If at first you blow yourself up, try and try again—that's how the phrase goes, right? Well, that's at least how you'd hear it if you were hanging out with Mark Watney, famed astronaut and star of The Martian. In the novel, Marky Mark gets caught in a real pickle, left for dead on the unforgiving (and rather drab) Martian wasteland. Mark has every opportunity to give up, but he doesn't, working harder and harder even as things get worse and worse.
We don't care if you dub it perseverance, determination, hustle, or grind—whatever you call it, Mark has it in spades. He still makes mistakes. He still feels hopeless at times. The important thing, however, is that he never lets himself be defined by his failures. Instead, he picks up the pieces and moves forward in whatever way possible.
Questions About Perseverance
- Does Mark's perseverance ever hurt him? Explain.
- How does Mark motivate himself to keep fighting?
- In what ways does NASA persevere despite overwhelming odds?
- Could Mark have survived long-term without the help of NASA? Why or why not?