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Rocket Summer
The rocket descends on a small town in Ohio during winter, bringing summer in its heat. This chronicle is very short and intends to give the reader a sense of awe and wonder at what technology is capable of. -
Ylla
Ylla's husband kills the first expedition of Earth men out of jealousy. We learn Martians have teleparthy, and also human flaws like jealousy and desire. -
The Summer Night
Martians throughout Mars’ night side begin to have thoughts surrounding a strange song in a language that they don’t know. People waken in the middle of the night in terror as the lyrics drift throughout their minds.Bradbury included this chronicle to show a bit how the Martians reacted to something that they weren’t used to. -
The Earth Men
Astronauts from the Second Expedition arrived at Mars, however they are not welcome by the fanfare that they thought they deserved. After being sent to house after house, they find themselves committed to an asylum. The chapter concludes with their execution in an attempt to destroy their “hallucinations”. -
The Taxpayer
A man, identified as Pritchard, fights hysterically to get on the imminent rocket launch to Mars. He says he wishes to get away from government control, and to escape the atomic war that was to take place in 2 years. The man is dragged off, and the rocket launches off to Mars. I think this chapter is tied to previous ones by the mention of the two expeditions that came before the current one, and how they most likely failed. -
The Third Expedition
Captain John Black and his crew land on Mars to find a city almost identical to those on Earth.They are greeted by relatives from each of their families who have passed away many years before, and told them this is where they came after death, which Black finds to be strange and unnerving. When night came, each of the men slept with their own reincarnated families. During the night, Black couldn’t sleep, because he felt afraid of their families; he feared they were hallucinations from Martians, -
-and the Moon Be Still As Bright
This was the fourth expedition on Mars. But they explained it to be very cold and no sign of life. They made a fire when they got there and had a good time caring on. The captain kept telling them to be quiet which they did until one man went into the ship and brought out food and wine and they all started to talk. Than an auxiliary rocket landed and Hathaway and a couple of his men stepped out. Spender got sick and walked away. They couldn’t find him for days, he came back and killed them all. -
The Settlers
This short chronicle talks about why people decided to go to Mars and settle there. Bradbury added this short chronicle to portray the emotions that the expeditioners felt. It gives an idea of what kind of people are heading off to space as well. -
The Green Morning
This chronicle is about a man that wants to plant trees. He had passed out because of the thin air, so he wanted to plant an abundance of trees to counteract it. So he made it his goal to plant thousands of trees across Mars. Unfortunately, rain was not easy to predict. With a little bit of luck, however, it finally rained, causing thousands of trees to sprout and grow into full sized trees. Bradbury probably added this to make it seem like life on Mars in progressing. Trees represent life. -
The Locust
This is an incredibly short chronicle. It’s about how everything is advancing, and how life there is becoming more like life on earth. The locust is a symbol of destruction to crops, just like how humans are destroying Mars. -
Night Meating
Bradbury put this chronicle in the book is to show that Martians look at us as being different like we look at other people as being different. Tomas Gomez meets one of the martians that has been living in the hills. The martian and Gomez talk to each. They both think that one is alive and one is dead, but they can’t decide on who is who. The two eventually go separate directions after leaving. They both think they were dreaming. -
The Shore
This is a very short chronicle is talking about how more people are coming from Earth with different professions to Mars. Bradbury puts this in to describe how people are starting to come live on Mars more and more each day. -
The Fire Ballons
Two priests go to mars. Peregrine wants to try and convert some of the natives. They find that most of the martians are dead but find a new race who look like spheres of blue fire. They build a church for these new martians, but they don't seem to appreciate it. Even though the priests didn't convert anyone, they feel holier. I believe Bradbury included this section to show that they aren’t just taking random people to Mars but trying to take a diversity of people. -
Interim
There is not much to really say about this chronicle. It was very similar to the other short ones previously. It is just the continuation of colonizing Mars by building another city there. -
The Musicians
Some boys are hiking and they come to one of the dead cities. They then enter the house and begin kicking and screaming while playing music with whatever they find. They however relate the whole thing as if it was describing Autumn not Marians. This is another chronicle that shows the destructive behavior of those who come to Mars. Instead of it being buildings and such, this time they were destroying the Martians themselves and using whatever they got from them as musical instruments. -
The Wilderness
This chronicle is about Janice and Leonora who are getting ready to go to Mars. Janice wants to reunite with her boyfriend so they are taking the time to say goodbye to everything in their town. Especially everything they will miss the most like chocolate malts and perfume.This chronicle was very important because it is the first time we see any girls getting ready to travel to Mars. This chronicle also shows the difficulties in leaving behind everything. -
The Naming Of Names
We get a look at how the people from earth are renaming the martian land. Most names are after the first expeditions, like Nathaniel York town.They also named cemeteries and began to bury the first dead. At the end of the page it says the “sophisticates” came to mars, and these are the people that were being avoided by leaving mars. This chronicle gives the readers a better idea of what humans are doing and how they are taking control of mars. -
Usher II
After having the government on earth ban all tales of fantasy, a man named William Stendahl had a contractor head to mars and build a replica of the house of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe. Garrett, and investigator for the moral climate comes to tell him that they will be coming to take down the house. William takes him inside for a tour and a robot ape kills him. They then make a robot to look like him. Bradbury mainly included this to show the changes that are taking place. -
The Old Ones
Old people finally journey to Mars. They come after Mars has been colonized and is safe. Mars in their eyes is an escape. This shows another group of people finding value on mars. -
The Martian
The martian shapeshifted into someone important(mostly loved ones) to everyone he met. Nobody sees the martian the same. This shows how different people view martians differently, but they are unable to view the martian as a martian. Additionally, when the martian breaks down and literally dies under stress, I think Bradbury is trying to say you can’t be who everyone wants you to be. -
The Luggage Store
There is news about an atomic war happening. A Priest and a Luggage salesman are discussing the chance of an upcoming war. They believe if there is a war people from Earth that are presently on Mars will go back? -
The Off Season
Sam was trying to create a hotdog stand on Mars to make profit apparently. He’s so focused on creating a hotdog stand that he shoots a Martian that is trying to relay him a message then buries him. Then he runs away in a stolen sand ship,shoots a few more martians destroys a few buildings then he runs out of ammo they catch only to relay the message still. They then gave him half of Mars he was astounded. -
The Watchers
The people of Mars watched from a far as parts of earth blew up and broke apart. Bradbury adds this chronicle to show that all humans care about old places they've lived. But instead of that one house you lived in as a kid, it's the planet Earth. -
The Silent Towns
One man, named Walter Gripp, who lives in the mountains is left on Mars. For a few days, he entertains himself in an empty town, but is lonely. One night, he hears a phone call, and although the cannot answer it in time, he decides to go through the phone book trying to see if anyone will answer. He find a women to call and meets her. When they meet he find a ugly women who wants to be married. He decides he's better off alone. Bradbury add this chapter to show humans don't know what they want. -
The Long Years
In this chapter, we find that Mr. Hathaway and his family are some of the only people left on mars. A rocket is spotted and we meet Captain Wilder again. As the reunion between the two go on, Mr, Hathaway seems to has heart trouble and he soon dies due to the excitement of seeing real people. We also find out that he had replaced his dead family with robots. It is also interesting that this seems to be the first time in which Bradbury supports creating familiarity with a positive way. -
There Will Come Soft Rains
In this chronicle, a mechanically operated house on Mars runs through it’s daily routine, even though there are no humans to interact with it. At ten o’clock a fire starts in the kitchen. The house reacts to the fire in a panic but is unable to put out the fire before it eventually burns the entire house down. Bradbury included this chronicle because it displays the effect that the humans had on Mars. When looking at the big picture, mankind disappeared quickly and nature easily regained control -
The Million-Year Picnic
A Father takes his wife and three sons on a family sized rocket to Mars. Upon arriving they unpack their supplies to survive for years. The family gets into a motorboat and head down one of the canals. The sons continue to ask their father if they’ll see any Martians to which the father promises they will. The father tells his sons to pick a city to live in, they pick the 6th one they pass. At the end the father shows them a martian in the water.
