Dark They Were And Golden Eyed Summary

In the ominous and intriguing short story “ Dark They Were and Golden Eyed ” conjured by the mind of Ray Bradbury, an Earthling family gets stranded on the planet of mars and gradually transform into martians. Through the use of interesting and distinctive imagery, Bradbury conveys the inevitability of change within the story. A constant struggle between the main character Harry Bittering and the forces of the martian climate is shown throughout the story. Bradbury displays the struggle with change through the external conflict and sensory imagery. After the Bitterings land on the desolate climate of mars, Henry is overwhelmed with a sense of dread. Bradbury writes that the foreign land’s “wind blew as if to flake away their identities.

Harry jumps into a canal and allows himself to be taken by the tide. While floating ,Harry reflects on about the environment and himself thinking “a Martian river, all of us lying deep in it, in our pebble houses, in our sunken boulder houses, like crayfish hidden, and the water washing away our old bodies”(Bradbury 3). Ray Bradbury is saying Mars is like a river; it is an all powerful force shaping the environment and lives of it’s inhabitants. Also, by describing the people as crayfish, Bradbury exemplifies how small and helpless the people are compared to the forces of their environment. The reader can presume Harry’s realized the inevitability of change. He’s accepted that he will eventually be transformed by the landscape because, he is helpless compared to the forces of Mars. Ray Bradbury also show’s Harry’s acceptance of his metamorphosis; by again presenting mars removing the peoples identities and transforming them, but in a more relaxed and peaceful tone. Hence, The reader can infer that by realizing the inevitability of change Harry was able to bring tranquility and bliss into his