The Martian Chronicles Home Quotes

How we cite our quotes: ("Story Name," Paragraph)

Quote #4

"I'd like to live here," he said. ("—And the Moon Be Still as Bright," 251)

This is Wilder's conclusion after listening to Spender talk about Mars. So... why can't he? Why can't he call Mars home at this moment? (Or ever, really—at the end of the book he comes back to Mars just to look around before returning to Earth.)

Quote #5

He remembered his arrival on Mars. Like a thousand others, he had gazed out upon a still morning and thought, How do I fit here? What will I do? Is there a job for me? ("The Green Morning," 8)

Driscoll can't get by on Mars's limited oxygen. So, he makes home where he is, planting trees. In other words, he changes the land to be more like home rather than adapting to a new home.

Quote #6

And they looked again, together, and on both sides of the comfortable dark house and behind, it was scenery that was not Earth scenery. The soil was a strange color of violet, and the grass was the faintest bit red, and the sky glowed like a gray diamond, and a strange crooked tree grew to one side, looking like an old woman with crystals in her white hair. ("The Wilderness," 51)

Will has lured Janice up to Mars with the promise of a house just like her house on Earth. But just beyond that "comfortable dark house" is a totally foreign landscape. Hm. We're not sure if this is going to work out.