The Martian Chronicles

Reading Guide

Name; ____________

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Directions: As you read each chapter, answer the following questions in complete sentences.

January 1999: The Rocket

1. Why do you think the author describes the housewives as lumbering?

2. Why is it a “rocket summer”?

3. What is happening in this chapter?

February 1999: Ylla

4. What is unusual about the opening sentence? Describe your house in this manner.

5. Describe the Martians?

6. The first paragraph describes the setting in great detail. What details create elements of
fantasy?

7. Why do you think the narrator describes them a “true” Martians?

a. What could this mean?

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 8. The narrator says, “Marriage made people old and familiar, while still young.” What does
this mean?

9. The husband says the man in the dream is “a misshapen giant.” What does this tell us
about the Martians?

10. The wife has dreamt about and describes a human man. Compare this to our envisioning of
Martians.

11. Compare the names of the Martian couple to the humans in the dream. What is surprising
about this?

12. Why is the husband, Yll, so angry about his wife’s dream?

13. What did Yll seem to do when he left the house without Ylla?

b. Why did he do it?

August 1999: The Summer Night

14. The words for the singers song is a poem. Which poem and by who?

15. How do the Martians know the words to the poems and songs?

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 16. How do the Martians feel about knowing these words/this language?

August 1999: The Earth Men

17. What happened to the first expedition?

18. How do the Martians “speak”?

19. Why do you think Mrs. Ttt is so unimpressed that the visitors are from Earth?

20. Why is it ironic that the Martians are unimpressed?

21. Do you think the captain’s desires, as stated to Mr. Iii, are reasonable?

22. They received “a key to the House.” Why is House capitalized?

23. Who is that finally gives the men the reception they so desperately wanted?

a. Why is this ironic?

24. Given where the men are sent, could the same happen to Martians on Earth?

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 25. The captain realizes it will be difficult to prove their innocence to a race of telepathics.
Explain his reasoning.

March 2000: The Taxpayer

26. Why does Pritchard want to go to Mars?

April 2000: The Third Expedition

27. Describe the Martian town.

28. The captain asks Hinkston if he thinks two town, on two planets, could evolve the same
say. What do you think?

29. From what year does the town look like, if it were on Earth (42)?

30. How are the demeanors of Hinkston and Lustig juxtaposed to the mood of the town as they
enter it (47)?

31. The men hypothesize that men from Earth came earlier and built this town. What other
hypothesis can you propose for the similarity?

32. Is the hypothesis that they traveled through time versus space reasonable? Why or why
not?

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 33. Compare/contrast the third expedition’s experience to that of the first and/or second.

34. Why is the statement, “It’s not every day you get a second chance,” a paradox (57)?

35. What is the “best weapon” the Martians could use against the Earthlings (60)?

36. What is ironic in the description of the men’s burials?

June 2001: –and the Moon Be Still as Bright

37. Why didn’t Spender say anything about the celebrations?

38. What killed the Martians?

39. Spender says, “It was just the idea of them watching us make fools of ourselves” (70).
What do you think the Martians would think of the men? Why?

40. Spender says, “We’ll rip it up, rip the skin off” and the captain counters saying, “We won’t
ruin Mars” (71). Who do you think is right, and why?

41. Find an example of personification on page 74. How does it help emphasize the setting?

42. Is it true that “anything that’s strange is no good to the average American” (84)?

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 43. “How would you feel if a Martian vomited stale liquor on the White House floor” (85)?

44. The captain thinks, “The majority is always holy […] never wrong for one little insignificant
tiny moment” (91). Compare this to US politics.

45. Compare the end of this chapter to the beginning, when they landed.

August 2001: The Settlers

46. How long is a double-score?

December 2001: The Green Morning

47. Driscoll sets out to plant Mars with trees, like Johnny Appleseed. What job would you have
as an early Mars colonizer?

48. Draw a three-scene cartoon of this chapter.

February 2002: The Locusts

49. Explain the locust metaphor.

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August 2002: Night Meeting
50. Time is personified through a conceit (long metaphor). How is it described?

51. What is Tomas’s weapon?

a. Why is this ironic?

52. Tomas states, “If I am real, then you must be dead” (109). Is this true?

53. Can you prove time? Why, or why not?

54. The Martian says, “Who wants to see the Future, who ever does?” (113). Would you?

55. What literary element is found in the last two paragraphs?

October 2002: The Shore

56. Who do you think the first women is assumed to be?

February 2003 Interim

57. Why are they bringing lumber to Mars?

April 2003: The Musicians

58. What are the boys doing? Why?

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 59. Is this a good metaphor?

June 2003: Way in the Middle of the Air

60. Why is Clara Teece upset (121)?

61. Compare/contrast Clara to Samuel.

62. What literary element is shown in the line, “We’ll just talk here polite until I say you can
leave” (125)?

a. Why do you think the author used it in this scene?

63. Teece “felt very warm and good” (125). Why?

64. Teece can’t understand why they left now. Why do you believe they left at this time?

65. What surprising action does Grandpa take?

66. The other men on the porch stand up for Silly, against Teece. Do you think they would have
done that if Silly wasn’t going to Mars? Why or why not?

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 67. As Silly is leaving, he calls out, “Mr. Teece, what you goin’ to do nights from now on? (132).
What has Mr. Teece been doing at night that he will no longer be able to do?

68. Why does Mr. Teece believe it to be a triumph that silly called him ‘Mister’?

2004–2005: The Naming of Names

69. The chapter ends with foreshadowing… Of what?

April 2005: Usher II

70. Describe the creation of the House of Usher.

71. There are multiple allusions in this chapter. List three of them:

August 2005: The Old Ones

72. Who are the “old ones”?

September 2005: The Martian

73. What literary element is seen in the first line?

a. What is the purpose of using it?/How does it help the story?

74. Why do you think “Tom” is afraid of the town?

75. Does Lafarge love “Tom”?

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 76. When Lafarge attempts to rescue “Tom,” Tom says “I take what can be taken” (169). What
is he taking?

77. Compare the statement “Tom” makes, “I’m just myself; wherever I am, I am something”
(169) to “Cogito, ergo sum” a Latin philosophical proposition by René Descartes usually
translated into English as "I think, therefore I am."

78. What happened to “Tom” and why?

November 2005: The Luggage Store

79. Father Peregrine it is impossible to believe in a war when it happens far away. Is this true?

a. When was the last time you thought about the war in Afghanistan?

80. Explain the proprietor’s logic. Why would they go home if war was declared?

November 2005: The Off-Season

81. Who is Sam Parkhill?

82. Why do the Martians chase him?

83. Why didn’t the Martians kill Sam?

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 a. Why did they tell him what they told him?

November 2005: The Watchers

84. Is the “light-radio” real (192)? What is it?

December 2005: The Silent Towns

85. The towns are empty. Where did they go?

a. Why did Walter Gripp not go as well?

86. Walter thinks “only a woman would call and call” (198). Is that true? Defend your answer.

87. Compare/contrast Walter’s expectation of Genevieve against the reality.

88. State the moral of this chapter.

April 2026: The Long Years

89. Mr. Hathaway says the rocket he sees in the sky is coming to take him home. Do you
agree? Why or why not?

90. What is significant about the four graves?

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 91. Who was on the ship?

92. Where does Wilder send Williamson? Why?

a. What did he find?

93. Why was Williamson unable to shoot Hathaway’s family?

94. What do you think Wilder did in the hut?

August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains

95. Describe the house. Use specific details.

96. In what ways is your house automated?

97. The “entire west face the house was black, save for five places” (222). The five places
show what?

a. Google “Hiroshima shadows.” What are the “five spots of paint” (222)?

98. What is ironic about the Sara Teasdale poem the house chose to read?

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 99. Explain the reaction of the animals in the nursery to the fire. Why is this surprising?

100. Was the house alive? Defend your answer.

October 2026: The Million-Year Picnic

101. When boating down the canal, they see a bird take flight and the dad is initially
frightened thinking it was a rocket. Why would the thought of a rocket frighten him?

102. Describe the war metaphor used on page 231.

103. Why did they blow up their rocket? Would you?

104. Where did they find the Martians?

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