Humans are tiny particles of dust in a great ocean of time and space. But have you ever thought about how insignificant humans really are, in such a vast and bounteous universe? Just the thought of it can make an individual feel completely isolated. In the novel The Martian Chronicles, author Ray Bradbury uses setting and characterization to show the reader that if science advances too quickly for society, humans will try to ignore their true feelings of isolation and insignificance caused by their premature progress. The result of this ignorance is that humans will end up hurting others and themselves because they will not comprehend what they are actually capable of.
The author, Ray Bradbury, uses setting throughout the novel to convey his message that the result of science advancing too quickly is that humans will eventually feel insignificant and isolated in contrast with such an immense universe. The way that the humans felt the need to shape and form Mars to look like Earth shows the reader that humans feel isolated and lost on the strange little planet.
Federal Minister for Defence Sir Robert Archdale P...
Mars, 2001, with the southern polar ice cap visibl...
Federal Minister for Defence Sir Robert Archdale P...In the novel the author uses the example of how the "⦠men with hammers in their hands beat the strange world into a shape that was familiar to the eye, to bludgeon away all the strangenessâ¦" (p. 78). The people of Earth feel that they need to change the ancient planet of Mars, in order to suit them because they feel lost without their familiar surroundings. Without scenery familiar to the eye, the people from Earth can't live on Mars because it makes them feel secluded and cut off from Earth. The author shows the reader that the thing the humans wanted most "⦠was Mars grown green and tall with trees and foliage, just like Earth." (p. 73).