I just finished reading The Martian Chonicles. The end was great, however it made me think. The story ends with a family alone on Mars (hoping another will arrive soon) with plans to repopulate the planet thereby assuming the role of Matrians. Earlier, the story "Night Meeting" shows how the Human and the Martian find it impossible to know for certain whose civilizaton is currently flourishing on Mars, making the reader assume that time may not be flowing liniarly.

Do you think that it is possible that the book is circular? That the Martians described in the beginning of the book are the decendents of the human family at the end of the book?

Matrians are described at one or two points as having six fingers on each hand, double polydactylism. Assuming the second family never arrives on Mars, could this be the result of generations of breeding within a very small gene pool?

Also, could this be the reason for the naming of the Martians by letter, a system perhaps implemented by the family to reduce the effects of incest by breeding selectively? Is the insane asylum visited by the First Expedition also the result of this breeding?

What do you think...

I don't know about all that, but I do know that it's my favourite book of all time.

I think perhaps you read into it - I doubt Ray had these things in mind when he wrote it. Knowing him and how he writes, it just doesn't make sense that he would write like that. Just enjoy it for what it is - a great book of beautiful poetry!

Hi pmorse9129, and welcome to the boards.

You put forward an interesting theory, but I think you are being too literal. The family at the end ("The Million-Year Picnic") are just like the European colonisers of the Americas: there came a point when they could say "WE are the Americans now". In recognising themselves as Americans, they accept/embrace that (a) there is no going back, (b) they are the new custodians of the land they now inhabit, (c) they have to create new ways of living, etc etc.

"Night Meeting" suggests that there is some kind of spiritual co-existence of the "old" Martians and the "new" Martians, so that no matter what changes the new Martians bring about, the spirit/memory of the old ways will survive.

As Doug Spaulding says, this is poetry! To take the book as a story about some people who literally turn into martians and grow extra digits is, in my opinion, missing the point.

[In addition, the book was originally written as a set of loosely connected stories. The over-arching plot (such as it is) is something that only emerged when Bradbury chose to group the stories together in that particular order. He had plenty of other Mars stories, some of them completely incompatible with each other, which he chose NOT to put in the book.]

quote:

Originally posted by philnic:
He had plenty of other Mars stories, some of them completely incompatible with each other, which he chose NOT to put in the book.]

Yet they will be when the new collectible comes out!

Outstanding M.C. illustrations by Edward Miller:
http://www.edwardmiller.co.uk/gallery.php?id=13

Very nice. I particularly like the one called "Green Town". (Not so sure about Mr K and the Bee Gun, however...)

quote:

Originally posted by Doug Spaulding:

quote:

Originally posted by philnic:
He had plenty of other Mars stories, some of them completely incompatible with each other, which he chose NOT to put in the book.]

Yet they will be when the new collectible comes out!

Thanks for letting us know a publisher is finally acting on the suggestion made years ago here!

quote:

Originally posted by dandelion:
Thanks for letting us know a publisher is finally acting on the suggestion made years ago here!

I ordered mine months ago, and it should be shipping by March at the latest! We hope.

quote:

Originally posted by Doug Spaulding:
...I ordered mine months ago, and it should be shipping by March at the latest! We hope.

Me too, at a time when the exchange rate was favourable...but I don't think they took the money yet*, and the exchange rate isn't as good as it once was.

*They might have done, but I can't be certain without looking back at my credit card statements.

Ah, 300 dollars...the price sounds almost intimidating, but when I put things in perspective, there are a plethora of things I would rightly spend 300+ dollars on!

So! 300 dollars it is.