Humans are social creatures, and that is common knowledge. We cooperate and communicate with others to form relationships but when all paths are severed and our back is against the wall. We get desperate, even for something as simple as communication. Andy Weir, the author behind “The Martian” and Orson Scott Card, the author behind “Ender’s Game” explore the idea of isolation creating the need to communicate.
The idea of isolation is clear across both books as Watney and Wiggin are both isolated from the people they know and love and from the start they both react negatively with Watney starting his first entry with “I’m pretty much [screwed]” and Wiggin defending himself after being alienated for losing his monitor. As the book progresses it's clear that they both are getting desperate for communication and their psychological state deteriorates as while “The Martian” progresses, there appear to be more and more logs created by Watney while Wiggin also struggles psychologically.
However. Both characters cope extremely differently. For example : Watney creates logs, presumably for no reason other than to maintain his sanity, this idea is strong as when Watney lacks communication with NASA there are much more logs created while Watney adopts a comedic tone in his logs. Watney also tries to hold on to memories by using the crew’s belongings like Johanssen’s disco music. Whereas Wiggin also tries to cope by attempting to reestablish communication with Valentine by writing letters but not after experiencing several mental breakdowns : “He felt a sob rise in his throat” Card describes after the first few days of being separated from the rest of his family.
Some can argue that the isolation in these two books were not meant to communicate the need to communicate with other people and rather the methods that the characters cope with isolation in the books and there is a lot of evidence as Wiggin and Watney experience stressful situations alone and have to cope on their own but the need to communicate claim is stronger as Watney and Wiggin both have strong psychological swings that only happen when they are isolated. Like Wiggin having a mental breakdown for sacrificing everyone to achieve a rudimentary goal, because of that breakdown he spiraled into depression which was solved once he was reunited with Valentine. Watney also experiences psychological pressures, however this isn’t clear as Watney’s segments are written in a “vlog” style but he does have some emotional segments for example the final sentence spoken by Watney, the one that ends the book : “This is the happiest day of my life” . upon being reunited with the rest of his crew on approximately Sol 549, who Watney had not seen since Sol 5.
In the end, the idea of isolation is a common theme across many genres of books but books like “Ender’s Game” and “The Martian” makes these themes central and explores what does isolation cause. Weir and Card eventually found one common theme from their respective books and it is the one that is most important to us as a species.
Some can argue that the isolation in these two books were not meant to communicate the need to communicate with other people and rather the methods that the characters cope with isolation in the books and there is a lot of evidence as Wiggin and Watney experience stressful situations alone and have to cope on their own but the need to communicate claim is stronger as Watney and Wiggin both have strong psychological swings that only happen when they are isolated. Like Wiggin having a mental breakdown for sacrificing everyone to achieve a rudimentary goal, because of that breakdown he spiraled into depression which was solved once he was reunited with Valentine. Watney also experiences psychological pressures, however this isn’t clear as Watney’s segments are written in a “vlog” style but he does have some emotional segments for example the final sentence spoken by Watney, the one that ends the book : “This is the happiest day of my life” . upon being reunited with the rest of his crew on approximately Sol 549, who Watney had not seen since Sol 5.
In the end, the idea of isolation is a common theme across many genres of books but books like “Ender’s Game” and “The Martian” makes these themes central and explores what does isolation cause. Weir and Card eventually found one common theme from their respective books and it is the one that is most important to us as a species.
Good Job Isaac! You did a good job in your lead summarising your claim and making sure that the reader understand what you will be covering in the essay. Your claim was clear in your body and so was your counter-claim. Your ending kept me thinking and I liked how you used direct quotes from the books.
ReplyDelete