names seemed to mean more than just a title, but the rockets/humans destroyed these and replaced them with mechanical/metal names
Naming shows ownership – humans give names to establish ownership of Mars
Completion of Spender’s dream dying
Sets up the next story
Start implementing policies from Earth

19. April 2005 Usher II
Deals with the censorship coming from Earth to Mars
Shows Humans don’t have any respect for their own culture
Bradbury makes death seem a lot less serious, just like in the first couple chapters
Uses a lot of Poe in this chapter
The Red Death symbolizes the ending of Stendahl’s “fun”. The house falling symbolizes the end of everything he had done.

20. August 2005 The Old Ones
After everyone else has come to Mars, now elders come.
Shows that Mars is open to just about everyone.
Now that old people have come to Mars, it seemed to have lost its “appeal”.

21. September 2005 The Martian Symbolizes the end of the Martian race
Illustrates how everyone needs to belong somewhere and how the Martians tried to co-exist, but were not able to
Makes a strong statement about human selfishness and its destructive power

22. November 2005 The Luggage Store
Main purpose of this story is to set up that there is a war on earth
Switches between people leaving Earth to go to Mars, to people starting to leave Mars to go back to Earth
Theme of families and families sticking together
Reinforces the notion that humans never saw mars as “home.”
Adds severity to the destruction of the Martian culture – humans destroyed it, and then left.

23. November 2005 The Off Season
Brings back Sam Parkhill-allows reader to know what type of character he is
Goes back to theme between husband and wife
Martians final goodbye
Martians are trying to give Parkhill the deed to half of Mars
Martians trying to show him he has a place on Mars when the Earth ends

24. November 2005 The Watchers
Mars receives a message from Earth asking them to come home; Australia has been atomized.
Most Humans have been on Mars for 3-4 years, and still perceive Earth as “home.”
Humans begin thinking about, and showing concern for, loved ones on Earth.
Sets up the idea that Mars is abandoned (or nearly so).

25. December 2005 The Silent Towns
Walter Gripp appears to be the only one left on Mars – he frantically tries to find others. ‘Last man alive’ archetype.
Discovers Genevieve is still on Mars – allusion to Adam and Eve.
Maybe this chapter is asking is it worth it to restart a race with Genevieve? She is both physically unattractive and self-centered.
Humor comes from irony of the last two people on Mars being unappealing to one another.
There seems to be no one else left; the reader can assume they all traveled back to Earth.
Gender stereotype is worth noting – women want marriage and men don’t.

26. April 2026 The Long Years
Cpt. Wilder comes back to find Mr. Hathaway and family.
We find out Wilder has been to Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune, exploring there – reveals there is nothing else out there (in space and on other planets) for Humans.
Humans silence Wilder’s dissenting opinions about human effect on Mars by sending him far away – exile.
Hathaway’s loneliness leads him to re-create his family, using robots.
Hathaway ends up dying at the end of this chapter, and after his death Cpt. Wilder leaves Hathaway’s family on Mars.
He cannot kill them because he believes it is the same as murder. Science Fiction trope of artificial intelligence.

27. August 2026 There Will Come Soft Rains
Automated house runs the same way as if people were there even though no people are living there anymore.
The house is the main character of the story.
Poem shows that nature won’t care if humanity dies. Points out the war on Earth doesn’t matter.
Despite the effort from the house, it could not save itself from being destroyed.
Artificial intelligence.

28. October 2026 The Million-Year Picnic
William Thomas brings his family to Mars, in their own rocket, to get away from Earth. After arriving, Thomas blows up the rocket so no one will find it.
One of Thomas’ friends also came to Mars in a different rocket with four daughters. Thomas and his friend decided they would start anew on Mars
At the end, Thomas reveals to his children that they are the new Martians – Noah’s Ark story??? Adam and Eve???
Earth has been destroyed