For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. The Martian Chronicles For my wife MARGUERITE with all my love CHRONOLOGY: January 1999: ROCKET SUMMER February 1999: YLLA August 1999: THE SUMMER NIGHT August 1999: THE EARTH MEN March 2000: THE TAXPAYER April 2000: THE THIRD EXPEDITION June 2001: —AND THE MOON BE STILL AS BRIGHT August 2001: THE SETTLERS December 2001: THE GREEN MORNING February … He explained to his sons that he has brought them away from Earth to start a new life on the planet. Previously inhabited by native Martians, the planet was once a hot, yet thriving planet, with native plants, animals, seas, and landscape. }. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans. Okay, so we admit that setting might be a little confusing. Sure, some details are different—Ylla uses magnetic dust instead of, say, a Swiffer ("Ylla," 1)—but most of it looks a lot like Earth. everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Martian Chronicles. This Study Guide consists of approximately 68 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - Mostly Mars—but kind of a fantastic Mars, partly like ordinary Earth and partly like the historical Old West frontier; In the near future Okay, so we admit that setting might be a little confusing. Even when the house is fully automated (as in "There Will Come Soft Rains"), the dad still comes home at night and gets his cigar lit while the mom does her errands. By then, I was in eighth grade, and history lessons came in a series of units too short and jumbled to cohere into anything meaningful. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. Okay, so we admit that setting might be a little confusing. JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. In case we can't pick up on these clues, Bradbury lays it out for us directly a few times: The picture that we're getting here is that this may be a fantastic version of Mars, but it's not about space travel and exploration so much as it's about the frontier of America. In "The Third Expedition," Lustig—thinking that the Martians are actually Earth Men—says "like the Pilgrims, these people came here to escape Earth.". Earth is ridden with social, political, and religious problems, and these problems carry into the new Martian settlements. Shmoop University, 11 Nov. 2008. In fact, he's said that Burroughs's books really inspired him as a kid. " The Martian Chronicles, a perfect example of what I'd call a 'quintessential Bradbury' - fragmentary, at times disjointed, occasionally crossing the line into the realm of surreal, full of his trademark nostalgia and sadness, this account of the failed American Dream approach to the exploration of the ultimate frontier never stops fascinating me and drawing me in with its inexplicable charm. Take "Ylla," with its depressing portrayal of how "marriage [makes] people old and familiar" ("Ylla"), or "The Summer Night," where people go hear music and kids sing nursery rhymes. This Study Guide consists of approximately 68 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - Most of the stories are set on Mars, although some—"Rocket Summer," which opens the collection, "Way In the Middle of the Air," and "There Will Come Soft Rains"—are set on Earth. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. One night, a Martian woman dreams that a rocket comes out of the sky and lands on Mars; a light-skinned man with clear blue eyes is inside the rocket, a human by the name of Nathaniel York.