Alexis: Digging Deeper into The Martian

The Martian by Andy Weirs seems to be more than just a science fiction novel, like I had assumed when I first started reading. During the first reading, my initial reading for was the science fiction elements that are prevalent in sci-fi. Those elements were present much of the time, like with the technical terms that the main character uses for the equipment he uses, but it surprised me to find out that it also seems to be more about the survival story of the main character, Mark. The recurring situation in the world that calls for this kind of genre to exist is that people are typically afraid of death or thinking about death. The reason for this genre is to give the character the ability to try to defy death in a way. In the novel, Mark is trying to survive on Mars when everyone thinks he is dead; he is trying to defy death by finding ways of making food and staying alive until someone comes to rescue him, even though he knows there isn’t a way of someone possibly rescuing him when he has no way of communicating with earth or NASA. Instead of panicking and focusing on the fact that he will most likely die on Mars will only lead him to die so he focuses on trying to survive.

The substantive and stylistic features of the genre of survival novels are the craft and writing that pull the reader into the story where he or she will feel drawn to figure out how the character will survive. The author needs to be able to draw the reader into the story and give the reader a reason to root for the character’s survival. There also need to be twists in the plot where the reader is kept on his or her toes while reading. This is present in The Martian by Andy Weir because when the reader believes that it will be impossible for anyone to know that Mark is alive on Mars, the author writes, “I can’t promise we’ll succeed in rescuing him, but I can promise this: The entire focus of NASA will be to bring Mark Watney home. This will be our overriding and singular obsession until he is either back on Earth or confirmed dead on Mars” (Weirs 62). This gives the reader hope that there is a chance for the character’s survival.

The purpose that organizes the substantive and stylistic features of this genre is to keep the reader on his or her toes while reading and be emotionally invested in the character. In order to do that, the author needs to be able to have twists in the plot and points where the reader believes that there is no chance for the character’s survival. It needs to switch between both aspects to keep the reader reading the story to find out if the character will survive.

When it comes to where the text is going, I want to say that the main character, Mark is going to survive. He has food that was left from the mission that was supposed to feed six people, but it should last him almost a year. He also seems to have found a way of growing food, mostly potatoes, that should last him another 70 or so days. He also found a way of making water. Furthermore, NASA now knows that he is alive on Mars from the satellite images; it would just be a matter of getting to him before he runs out of supplies. From where I am in the book, it seems like he has a better chance at surviving than when I first started reading.