The Martian Chronicles | Quotes

The most important part of this quote, which comes at the end of the first chapter, is the word brief. Humans flying to Mars to expand their horizons starts off as a noble experiment, but the nobility of it does not last long.

At first this may be read as a comical aside. After all, how many times must humans have said the same thing about the fourth planet? But in light of the nuclear holocaust that destroys life on Earth at the end, it takes on a more sinister foreshadowing.

Pritchard details the ills of humanity that individuals like him are trying to escape. But for Pritchard and others like him, there is no escape. He is ultimately a victim of a society that demands conformity.

Captain Black knows deep down it is not possible his actual Earth family has been resurrected on Mars, but he gives himself over to the illusion because it is so seductive. That the Martian pretending to be Black's mother says this—only hours before they kill him—is also a cruel bit of situational irony.

It offends Spender a highly developed race like the Martians should succumb to something as lowly as chicken pox. He blames his fellow humans for inflicting such a dishonor and wants to punish them for it.

When Captain Wilder asks Spender if the Martians know about the presence of humans on their planet, Spender speaks to the collective memory of a place or a people and they can sense danger even if they cannot defend themselves.

Spender is worried humans will ruin Mars. He says the only reason men did not set up a hot-dog stand next to an Egyptian temple is because it was too remote. Spender's crewmate Sam Parkhill later sets up a hot-dog stand in "November 2005: The Off Season."

Bradbury commends the few that are brave enough to set a new course instead of conforming to the crowd and waiting for the support of companions. He also recognizes how difficult it is to sustain the effort of striking out on one's own.

It is clear Bradbury feels Pop has the right attitude to make it on Mars or in any new environment. He has the open-mindedness it takes to embrace a new way of nonconformist thinking for which Bradbury advocates and sets up the main scene involving another open-minded human, Tomás Gomez. Those who want Mars to be just like Earth are the problem.

"Night Meeting" is a key chapter that stresses the importance of empathy and communication in foreign relations, as illustrated when the Martian responds to Tomás: "And I through you!"

Both Tomás and the Martian appear to each other as semitransparent, allowing them to see "the accumulated light of distant worlds" within the other. This seems to indicate they recognize how much the other has to offer. If they had more time and were not rushing off to other meetings, perhaps they might have formed a friendship based on mutual understanding.

Bradbury reflects on how inevitable colonization seems once it is set in motion. Once humankind finds a new place to colonize, the process moves ahead like an uncontrollable wave.

People did not at all want to change themselves when they left for Mars. They brought everything with them including a replica of their entire Iowa town and were not open to what Mars had to offer, a close-mindedness that led to their downfall.

Stendahl gets to the root of conformity. A small set of people decide what to ban based on their own fears, and the rest follow the rules because they are afraid to speak up. This is the kind of behavior he sets out to punish in his new house on Mars.

Martian "Tom" conforms to the human's nostalgic memories and uses them as a mask to hide in plain sight among the humans. He does this involuntarily, as he cannot control whose identity he assumes. Although not intentional, this behavior is opportunistic, and conforms to the more negative aspects of the humanity that has infected him. However, he is portrayed here as victim rather than villain. Still, his need to conform to everyone's expectations overwhelms him and leads to his death.

Sam Parkhill has an attitude opposite Pop's in "August 2002: Night Meeting." He states outright to a Martian he is closed off to Martians, and he will violently protect his close-mindedness. Sam gets his comeuppance for his hateful and trigger-happy nature when his hot-dog stand fails and Earth blows up before his eyes.