Think you’ve got your head wrapped around The Martian Chronicles? Put your knowledge to
the test. Good luck — the Stickman is counting on you!
Q. How is fire associated with positive things in The Martian Chronicles?
In "Rocket Summer," fire shooting out of the rockets' engines cannot warm up a cold Ohio winter and fires—excuse the pun—people's imaginations.
On Mars, Ylla feels a great (metaphorical) warmth from the passing rocket that carries someone she might love ("Ylla," 176).
Spender tries but is unable to warm up the night with a wood fire instead of using more advanced technology ("—And The Moon Be Still As Bright," )
George uses fire to heat up the grill and cook hot dogs.
Q. How does the dryness of Mars reveal a possible future vision of Earth?
If we foolishly exploit resources on earth, we will never end up like Mars.
In the early 1900s, some astronomers thought that Mars was full of dried-up channels that used to ferry water to ancient cities. Therefore, earth could meet the same fate.
They reveal the danger of a world without Slushies.
It doesn't. In the story, Mars is full of luscious water.
Q. How do the rockets in The Martian Chronicles reveal destructive nature of technology?
As the dad says in "The Million-Year Picnic," "the people got lost in a mechanical wilderness, like children making over pretty things, gadgets, helicopters, rockets; emphasizing the wrong items, emphasizing machines instead of how to run the machines" (123).
The rockets carry bombs which destroy the atmosphere of Mars.
They don't. The Martian Chronicles is fully pro-technology.
In The Martian Chronicles, rockets are figments of the characters' imaginations, showing how technology can destroy reality.
Q. How do the spiders and insects in The Martian Chronicles reveal the primal fears of human beings?
They are foreign, strange, and unnerving, especially in their almost telepathic communication.
They carry disease.
When humans are extinct, they will rule the earth.
They think Martians are superior to humans.