The Martian Chronicles

“January 1999: Rocket Summer”

Reading Check

1. A small town in Ohio, in January of 1999 (“January 1999: Rocket Summer”)

Short Answer

1. A rocket carrying the First Expedition of humans to Mars launches, sending waves of heat out into the cold day. (“January 1999: Rocket Summer”)

“February 1999: Ylla”

Reading Check

1. Captain Nathaniel York (“February 1999: Ylla”)

Short Answer

1. Yll and Ylla’s marriage has grown stale, and he is jealous when he realizes that Ylla’s dreams include her flirting with York. (“February 1999: Ylla”)

“August 1999: The Summer Night”

Reading Check

1. The Second Expedition (“August 1999: The Summer Night”)

Short Answer

1. The telepathic Martians are inundated with fragments of Earth songs, rhymes, and poems, causing them to helplessly repeat these bits of unfamiliar language. Women wake throughout the night, screaming, having dreamed that something terrible is about to happen. (“August 1999: The Summer Night”)

“August 1999: The Earth Men”

Reading Check

1. Mrs. Ttt (“August 1999: The Earth Men”)

Short Answer

1. The reader knows that the expedition is real, and Mr. Xxx does not. This dramatic irony means the reader appreciates the tragic misunderstanding that motivates Mr. Xxx’s actions. (“August 1999: The Earth Men”)

“March 2000: The Taxpayer”

Reading Check

1. Atomic warfare (“March 2000: The Taxpayer”)

Short Answer

1. Although Pritchard claims he wants to escape the possibility of atomic warfare and objects to the oppressive governments on Earth, when he is left behind, his thoughts are focused on how ordinary his life on Earth is. This suggests that he also wants to experience something exciting and unusual by going to Mars. (“March 2000: The Taxpayer”)

“April 2000: The Third Expedition”

Reading Check

1. Green Bluff, Illinois, 1926 (“April 2000: The Third Expedition”)

Short Answer

1. He realizes that the Martians are using their telepathy to create fantasies based on each man’s memories. Their intention is to lull the humans into a happy complacency so that they are easy to take by surprise and kill. (“April 2000: The Third Expedition”)

“June 2001: —And the Moon Be Still as Bright”

Reading Check

1. Chicken pox (“June 2001: —And the Moon Be Still as Bright”)

Short Answer

1. When they land, Spender refuses to use the ship’s chemical fire on the surface of Mars, feeling that it would be blasphemous. He hides his reverence for Mars from his crewmates, knowing that they do not share the feeling. This respect for Mars and its Indigenous inhabitants later erupts into his violence against the rest of the crew. (“June 2001: —And the Moon Be Still as Bright”)

“August 2001: The Settlers”

Reading Check

1. A muddy baseball (“August 2001: The Settlers”)

Short Answer

1. Beforehand, they are eager to leave Earth and their pasts behind. Once they are actually underway, they begin to feel less certain and are overwhelmed by feelings of loneliness and isolation. (“August 2001: The Settlers”)

“December 2001: The Green Morning”

Reading Check

1. Trees (“December 2001: The Green Morning”)

Short Answer

1. He is told that the atmosphere on Mars is too thin for him and he will have to return to Earth. Rather than accept Mars as it is, Driscoll decides to plant a huge forest for the oxygen it will generate. (“December 2001: The Green Morning”)

“February 2002: The Locusts”

Reading Check

1. Settlers (“February 2002: The Locusts”)

Short Answer

1. The settlers miss the familiar environment of Earth, so they expend enormous effort to construct homes and towns that recreate those of Earth. (“February 2002: The Locusts”)

“August 2002: Night Meeting”

Reading Check

1. Time (“August 2002: Night Meeting”)

Short Answer

1. They both feel that the settlers should accept Mars as it is and stop trying to change it into another Earth. (“August 2002: Night Meeting”)

“October 2002: The Shore”

Reading Check

1. American (“October 2002: The Shore”)

Short Answer

1. The original settlers had a variety of personal reasons for escaping their pasts on Earth. But the new settlers are economic refugees, escaping from poverty in places like New York, where they lived in crowded, uncomfortable circumstances. (“October 2002: The Shore”)

“February 2003: Interim”

Reading Check

1. Lumber (“February 2003: Interim”)

Short Answer

1. The narrative compares the proliferation of small, Midwestern-like towns appearing on the Martian landscape to the scene of a tornado that had scooped up Iowa towns and deposited them on Mars. (“February 2003: Interim”)

“April 2003: The Musicians”

Reading Check

1. An abandoned Martian town (“April 2003: The Musicians”)

Short Answer

1. They sanitize the Martian towns by burning the remains of dead Martians. (“April 2003: The Musicians”)

“June 2003: Way in the Middle Air”

Reading Check

1. An African American spiritual (“June 2003: Way in the Middle Air”)

Short Answer

1. The White men in town fill their nights by terrorizing Black residents, and when the Black residents are gone, the White men’s lives will lack purpose. (“June 2003: Way in the Middle Air”)

“2004-2005: The Naming of Names”

Reading Check

1. Social structures and rules (“2004-2005: The Naming of Names”)

Short Answer

1. The settlers are analogous to European colonists, who replaced Indigenous place names with names that valorized the European conquest. (“2004-2005: The Naming of Names”)

“April 2005: Usher II”

Reading Check

1. Architect (“April 2005: Usher II”)

Short Answer

1. Stendhal tells Garrett that the people died because, having not read Poe, they were unable to predict their Poe-inspired deaths. (“April 2005: Usher II”)

“August 2005: The Old Ones”

Reading Check

1. The third (“August 2005: The Old Ones”)

Short Answer

1. The descriptions of the elderly all emphasize desiccation. (“August 2005: The Old Ones”)

“September 2005: The Martian”

Reading Check

1. Pneumonia (“September 2005: The Martian”)

Short Answer

1. He dies after attempting to please too many different people by rapidly shapeshifting into the semblance of their dead loved ones. (“September 2005: The Martian”)

“November 2005: The Luggage Store”

Reading Check

1. Father Peregrine (“November 2005: The Luggage Store”)

Short Answer

1. There is a war on Earth, and he thinks people will go to Earth to help their families. (“November 2005: The Luggage Store”)

“November 2005: The Off Season”

Reading Check

1. Hot dog stand (“November 2005: The Off Season”)

Short Answer

1. Elma and Sam are expecting increased trade from Earth, but when they see Earth explode, they realize that business will not be as good as they hoped. (“November 2005: The Off Season”)

“November 2005: The Watchers”

Reading Check

1. “COME HOME” (“November 2005: The Watchers”)

Short Answer

1. At first, people are numb to the war. When they actually look at the Earth, though, they remember it more clearly and start to care about the war. (“November 2005: The Watchers”)

“December 2005: The Silent Towns”

Reading Check

1. Prospector (“December 2005: The Silent Towns”)

Short Answer

1. He hopes the caller is a woman with whom he can begin a relationship. (“December 2005: The Silent Towns”)

“April 2026: The Long Years”

Reading Check

1. Twenty years (“April 2026: The Long Years”)

Short Answer

1. The entire family, aside from Hathaway himself, are actually robots that Hathaway built to replace his family after they all died. (“April 2026: The Long Years”)

“August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains”

Reading Check

1. The McClellan home in Allendale, California (“August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains”)

Short Answer

1. It is about nature reclaiming the earth after a war wipes out humanity. (“August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains”)

“October 2026: The Million-Year Picnic”

Reading Check

1. Burns them (“October 2026: The Million-Year Picnic”)

Short Answer

1. The family is staying on Mars, and so the Thomas family themselves are the new Martians. (“October 2026: The Million-Year Picnic”)