The Martian Chronicles

The Martians who have survived the chicken pox epidemic now re-emerge and boldly contact one of their primary antagonists, rather than attempting to camouflage their appearances like Martian Tom in “The Martian.” Sam Parkhill, as a member of the fourth expedition, is responsible for perpetuating the epidemic that killed so many Martians, and in “—And the Moon Be Still as Bright” he is depicted as idly destroying a Martian city, a practice which continues in this story.

It is curious as to why the Martians are so intent on delivering a message to Sam peacefully. Ultimately, it works to illustrate the difference between the human capacity for knowledge, which is immediate and individualized, and the Martian capacity, which is far-ranging and not bound by the same individualism. The irony in the story comes from the fact that the Martians are indeed visiting Tom for malicious reasons, they want to goad him into a happy frenzy of food preparation, raising his hopes of fulfilling his dreams, before he witnesses the nuclear destruction of his home planet, and the promise of his awaited business. It is a psychological torture of which they have already shown themselves fully capable.

Bradbury’s focus on the comeuppance of Sam Parkhill casts into light his pessimism of the human characteristics Sam comes to embody. Sam is quick-tempered, violent, colonialist, prejudicial, opportunistic, and dismissive of Elma, his wife. Many of these same characteristics can be witnessed in the Yll of “Ylla,” suggesting Bradbury is focusing less on species traits and more on features of a specific kind of individual, one who cannot embrace or understand change outside of that which they effect. In this sense, Sam Parkhill is like Samuel Teece in “Way in the Middle of the Air” who has achieved the markers of success in their own dominant culture yet is powerless to affect their own fate. Much in the same way Silly questions Teece about what he will do at night, the Martian leader’s gift of the deed to half of Mars is an ironic comment on the extent of Sam’s powerlessness.

Sam’s second appearance in the collection also signifies a structural turning point. Just as Sam’s first appearance signals the changing fortunes on the Martian surface in the first part of the collection, marking the wide-scale death of the Martians and the abandonment of their cities, his second appearance heralds the end of human ascendancy on Mars. The characteristics that made Sam an effective colonizer when he first arrives, are now those which sow his destruction, preventing him from being able to interact with the planet in any meaningful way. Once Sam’s entrepreneurial and colonial dreams have been shattered, the Chronicles enters its third act, the decline and disintegration of human influence on Mars.