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January 1999: Rocket Summer
On Earth, a rocket launch is occurring, which spreads heat. "The rocket lay on the launching field, blowing out pink clouds of fire and oven heat." I chose this quote because it most clearly states the premise and theme of this chapter. Other parts are more lyrical or metaphorical. -
February 1999: Ylla
Ylla, one half of an unhappy Martian couple, dreams of meeting a man from Earth, so her husband kills the astronauts. "this Nathaniel York person told me...he'd take me away into his shop, into the sky with him, and take me back to his planet with him." This quote summarizes what Ylla saw and that was happy and expectant of what was to happen. It also shows why her husband showed feelings of jealousy, but I think his actions were too extreme. -
August 1999: The Summer Night
People all over Mars are speaking in English and singing Earth songs. "And in a thousand villas, in the middle of the night, woman awoke, screaming." This quote shows the surreal mood of the chapter and how many of the people reacted. -
August 1999: The Earth Men
A second expedition of astronauts comes, but they are thought insane and killed. "The next day was fair and warm." I think this quote demonstrates the tone of the book so far. The authors tone seems to be very contrasted with what is actually happening. -
March 2000: The Taxpayer
A man wants to board the rocket to avoid the upcoming atomic war. "Then why couldn't he go to Mars?" It is interesting that the man felt he, and everyone else by extension, had a natural right to go to Mars. He didn't have the astronauts years of training, just desperation. -
April 2000: The Third Expedition
A third expedition comes to Mars, and are tricked into seeing their dead family members and killed. "Grandpa and Grandma Lustig were there, weeping, their faces shifting like wax, shimmering as all things shimmer on a hot day."
It's odd that the Martians keep the disguise after the astronauts are dead, and actually show sadness, as shown in he quote. -
June 2001: --and the Moon Be Still as Bright
A fourth expedition comes to Mars, a dead civilization, and infighting occurs. "There's no hatred here." I chose this quote because it is very ironic. Each expedition that has come has ended in violence, including this one. Mars is presented as a perfect, philosophically advanced society, and in order to defend it, these astronauts turn against their own. -
August 2001: The Settlers
The stream of people moving to Mars slowly increases. "most men felt the great illness in them even before the rocket fired into space. And this disease was called The Loneliness," I believe this quote demonstrates the general theme of this chapter, and the tone. This chapter talked about the many reasons people left, but the main one was this--Loneliness. -
December 2001: The Green Morning
A man comes to Mars and plants trees, which grow overnight after the first rain. "That would be his job, to fight against the very thing that might prevent his staying here." In this chapter, it is very apparent of how people have to change Mars in order to feel comfortable, in order to survive. -
February 2002: The Locusts
Workers come to Mars and build cites just like Earth. "And from the rockets ran men...to bludgeon away all the strangeness, their mouths fringed with nails so they resembled steel-toothed carnivores, spitting them into their swift hands as they hammered up frame cottages and scuttled over roofs with shingles to blot out the eerie stars, and fit green shades to pull against the night." This chapter has a lot of figurative language, an extended metaphor comparing people to locusts. -
August 2002: Night Meeting
A man meets a Martian from the past. "Who wants to see the future, who ever does?" In this book the characters are unsure of what is truly going on, and sometimes the readers are too. This chapter is especially different, dealing with themes of time, and the relationship between the past and future. -
October 2002: The Shore
After people accustomed to hard work settle Mars, people tired of the city life arrive. "They made things a little less empty, so that others could find courage to follow." I think it is unrealistic that only Americans had the technology and were advanced enough to come to Mars. But this could because it was written in a different time period. -
February 2003: Interim
As more people come, they build cities identical to the ones they left on Earth. "They brought in fifteen thousand lumber feet of Oregon pine to build Tenth City, and seventy-nine thousand feet of California redwood."This chapter is quite short, and by its name, you can tell that it may be a filler just before something big happens. -
April 2003: The Musicians
Boys get in trouble for playing with bones in the dead Martian city. "The first boy there would be the musician, playing the white xylophone bones beneath the outer covering of black flakes."
It' sad to think kids would actually do this, but the truth is that they probably would. -
June 2003: Way in the Middle of the Air
All the black people in the South go to Mars. "I can't figure why they left now. With things looking up." This quote shows the tone for this chapter, or at least the character, Mr. Teece, an obviously racist perspective. -
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2004-2005: The Naming of Names
People rename Mars, and the 'sophisticates' come. "They began to push about the very people who had come to Mars to get away from bring instructed and ruled and pushed about." This chapter is heavy with foreshadowing and figurative language. -
April 2005: Usher II
A man tired of bureaucracy, creates a house of death identical to the original Usher. "Members of the Society for the prevention of Fantasy...good clean citizens, every one, who had waited until the rough men had come up...and made everything safe." It's interesting how the author chose to show multiple different ways technology has advanced, not just space travel. and also how he thinks society may change, getting rid of anything they don't agree with. -
August 2005: The Old Ones
Finally, old people come to Mars. "hte dry crackling people, the people who spent their time listening to their hearts and feeling their pulses and spooning syrups into their wry mouths." I believe this quote shows the type of descriptive language used in this chapter. -
September 2005: The Martian
One of the last Martians, shape shifts into dead loved ones before being overwhelmed and dying. "Who is this, he thought, in need of love as much as we/" It is interesting to compare how this Martian acts, to those of the first few chapters, when they were numerous and strong. This Martian was starved of love and companionship, and didn't seem to be in control of who they turned into. -
November 2005: The Luggage Store
With the war coming, soon everyone will go back to Earth. "I know we came to get away from things--politics, the atom bomb, war, pressure groups, prejudice, laws--I know. But it's still home there." This quote shows the irony that people came to Mars to avoid the war, but still go back to fight in it? This chapter foreshadows the events that have yet to come, but the luggage store owners prediction proves true. -
November 2005: The Off Season
This is when people on Mars realize the war has started. "There'll be another batch of customers in about a million years. Gotta be ready, yes, sir." This chapter is the first time one of the original surviving astronauts is revisited. Sam Parkhill seems to be like the average man on Mars, with big dreams that don't get fulfilled. And like many, treats Mars and Martians badly, despite his wife's protests, who seems glad they have to leave. -
November 2005: The Watchers
After the bombs start destroying Earth, everyone moves back. "At nine o'clock Earth seemed to explode, catch fire, and burn." I think it's strange that EVERYONE goes back. If there is atomic warfare going on, wouldn't it be safer to stay on Mars. I think more people should be trying to get to Mars, not the other way around. -
December 2005: The Silent Towns
Walter Gripp is the last man on Mars, and he wants nothing to do with the last woman. "Well, here I am, the only lady on Mars, and here is the only man, and, well..." The major difference between the two characters in this chapter is that Genevieve was there by choice, and Walter was not. -
April 2026: The Long Years
Captain Wilder discovers Hathaway's family is made up of androids after he dies. "He said it was the worst thing that could happen to man to know how to be lonely and know how to be sad and then to cry." This quote accurately describes the sad and mournful tone of this chapter. Hathaway didn't want them to feel like he had after his family died. -
August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains
An automated house dies. "tick-tock, seven o'clock, time to get up, time to get up, seven o'clock! as if it were afraid that nobody would." Throughout the book, possible technological advances are explored, especially AIs and automated tech, along with of course space travel. This and the last chapter especially discuss the affects of what happens when there are no longer people to care for. -
October 2026: The Million-Year Picnic
A family comes to Mars for a 'picnic' but really in order to escape the war and create a new people. "It was an Earth Man's settlement, built of wood and already rotted into sawdust." This reminds of how the planet is now, ruined by war, unlikely to ever recover. This family might be the last remnant of civilization before a new era begins.
