How we cite our quotes: ("Story Name," Paragraph)
Quote #1
"Biological metamorphosis through psychological imbalance!" ("The Earth Men," 210)
This is Mr. Xxx being astounded about the "psychotic genius" of the Earth Men, who he thinks are actually the "psychotic" projection of crazy Martians. What's funny is that Mr. Xxx finds it easier to imagine that a crazy Martian could actually change his shape—"biological metamorphosis"—than accept that Mars is actually being invaded by an alien (to him) race.
Quote #2
But one day Earth will be as Mars is today. This will sober us. It's an object lesson in civilizations. ("—And the Moon Be Still as Bright," 81)
Captain Wilder thinks Earth and Mars are following the same path—that Earth will one day be as dry and (potentially) lifeless as Mars. This was actually what lots of people used to think: that Mars was older than Earth but started out the same, so looking at Mars was like looking at the future of Earth. Hooray: something to look forward to.
Quote #3
In a moment the town doors would flip wide, people would run out through the new miracle of oxygen, sniffing, gusting in lungfuls of it, cheeks pinking with it, noses frozen with it, lungs revivified, hearts leaping, and worn bodies lifted into a dance. ("The Green Morning," 40)
This scene from "The Green Morning" parallels a scene in "Rocket Summer": when the rockets made the weather warmer, people rushed out to play, just like they're about to now. What weird is that, in "Rocket Summer," technology changes the world; in "The Green Morning," nature changes the world.
Quote #4
The rockets set the bony meadows afire, turned rock to lava, turned wood to charcoal, transmitted water to steam, made sand and silica into green glass which lay like shattered mirrors reflecting the invasion, all about. ("The Locusts," 1)
Bradbury gives us a quick glimpse of what coming to Mars means: a lot of change and a lot of heat. Change seemed pretty nice in "Rocket Summer" when it meant that you got a little taste of summer, but, huh, it doesn't seem so nice when it's setting things on fire and melting rocks.
Quote #5
"Who wants to see the Future, who ever does? A man can face the Past, but to think—the pillars crumbled, you say? And the sea empty, and the canals dry, and the maidens dead, and the flowers withered?" ("Night Meeting," 125)
Muhe Ca and Tomás Gomez can agree on this much: looking into the future to see the death of everything you care about is pretty depressing. No wonder Harry Potter hated Divination.
Quote #6
By the year's end the Firemen had raked the autumn leaves and white xylophones away, and it was no more fun. ("The Musicians," 10)
The invasion of settlers from Earth (mentioned in "The Locusts") brings a lot of change to Mars. Each wave brings a new type of change (as you can see in "The Shore"). Now, after the pioneers and the first settlers, the new people on Mars are making it safe and clean—and no more fun for the kids. We bet they're even kicking out the prostitutes.
Quote #7
And she decided, as sleep assumed the dreaming for her, that yes, yes indeed, very much so, irrevocably, this was as it had always been and would forever continue to be. ("The Wilderness," 95)
Thinking about her move to Mars to be with her future husband, Janice decides that the big patterns in life never change. Earlier in the story she thought about how her voyage to Mars would be different from her grandparents' voyage west—different food, different vehicles, a different destination ("The Wilderness," 7). But ultimately the end goal is the same: a new life and second chances. We have to say, this doesn't bode well for the family in "The Million-Year Picnic."
Quote #8
Earth changed in the black sky.
It caught fire. ("The Off Season," 176-7)
Again, fire and change are connected. What's striking here is the way Bradbury uses understatement to capture the horror of the situation. He doesn't say the Earth was blown up or destroyed—he just says it "changed." This spooky understatement is part of what makes Bradbury such an awesome writer.
Quote #9
For not a leaf fragment blew under the door but what the wall panels flipped open and the copper scrap rats flashed swiftly out. The offending dust, hair, or paper, seized in miniature steel jaws, was raced back to the burrows. There, down tubes which fed into the cellar, it was dropped into the sighing vent of an incinerator which sat like evil Baal in a dark corner. ("There Will Come Soft Rains," 20)
Baal is the name of a demon, and an incinerator is, you know, hot. So again we have a connection between change and fire/heat. Except here, the fire involves stopping change. The house has a routine and it's going to stick to it, even after its inhabitants are long gone.
Quote #10
Just behind the veil of the vacation was not a soft face of laughter, but something hard and bony and perhaps terrifying. Timothy could not lift the veil, and the two other boys were busy being ten and eight years old, respectively. ("The Million-Year Picnic," 43)
Timothy is too young to understand what's just changed—that his family has moved to Mars. But he's old enough to know that there's something different about this vacation: it's permanent. This is a change that's going to stick.