CHAPTER SUMMARIES WITH NOTES

NOVEMBER 2005: The Watchers

CHARACTERS

Luggage store proprietor - Sells out all his goods upon news of the war.

CONFLICT

Protagonist - Earthian settlers of Mars, who are concerned about events on their home planet.

Antagonist - Earthians who contact the settlers, asking them to come home.

Climax - The settlers on Mars witness the start of the Great War as Earth seems to explode.

Outcome - The proprietor sells out, indicating the exodus back to Earth by most all settlers.

THEMES

The importance of the past, and the hold it can have even on people who have moved on to new frontiers to start anew. For all the efforts the early settlers of Mars have made to establish their mark on a new world, they are still Earthians at heart and must heed the call to return home.

Summary

At nine o'clock in the evening, Earth seems to explode in front of the Martian settlers' eyes. A Morse Code message is sent to them, with news that the atomic stockpile of Australia prematurely exploded, wiping out the continent; further, London and Los Angeles have been bombed and the settlers should come home. At 3 AM, a crowd flocks to the luggage store, whose proprietor stayed open for this eventuality; he sells out of his goods by dawn.

DECEMBER 2005: The Silent Towns

CHARACTERS

Walter Gripp - Apparently the last man on Mars.

Amelia Ames - Colonizer of Mars who returned to Earth.

Helena Arsumian - Colonizer of Mars who returned to Earth.

Genevieve Selsor - Apparently the last woman on Mars.

CONFLICT

Protagonist -Walter Gripp, who finds himself the last man left on Mars.

Antagonist - Genevieve Selsor, who finds herself the last woman on Mars.

Climax - The two meet and find themselves unsatisfied with each other.

Outcome - When Genevieve signals a desire to marry, Walter flees and stays far away from her.

THEMES

The theme of this comic story is being careful of what one wishes for: Walter has been seeking a wife and when he finally has a chance to marry it's under a situation he cannot endure. Further, Bradbury provides an interesting caveat to the previously established theme of loneliness: that is, as painful and forbidding as loneliness can be, bad company can be much worse than no company at all. Given the scope of possible choices, for Walter the Sartrean edict holds true: Hell is other people.

Summary

Walter Gripp is a miner living in a remote shack in the hills. He walks to town every two weeks in the hopes of meeting a quiet, intelligent woman to marry - to no avail. A week ago, he came to town and found it empty. Realizing what happened, he enjoyed himself for a week but was soon seized by loneliness. A phone call gives him hope that thereÂ’s at least one other person on Mars; however, he searches for the source of the ringing in the empty town and cannot locate it. He reasons it must be a woman and that she must be trying different numbers to find somebody. Now with a mission, Walter goes through the phone book from the beginning, but only gains false hope when he reaches an answering machine recording for a Miss Helena Arsumian.

He then decides to call the logical places from where a woman would place calls and strikes pay dirt when he rings up the biggest beauty parlor in New Texas City. There he speaks to a Genevieve Selsor, telling her heÂ’s in Marlin Village - only for the line to disconnect. Flush with excitement and anticipation, he drives to New Texas City, but finds sheÂ’s no longer there. He then realizes she probably drove to him and returns to Marlin Village, where they finally meet: Gripp, a skinny, scruffy fellow, and Genevieve, a larger woman constantly stuffing herself with chocolates and wearing way too much make-up. They spend a day together, and the mutual lack of attraction becomes obvious. However, Genevieve shows Walter something she brought with her from New Texas City: a wedding dress.

Walter immediately flees, placing 10,000 miles between himself and Genevieve before settling at Holtsville Springs. He enjoys his life there and whenever the phone rings, he doesnÂ’t answer.

Notes

While the comedy of this story is unusual for the collection, the ghastly turn it takes - first in the loneliness that takes hold of Gripp, then his meeting with Genevieve Selsor - is in keeping with the overall tone of the book.