Mark Watney In Lorraine Hansbury's The Martian

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The Martian follows Mark Watney, an astronaut and botanist stranded on Mars after being hit by a weather vane during a storm and presumed dead. Even through many hardships and troubles, he is able to survive and is rescued by his crew. This novel seems to have a clear theme and conflict, and we can see some strong character traits present in Watney. I believe that the reason he survived is due to two character traits present throughout the whole book. Without these, he probably would have died or gone insane. The first character trait that I believe helped him survive so long is his intelligence. He was lucky to be the crew’s botanist, who helped him grow potatoes. If he wasn’t, he probably would not have lived nearly as long. On page 10, he says “I’m a botanist and mechanical engineer; basically, the mission’s fix-it man who played with plants.” The second …show more content…

No matter how hard of a situation you are in, you should keep trying. Mark is thrown into many life or death situations, and he could have easily given up. On pages 157-158, the airlock of the HAB burst, throwing him outside and killing all the bacteria in the soil of the plants. He even considers giving up. He says, “No more getting my hopes up, no more self-delusion, and no more problem-solving. I’ve had it!” The main conflict in the book is man vs. nature, if you can call Mars “nature”. Throughout the book, it feels like the planet Mars is trying it’s best to kill Mark. We can see that Mark feels the same way on page 229 after he loses comms with Earth when he says “Just once I’d like something to go as planned, ya know? Mars keeps trying to kill me.” Mars seems almost sentient in its actions. In conclusion, The Martian by Andy Weir is about perseverance, intelligence, and humor. Even when he is the only person on a planet that seems to want him dead, he pushes through and doesn’t give up. I also think that the conflict between man and nature develops really

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