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Good old Mars?

In the story “ Mars is heaven”, Ray Bradbury utilizes many descriptions of the setting to create an enigmatic and mystifying tone for the readers and portrays, Mars as a symbol of heaven. As we know, the story is about a group of astronauts who are on a mission to travel to Mars, a completely unknown and unfamiliar area to them. The objective of the trip is to explore the environmental conditions of the planet and analyze whether the planet could be inhabitable for mankind. After the Astronauts arrive at the planet they realize that Mars’s environment looks extremely similar to the earth’s environment, making it appear and feel more familiar to them. Furthermore, as the crew explores Mars, Bradbury’s descriptions of its environment and inhabitants makes Mars a representation of the crews nostalgic desires and Heaven, as well as exemplifies the fear of the unknown and how not everything is what it appears to be.

Bradbury’s descriptions of Mars give the planet a very earthy feel. He describes the planet’s environment to be identical to earth’s environment. For example, as the Astronauts explore the planet Bradbury writes, “It was a beautiful spring day. A robin sat on the blossoming apple tree and sang continuously” (325). This is a very peculiar way to describe the surrounding of the planet because it makes it sound as if the Astronauts are on earth. Bradbury mentions that it is a beautiful spring day, emphasizing the spring season, the season after autumn, therefore symbolizing a time of rebirth and rejuvenation. The time of spring becomes a key setting component as the story begins to develop. However, along with the descriptions of the environment, the way Bradbury depicts the surroundings of Mars also make it ...

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...hat it wasn’t.

In conclusion, Bradbury’s use of setting not only illustrate how the planet Mars is a representation of the astronauts of their sentimental desires and symbol of their heaven, but it also personifies the idea of their fear of the unknown. His descriptions of the planet like, “Good old Mars” make it seem as if the planet is one that the astronauts are familiar with, and supports the idea of how the planet is a representation of their desired heaven. His reasoning of how the rebirth phenomena occurred and his frequent use of ‘God’ and the time period of Mars also help portray how the planet is a symbol of heaven. From these descriptions we can conclude how Bradbury uses setting to represent Mars, as the astronauts desired heaven, as well as how he personifies the idea of the fear of the unknown, through the acts of the Martians against the astronauts.