The Martian Chronicles

In his depiction of the colonization of Mars, Bradbury uses the conquest of the Americas as a model. Choose three examples from the novel and explain their historical analogues. How do these examples support the overall narrative?

In “Night Meeting,” Bradbury proposes a path to equality in race relations. What are the details of this path? What role does time play in his message?

The overall narrative of the colonization of Mars is divided into three parts with each turning point signified by an apocalyptic event. What are these apocalyptic events and how do they relate to each other? What two stories signify the shift from one part to another?

Bradbury sews together a ranging patchwork of stories set on Mars and Earth to depict the entire course of human engagement with the Martians. What effect does this technique have on the overall narrative? How does this effect the reading of any single story or vignette?

Bradbury credits Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio, and John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, as major influences on his structural choices. Read the first six chapters/sections of each novel and analyze how the structures are similar to The Martian Chronicles?

Oftentimes, the vignettes refer to the settlers as undifferentiated groups with shared characteristics. How does this perspective effect the reader’s relation toward the settlers of Mars? How does this reinforce Bradbury’s thematic focus on colonialism? Use at least four vignettes in your analysis.

The first instinct of the settlers on Mars is to recreate their hometowns in attempts to provide comfort and achieve a sense of nostalgia, e.g., in “The Third Expedition” and “The Martian.” How do these two stories reinforce Bradbury’s thematic understanding of the harm of nostalgia on Mars?

What do Stendhal in “Usher II” and Spender in “—And the Moon Be Still as Bright” suggest in terms of the novel’s value system and its examination or governmental censorship and colonialist enterprise?