Essays on The Martian

This paper will go over the novel “The Martian” by Andy Weir. It will go over the important parts of the plot and characters with an impact. Also, themes and lessons in the story will be discussed. The main character is named Mark Watney and is faced with the task of surviving on Mars alone. The goal is to inform you about the story and make you want to read it. In the story, Mark Watney is abandoned on Mars…...

Since the dawn of time, humans viewed the night sky to uncover the mysteries of the universe. They first used simple observations such as sundials, and as time moved on and technology became more refined, telescopes would become the standard tool to create a better detail on the stars and planets until the invention of the rockets, allowing us to venture out into deep space. Despite technological advances, man’s curiosity of the Red Planet would remain unchanged, being a crucial…...

Imagine being stranded on a world alien to your own, unknown which direction you are facing, how long until the night falls, wondering if you will ever make it home to see your family again. One of the most fascinating human characteristics is the way we operate in Isolation. In both Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea and Andy Weir’s The Martian, the protagonists are stranded in places foreign of their own. However, isolation in the middle of…...

The Martian revolves around the lone inhabitant of Mars, Mark Watney and his efforts to return to Earth. The movie starts by showing the crew of the Ares III, in the year of 2035, exploring the surface of Mars. A strong dust storm blows through and the crew is forced to evacuate. Mark Watney is hit on the head by flying debris, while evacuating, and is pulled into the storm, and believing him to be dead- Mission commander Melissa Lewis…...

This essay will discuss how the use of irony expresses the theme of revenge in the story “Dumb Martian” written by John Wyndham. This short story is categorized as science fiction, however John Wyndham classifies his series of short stories as logical fantasy. “Dumb Martian” was written after the Second World War, where John Wyndham served as a censor in the Ministry of Information. Mr. Wyndham was inspired by his brother’s success in the writing industry and resurrected his writing…...

In "A Martian Sends a Postcard Home," Craig Raine uses many metaphors to describe what a Martian would see if he came to earth. In the first stanza Raine uses metaphors to describe what a Martian may think a book looks like. Raine makes reference to William Caxton, who was the first to print books in England, in the first stanza; "Caxtons are mechanical birds with many wings / and some are treasured for their markings. A book would resemble…...

Throughout Craig Raine's seventeen-stanza poem several functional devices become apparent with defamiliarisation being the most prominent. Raine also utilises alienation to enable the audience to observe Earth and human behaviour from a Martian's "alien" point of view. Marxist theories aid in the interpretation of this poem in that Raine suggests that the printing presses rule the world- or at least its censorship. Freudian literary theories also come in useful when analysing "A Martian Sends a Postcard Home" especially with the…...