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Andy Weir

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The Martian

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The book is written from two different points of view. The first is from Mark Watney. We learn about what he is thinking through his journal. The second point of view is from earth. We hear about what officials at nasa are thinking and what other mainstream news sources are saying about Watney. This really helps the reader get a more complete and understanding concept of what is happening in the book as to just one point of view.

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Point of view

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I have seen the movie for The martian and I agree with all of the things stated in the comparison. What I did notice in the movie was that the plot was still very similar to the plot of the book. That is something that I do not see sometimes when someone makes a movie based on a book. The one thing that i did not realize was that there was an epilogue that was originally going to be in the book but ended up being cut out. I am interested to see if the epilogue would have added to the book if it was placed in.

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The style of The Martian is really what separates it from most other books. The style is similar to books like The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time or Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Mark Watney has a journal that he records he progress and all of his thoughts.  That is where we hear about all of the setbacks and progress he is making. This gives the reader a somewhat biased opinion on the situation because we are only hearing the vies of one person.

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The authors Style

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The Ending

The biggest difference between the novel and the film is the film’s ending. In both stories, after Watney straps himself into the Ares 4 Mars Ascent Vehicle that he turned into a “convertible,” the crew aboard the Hermes prepares to literally grab him out of the moving spacecraft. In the novel, everything goes according to plan (except for the part where the crew intentionally breaches the Hermes), and a crew member jets out on a tether, grabs Watney, and returns to the Hermes. There the story ends.

In the film however, things are much more dramatic. After the intentional Hermes breach to correct course, Watney informs Commander Lewis (played by Jessica Chastain) that he knows the distance is still too far, and would like to try an “Iron Man” by poking a hole in the glove of his suit and aiming it like a repulsor. This suggestion happens in the novel too, but it’s a joke. In the film he actually does it, eventually embracing Commander Lewis who is floating at the end of the tether.Commander Lewis doesn’t make the grab in the novel, nor does Watney ever try the Iron Man. However, the sequence in undeniably thrilling, and Jessica Chastain plays arguably the other lead character, so the change makes sense, at least from a movie making standpoint.

The Epilogue

Though Weir has said that the original version of his novel did have an epilogue after Watney’s rescue, it was cut. “I just didn’t like it,” Weir explained in a Reddit AMA. “Having an 8-month time jump just for one more scene felt lame. Also the epilogue itself wasn’t very good in my opinion.” So the novel ended with Watney back aboard the Hermes, happy but smelling like hot garbage.

The epilogue returns in the film however, showing Watney teaching a bunch of students and making quips about farming with his own poop on Mars. It also shows what each of the characters went on to do after the rescue mission.

Pathfinder

Regaining contact with NASA is what ultimately saves Watney’s life. He does this by finding and resurrecting the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft and its Sojourner rover, hacking their communications systems to run off solar power. Once he’s able to email NASA, rather than send simple picture messages, Watney is on track to salvation. However, right before he makes his journey to Ares 4, he accidentally shorts out Pathfinder with the placement of an improperly grounded drill. He has to make the trek alone, relying on his own modifications to the Ares 3 rovers.

In the film, he never shorts out Pathfinder and maintains contact with NASA all the way to Ares 4.

The Storm

Watney dies if he can’t get to the Ares 4 landing site thousands of kilometers away from where he was stranded. Much of the novel is devoted to his preparations for that journey, and when he finally does attempt it, of course not everything goes according to plan. Unable to contact NASA, in the novel he never hears about a massive dust storm heading his way. If Watney drives right into it, the storm could be big enough to prevent his solar cells from charging, effectively killing him.

Without knowing how big the storm is or in what direction it is moving, Watney must get creative. He rigs up volt meters to solar panels and places them far enough away that the difference in their readings should indicate where the storm is moving, based on how much sunlight it is blocking at each location. Watney avoids the storm with this clever scientific solution.

There is no storm in the film.

The Crater

Before finally making it to the Ares 4 site in the novel, Watney must drive his pimped-out rover into Schiaparelli crater, down a ramp-like structure and into the heart of the formation. It seems easy enough until his entire vehicle assembly digs too far into the dust and flips over. He spends days righting them.

The film shows a long, but safe journey to Schiaparelli.

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A mars dust storm the symbol I chose because it represents most of the book. Mark Watney is all alone on mars. He gets trapped in a dust storm on his way to Ares 4. When Mark is trapped in the dust storm he meets reality. He is stuck on a planet all by himself losing two was communication with earth, hoping that his plan to be picked up will work, otherwise he will die. Pretend it is a foggy morning. You cannot see anything that is beyond 200 feet in front of you. well, that is how Mark is feeling most of the time. He spends his days alone working to grow crops and stay alive along with watching reruns from the 70's.

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My symbolic image is a mars dust storm

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This is a good example of Mark Watney's attitude during the majority of the book. Now sure, towards the beginning and middle of the book, He might've been dropping f-bombs all over the place but mark never got to the point in which he wanted to kill himself. Although, at the beginning of the book, he stated that if he ran out of food, he would overdose on medicine so he wouldn't have to endure the slow process of starving to death. Anyways, Mark is normally in a good mood when he is making good progress. For example, when mark got to pathfinder and when he is able to drive 90 km in one day.

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"Things aren't as bad as they seem" (Weir 159).