The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (2nd Response)
In the book of stories (Links^) The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury, Bradbury uses absolutely wonderful plot twists, some obvious, others completely unexpected. In some stories, Bradbury talks about characters we honestly haven't seen in ages, brings them up, and puts them in strange situations. For instance: in one story, an old crew member (Hathaway) of Captain Wilder's is found still living on Mars, even after everyone has gone back to earth. The man and his family are living at the brink of a small town. When Wilder's crew notices that some of Hathaway's kids look a bit older than they actually are, one of them checks a nearby cemetery to find the graves of Hathaways entire family but him. Eventually Hathaway dies and tells the crew that those are really just Androids, robots that helped him keep his sanity on Mars, all alone.
When I started reading this passage, I just thought that this last remaining family would turn out to be Martians, fooling Wilder's crew and end up killing the leader of the fourth expedition. I didn't have any clue about the ending, this kept the book almost fresh. If they all ended up with the earthlings being killed by martians, It would practically be the plot of Scooby Doo. I'm not dissing Scooby Doo, but it would get dry. These plot twists have made this book stick out from other science fiction stories.
All these stories have been connected very well for just being a few pages a piece. His craft skills are uniform, but are diverse enough that all the stories don't blur together. Sorry if this one was a bit boring.
Thanks for Reading!(Its amazing you could follow that!(If you could)
-drat
Post Script(I need a new name for this section, anyone in the comments?)
If you were alone on a desert island, what would you do to keep yourself sane? And do you think that would actually keep you sane?
Join the soon to be stirring conversation, Bye bye.
It is actually very hard to keep sane when you are left alone for a long period of time. Only the most mentally stable people can do it (which isn't all of us). If I was on a desert island, I probably wouldn't rely on robots to keep me sane. They would become predictable. I probably would have to find a lot of hobbies to keep me busy. And even that would last about 2 weeks.
ReplyDeleteThen I would go insane.
I totally agree with you Chase. Now a days its pretty hard to find a book, especially science fiction one, that ending is not predictable. For instance the hungers games (1st book) since the beginning everyone knew that Peeta and Katniss weren't going to kill each other and some how they were going to both win as a team. And that is exactly what happened. this got me kind of bored at the end of the book because I knew what was going to happen.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you on the fact that there aren't many books with unpredictable endings nowadays. A completely unique book is rare, and I would treasure any one I found! As for that desert island... I'd probably set a daily routine for myself, such as gathering food and wood. My mind would (hopefully) adhere to that structure, and though I might become less "civilized" I would at least have an anchor to the real world. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI think I wouldn't be able to keep myself sane on a desert for more than a day. Human's are social animals and we need some sort of social interaction or we will go crazy. For instance, when I'm home alone I just turn on the tv, even if I'm not watching it just to feel like I'm not alone in the house. Though that may just be me being strange, I think that people need that sense of company, like in that movie with Tom Hanks and his coconut (I don't know what the title is I never saw that movie).
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nils that I myself would probably go crazy if I was all alone for to long.I might have to use the creative part of my brain though and create another person to keep myself from going crazy. I might develop a second personality and have split personality disorder. I would be 2 people but at least i would easily once i was back become a part of society. Maybe I would start talking to myself so i would stay sane. I like your post and you have started another long conversation. Good job :)
ReplyDeletei don't think i could keep sane on an island by myself. i would need some kind of company because if i didn't i would lose my mind because i always had someone around me and if there wasn't anyone around me it would be like if all life was dead.
ReplyDelete