Perseverance In Andrew Weir's The Martian

A Crater for the Martian

Given the tough times that everyone goes through at some point in life, one might think that perseverance dies off—that perseverance is no longer a goal. But in fact, there are those that manage to look through the dark tough times and achieve a goal.

Andrew Weir uses a variety of elements in his novel, The Martian, to bring to light the underlying purpose of life; The struggles one must face, and mistakes one must make, to fully enjoy what can be, the sometimes overwhelming, journey of life. Weir, exemplifies the power of perseverance though one sole character—Mark Watney.

Mark Watney was a NASA botanist and one of the first to step foot on Mars. Watney, always managed to maintain a positive outlook even when all

odds seemed to be against him. Other characters that played important roles in the novel were the following. Melissa Lewis, who was the commander of the mission and ultimately made the decision to leave Mark behind. Chris Beck, the astronaut that went out to bring Mark back home. Equally important, Teddy Sanders, the head in charge of the Ares three mission. Last but most definitely not least was Mindy Park, the intern that noticed activity in Mars and could be said that if it weren’t for her, Watney might have been stuck in Mars for eternity. The novel took place on Mars when Ares three crew were forced to leave their landing site, leaving Watney, himself, to narrate the rest of the story from his perspective. Briefly, an outlook of the novel: Watney and the other astronauts were sent on a mission to Mars when an outrageous dust storm hit and Watney is abandoned because they believed him to be dead. Watney very soon began to run out of both, food and oxygen supply. Ultimately, Watney came up with the brilliant idea to harvest potatoes, and when he thought he had the chance of survival, he comes to find that there was a tear in the Hab – perhaps one of the greatest threats to his food supply. Luckily, evidence was found of Watney in Mars by a NASA intern and a rescue mission was sent to save him. In short, Watney was reached and taken back to the spacecraft: Hermes.
Literary devices such as irony and symbolism are utilized to show a distant meaning from the simple roles that the Hab and the potatoes play in the novel.

Within the title itself, The Martian, showcases the power of a determined and optimist individual, even when all seems to be going wrong. The main character does in fact feel overwhelmed at times, but there are times when he seems to have everything under control—almost like he is a legitimate citizen living in Mars, and not a martian that was left behind while on a NASA mission. How does one individual have the ability to do all? Weir introduces protagonist: Mark Watney—someone that kept an optimist mindset and threw a couple jokes here and there, to lighten up the mood, even when he was stuck in Mars with very little hope of living. Consider the following excerpt: “I found a big container and filled it with a bit of water, then added the dried shit. Since then, I’ve added my own shit to it as well. The worse it smells, the more successful things are going. That’s the bacteria at work” (Weir 14)! Or even, “My asshole is doing as much to keep me alive as my brain” (Weir 14). Basically, Watney had a sense of humor no matter how serious a situation was supposed to be. When taking Weir’s work and examining each piece individually, however, one part that had the biggest breakthrough was the matter of fact that he was a Martian in Mars—when in reality, he felt a sense of belonging in Mars. Watney didn’t entirely feel like a

martian, he actually felt pretty confident with his approach towards everything, consider the following: “To hell with those guys. I'm a Space Pirate” (Weir 240)! And if that weren’t enough, he then remembered that he was the “best botanist on the planet” (Weir 130) -- literally. He had found a way to cope and embrace the unknown—life in Mars-- and miraculously managed to grow a crop of potatoes with an extremely restricted amount of resources. Watney most definitely faced his good share of challenges from the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), to the Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA), and the Mars Lander habitat (Hab). Remarkably, Weir builds his character: Mark Watney, basically indestructible, both mentally and physically. Watney could have given up right off the bat when he realized that he didn’t have enough food to survive until the next mission, or after realizing that the so loved Hab was slowly depreciating in every imaginable way. However, that was not the case, Watney maintained a positive outlook and as a result survived.
The Hab plays a key symbol in the novel. The Hab was representative of a secondary home; the one place where Mark felt that he was even capable of survival, because as soon as he stepped out into the red craters of Mars, he was at risk. “On the surface of Mars, Watney spends a significant amount of time in the habitation module -- the Hab -- his home away from home” (NASA). Not only does it represent safety but also gave him a sense of security, and in the moment Watney felt connected with humanity again. As an illustration here is the first email he received from Hermes: “Dear Watney: Sorry we left you behind, but we don't like you. You're sort of a smart-ass. And it's a lot roomier on Hermes without you. We have to take turns doing your tasks, but it's only botany (not real science) so it's easy. How's Mars? -Martinez…My reply: Dear Martinez: Mars is fine. When I get lonely I think of that steamy night I spent with your mom. How are things on Hermes? Cramped and claustrophobic? Yesterday I went outside and looked at the vast horizons. I tell ya, Martinez, they go on forever! –Watney” (Weir 132). To elaborate, Watney was ecstatic when having a conversation with Martinez, he was joking around, and for a moment reminded him of what it was like back when he was home. His sense of security derived from the temporary home, the feeble Hab— “the Hab shook in the roaring wind” (Weir 119), “[it] rippled under the brutal assault[s]” (Weir 121), and even then he felt safe and secure.
The novel gives a look into the main character (Watney’s) theories and plans. His constant contemplation about survival, and his expressed happiness as he finds out about the rescue mission, are all captured in his journal and convey the direction that the novel is about to take. Luckily enough, it was good that NASA very carefully chose its people and didn’t just send anyone on a 30-day (short) mission to Mars—Mark Watney was a botanist and mechanical engineer. “So I can’t just live off the land for ever. But I can extend my life. The potatoes will last me 76 days… So now I’ll start starving to death on Sol 490 instead of Sol 400. It’s progress, but any hope of survival rests on me surviving until Sol 1412, when Ares 4 will land. There’s about a thousand days of food I don’t have. And I don’t have a plan for how to get it. Shit” (Weir 17). That given excerpt shows the extreme mathematic and analytical skills that Watney possessed. Apart from the intellectual side of the intellectual side, the potatoes had a strong symbolic reference to the very first thanksgiving dinner (Wall Street Journal). By extension, potatoes also gave him the best nutrition value and calorie count with the limited resources that he had, most noteworthy, “[his] best bet for making calories is potatoes. They grow prolifically and have a reasonable caloric content (770 calories per kg)” (Weir 17). In addition to the potatoes providing nutritious value, there was an essential purpose for NASA giving the astronauts some real food, for they thought it would be a good psychological experience for the crew to cook a thanksgiving meal together on their mission. The reasoning behind the potatoes being a reference to the pilgrims and the first thanksgiving dinner was the start of a new beginning, and the welcoming to a new land. Ultimately the power of perseverance; feeling hopeless at times but always looking for an alternative to make it happen.
When it comes to the topic of perseverance, most people will readily agree that it is the simple matter of “continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition” (Merriam-Webster).

Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of is there even enough reasoning to persevere or is it just faith. Whereas some are convinced that it is faith and there is no way to change what is mean to be, other maintain that with the right mindset, anything can happen, even when faith gets in the

way.
Correspondingly, the author: Andy Weir, impeccably illustrated the power of perseverance. The martian in his novel, is embodied by protagonist: Mark Watney and all throughout, shows his tactics to approach abandonment, isolation, and the extremities for survival, and above all maintains a positive outlook. To start off, the simple thought of being abandoned anywhere isn’t pleasant —more the less, being abandoned in a completely different planet. No, Watney wasn’t left behind on purpose, but that doesn’t take away from the experiences that he lived. He was isolated; miles, days, months, from any possible interaction with any kind of human. The Hab was his home away from home, and if it weren’t for the potatoes, he would’ve not lived for nearly as much as he did. Luckily, he was a botanist and mechanical engineer, meaning he had just the right amount of survival skills to maintain himself alive and breathing in Mars. Now, one might think that someone can only take so much before one gives up, but not Watney. He had “been thinking about how to survive this. It [wasn’t] completely hopeless. There’ll be humans back on Mars in about four years when Ares 4 arrives (assuming they didn’t cancel the program in the wake of my “death”)” (Weir 11). The optimist in Watney managed to overcome everything that flew his way, and even made a better situation out of where he started.
Between the journal entries and the dialogue, the novel seemed to be completely out of the ordinary. “Despite Watney’s engaging nature, character development was rather static” (Space Safety Magazine). It gave a very real overview of life; the mistakes, the struggles one faces on the daily, and most importantly the mission that one accomplishes through our life’s journey (Adulting Coming of Age in 21st Century America). Overall, a phenomenal read. Weir showed the reader both sides of life, but shined a brighter light towards optimism and perseverance. He told the one purpose of life’s journey—the journey that has its ups and downs, the journey that seems like its never ending, and the journey that finally comes to an end when you least expect it. As mentioned in previous references, Watney most definitely faced his good share of struggles, from the Hab, to the MAV, and even the EVA. "I was sitting around thinking about how to do a human mission to Mars, not for a story but just for the heck of it," says Weir. "I started thinking about how I would do it and all the things that could go wrong, and I realized it would make a great story. So I made up a protagonist and subjected him to all of it” (Smithsonian). The Ares three mission was not easy, and not everyone has the luck to go to Mars or be the first to grow bacteria in a new planet or the chose one to eat potatoes for what seems like an eternity. For all one knows, that was the whole purpose of the novel, maybe that’s the way that Weir wanted to share his ideals with his readers. Everyone faces different situations and there are times when one might feel alone, but as long as one continues to keep an optimist mindset, one will persevere-- just like Watney did so. “The Hab shook… the Hab rippled” (Weir 119-120) … the Hab was a representation of himself—himself being challenged and yet, he didn’t give up even when everything that could possibly go wrong in Mars, did go wrong. Perseverance can get one out of the toughest situations because after all “many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up” (Inc.).