The Martian Chronicles Symbols
Written in 1950 by the author Ray Bradbury, the Martian Chronicles is a fictional story about the planet Earth reaching a point of devastation where everyone else tries to escape from it. The characters are seen escaping from the planet while landing on Mars to start a new life.
The story progresses with Martians fighting against each other throughout the pattern of colonization while trying to defend their planet and protecting it from the arrivals of humans trying to find another place to start a new life.
With different parallel dimensions and various “colonizer versus settlers” theme, the novel offers readers a rollercoaster of events that help bring about a climactic story that reflects the futuristic idea of the author.
There are plenty of symbols present in the novel and each has their own meanings the readers can all learn from.
Martian Chronicles Symbols
· Planet Mars.
This planet is a symbol unto itself in the novel. The devastation of Earth followed by the destruction and chaotic environment on Mars represents a promising place to start a new life but with the price of undergoing a series of challenges before success can be attained. People fleeing from Earth while sending one expedition after the other to Mars represents the planet as a “goal or aim” which, no matter how difficult to attain, remains a prize which can reap promising results of the life ahead.
· Rockets.
Rockets are modes of transportation that are highly common to the story. Astronauts rode rockets from the Earth going to Mars after a series of failed attempts, only to be successful in the end. Rockets are also seen as powerful objects of technology which are capable of doing more than transporting passengers and objects into space. Rockets have a direct effect on changing the course of history as seen in the first part of the novel. The exhaust coming from a rocket’s tail transformed a dull and cold place into a fiery hot furnace. At the later part of the story, the rocket is destroyed to prevent any attempts of going back to a ruined planet Earth.
· Fire.
Fire offers a conflicting symbol in the novel mainly because it represents both devastation and success. At the start of the novel, fires were