Plot
Why does Harry Bittering and his family move to Mars in the beginning of the story?
Harry and his family move to Mars to escape the dangers of nuclear warfare back on Earth.
Who is Harry Bittering, how does he feel about Mars?
Harry is the main character in the short-story. He rethinks his choices on moving to Mars, and does not like it there. He is anxious about everything that is happening around him.
How is the Martian landscape described when the settlers' first land on Mars?
The landscape is described as very eerie and desolate.
When Harry first sees Mars, what mood is created?
What theme does the story explore about humans adapting to new environments?
The story explores how humans change because of their environments, which is often beyond their control; they can't stop it from happening.
What makes Harry feel uneasy about their new home, and Mars in general?
Harry feels this way because of the strange, alien-like environment.
What role does Cora Bittering, Harry Bittering's wife, play in the family's adjustment to Mars.
Cora is more accepting of Mars than Harry. She tries to calm him down and explain that he needs to eventually adapt to life on Mars. Afterall, they are stranded.
What role do the Martian canals and ruins play in the story?
How does Harry's mood change throughout the story?
Harry's mood changes from unsettling, to moderate, to relaxed throughout the story.
How does the story address the theme of identity?
The story demonstrates that people change with their surroundings, more specifically, their identities.
What physical changes begin to occur to the Bittering family and the other Earth settlers?
The earthlings skin start to darken over time, and their eyes change shape and color. They also become slimmer and taller.
How do the Bittering children adapt differently than their parents?
The children are much more accepting than both of their parents. They adapt easily to the environment, and everything else on Mars in general.
What happens on Earth that affects the earthlings new life on Mars.
They have no communication to Earth and they have to depend on making their own food to stay energized. Overall, it is very hard on them.
How does the mood start to shift when the earthlings start to adapt to Martian life.
The mood shifts from anxiety, to moderate, to eventual peace when the earthlings start to accept their fate.
Nature and humans are very alike, therefore nature can change humans.
What event on Earth isolates the earthlings from Earth?
A war with nukes and other advanced technological weapons destroys communication systems, and destroys other rockets that could've been used to rescue the settlers on Mars.
What does Harry do in an attempt to resist the changes that are happening on Mars?
Harry tries to build a rocket, so the settlers can go back to their home planet Earth.
How does the climate of Mars influence the settlers' transformation?
The Martian climate eventually alters the physical appearance of them because of the thin air and the harsh intense sunlight.
What emotions are created when the settlers' fully transform.
A mood of peace and relaxation is created. They all drifted away from their Earth identities and started to gain a new one.
What does the story say about colonization?
The story demonstrates colonization by showing how the settlers' adapt to the new land but slowly start to change because of the new environment.
What is the final fate of the earthlings on Mars?
The earthlings transform and become the new life on Mars: Martians. They lose their old identities and they fully adapt to the Martian environment.
How do the settlers' including the Bittering family's new characteristics reflect their environment.
Their physical transformation is similar to that of the Martian landscape, the culture, and the climate.
Why is Mars becoming familiar to the settlers' significant?
Since they have never been there, something must be changing and eventually it does. Their Earth identities and appearances are lost.
There is a mood of peace and relaxation at the ending, but there is also inevitability. So, how does the ending of the short-story reflect a mood of inevitability?
The ending of the story reflects a mood of inevitability by all the settlers' fully changing to Martians without being able to do anything about it.
How does the story reflect human's vulnerability to things they are not familiar with.
It demonstrates this by showing how human's can not fight back and are basically not able to do anything about the changes that are happening to them by external things.