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'A Social Critique Of Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles'

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Ray Bradbury shows this in his book, “The Martian Chronicles,” which accounts for how humans terrorize a foreign planet much in the same way they have damaged their own. The stories take place in the time of the cold war; Bradbury uses Mars as a “getaway” for the people of Earth, but they only go to create destruction on this red planet at well. A social critique on Ray Bradbury’s “The Martian Chronicles” can show how human nature persists through the colonization of another planet, emphasizing the struggle between the majority and minority, the danger of self interest, and the innate human destruction of the world around them as well as themselves.
Ray Bradbury’s character’s form a society on Mars similar to that of Earth in that politics …show more content…

In many instances his characters only go to satisfy their needs at the harm of others. In Bradbury’s short story from the Chronicles, “November 2005: The Off Season” a man murders two Martians because he is afraid they will stop him from achieving his dream. He says, “All I wanted to do was have a hot dog stand, the only one on Mars, the first and most important one.” (Bradbury 140). In the end, this man did not hold himself accountable for his actions, because he thought they were justified by a pursuit for his desires. There is blood on this man’s hands because he could not see past what it was that he wanted. Bradbury also shows how people are also willing to use other people for their own gain regardless of how it affects others. In another chronicle, “September 2005: The Martian”, the passed son of Lafarge and Anna strangely shows up at their doorstep one night. It turns out this is not their Tom, but a Martian with the ability of shape-shifting. Only, it seems the Martian cannot control this power; it becomes the person of the past of anyone that lays eyes on it. In the end, when the Martian is being fought over by a large group of people, Lafarge thinks, “And here they all are now, on a boat, wanting the dream for their own, just as we want him to be Tom, not Lavinia or William or Roger or any other….” (Bradbury 129-130). In the end the Martian dies because of all the stress of shape-shifting. In this was …show more content…

In the article, “The Martian Chronicles: A Provocative Study” Grimsley says, “Bradbury is not dealing with individual man, but mankind. As Clifton Fadiman states in the introduction, Bradbury is a “moralist”, and as a moralist, he deals with man, pointing at his faults” (Grimsley 1239). Look at global warming, pollution, endangered species, etc; this is the fault of man on the planet. And on Mars only the same thing seems to repeat; the lakes get dried up, the Martians get wiped out from chicken pox… it is another planet ruined by humanity. Even though humans do need to live off of the land in order to survive, nature has always been able to function on its own. Bradbury emphasizes man’s incompetence in a number of ways. In the article, “Ray Bradbury’s 2026” Dominianni says. “Sara Teasdale's poem elicits discussion. Bradbury’s exceptional sense of irony comes into view in a most grotesque way as the students see the gravity of this poem read to an empty house by a robot reader: And not one will know of the war, not one/ Will care at last when it is done. / Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree/ If mankind perished utterly” (Dominianni 50). It would not hurt nature if man ceased to exist; in fact, nature would be better off. This is the same for the Martians because the Earthmen have done nothing but hurt Mars and ruin it just in the way

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