Final post EVER!!!!!

I believe that the main theme of the Martian is that the author believes that science can solve any problem. Weir throws many obstacles at his protagonist, Mark Watney, and has the character use his extensive scientific knowledge to solve these. Further evidence before the quotes from the book includes the fact that Weir doesn't coddle the reader with any sort of cushioning. Instead he chooses to throw the reader headfirst into pages of scientific dialogue that are surprisingly understandable.


“Me: “This is obviously a clog. How about I take it apart and check the internal tubing?” NASA: (after five hours of deliberation) “No. You’ll fuck it up and die.” So I took it apart.”

“Once I got home, I sulked for a while. All my brilliant plans foiled by thermodynamics. Damn you, Entropy!”

“I tested the brackets by hitting them with rocks. This kind of sophistication is what we interplanetary scientists are known for.”

Mark Watney vs. A Planet

In The Martian, the protagonist is Mark Watney. He is an astronaut, the last-in-command of the third mission to Mars. He is stranded when an evacuation is called prior to a massive storm that separates him from his group and maroons him alone on the red planet. He is resourceful, strong, resilient, stubborn, and above all a massive smart-aleck. Physically, he is lean and without much fat while also managing to be one of the smallest astronauts on the mission. I believe that the antagonist of the book is Mars itself. While it does not consciously do so, it throws challenges at Watney that he must overcome and generally builds itself to be a good antagonist.

Free Write!

I believe that 1984 is a better book read for fun than for school. It's a wonderful book, well-written and thought-provoking, but I feel like the thoughts being provoked are better discussed on our own time. Don't get me wrong, we had some great discussions, but I feel like we could have expanded even further without the boundaries of the class holding us back. That being said, I would have done this book as my free read for the final book of the semester. It's a structured time but not too structured, just right for the book. We would have the rush to finish the book, but we would still be able to comfortably understand it and have our minds boggled. All in all I loved it.