The Symbols Bring Us Closer To Themes: By Harrison

“The Martian” By Andy Weir, Mark Watney is left on mars stranded alone, whilst his crewmates think he’s dead. But later they find out through the communication of the NASA earth crew that he’s alive. “The Maze Runner” By James Dashner, follows a character called Thomas who is introduced into. The Glade. He remembers nothing at first but soon regains his memories and why he is a subject in The Glade. In both books, there is a recurring theme of; Fear, and friendship, with the use of Symbolism. to give of motivation and curiosity within both of our characters. As well both characters experience curiosity of their environment them in.

During the process of reading “The Martian”, it is evident that our character Mark Watney’s main symbol is the HAB and not only how he uses the HAB as a safe haven but as a place that motivates him to survive. The HAB also proves to make Mark think. Many times we hear read a thought about the HAB from an SOL about how he could do something to it. “Problem is (follow me closely here, the science is pretty complicated), if I cut a hole in the Hab, the air won't stay inside anymore.” A quote from Mark Watney. He also talks about making it feel like home due to his isolation on the lonely planet Mars. “Who am I to talk about loneliness?” A quote by Mark Watney jokingly saying that he can’t talk about loneliness, whilst be stranded on the loneliest planet. Thus creating our character to become curious about what he can do in the HAB.

“The Maze Runner” By James Dashner expresses the recurring themes of, Fear, and Friendship throughout the book on multiple occasions and also uses the craft technique of Symbolism to invoke motivation and curiosity within our character.

The use of symbolism is evident in both books with “The Martians” symbol being the HAB and “The Maze Runner’s” Symbol being The Glade. “I've been shocked and gone to heaven.” When Thomas arrives in The Glade with none of his memory intact. During the first time we learn that Thomas is in The Glade as an experiment because he could survive a virus called The Flare, we immediately realize that our character has no conscious memories and no clue of what The Glade is. Despite All their rage their still just rats in a cage. I believe this metaphor could mix well with a quote that could be linked to The Maze Runner due to our main character being stuck in The Glade. Through the use of two recurring themes; Fear, and friendship, and a craft move of symbolism. The writers give of motivation and curiosity within our characters.

Mark Watney and Thomas. Another theme in both books is Friendship and how both characters are motivated by their to survive and the Fear of losing their peers. The Hermes Crew and Mark Watney all have deep relationships with one another but when Mark Watney is split from the group after they accidentally abandoned him they soon realize the best way that they can help is to turn their ship around and head back to Mars, but they would need new stocks and fuel for a mission like that. The theme of friendship is extremely strong in this circumstances due to the Hermes Crew willing to risk their life for their crewmate Watney, with them also knowing a mission like this could risk their job as an astronaut forever. During this time of the Hermes, Crew deciding whether they should go back and save Watney they also Fear that what they are doing is wrong but they are also fearing for Watneys safety. They often sent Watney jokey type of messages to keep his spirits up but in the meanwhile were fearful for his survival. “There's always hope," Venkat said. [...] "Mark Watney is now an expert at surviving on Mars. If anyone can do it, it's him”. This quote by Venkat shows us how even one of the head of NASA is fearing for Mark Watney.

Before Thomas first arrives at The Glade everyone is living in peace and harmony but as soon as he is subjected into The Glade all the chaos starts. The Maze's creatures (Grievers) start to lay an attack on the population living in The Glade for unknown reasons at the time. This starts to cause conflict between some characters blaming Thomas that the Grievers only started attacking when he came (Which is partially true) but in this case, we also see some strong friendships form and the fear of how losing them could affect our character, Thomas. Using his friend Newt we see that during this tough time of trying to survive the relentless attacks from the Grievers, they become best friends and both fear for one another's lives. Newt plays an important role of being Thomas's friend but also a friend who makes sure Thomas is doing well and fears for his safety.

In Both books "The Martian" and "The Maze Runner" there is a Huge amount of Fear in both of our characters so why not make the essay about how fear tends to rule how we act and survive as a recurring theme. I can simply answer that yes both books do have their aspect of fear during certain parts of the book, but during "The Maze Runner" and "The Martian" Both our characters manage to overcome their fear of their circumstances and with that they manage to conquer their problem. Whether it is managing to escape The Glade on to the next part of a sick game. Or managing to escape Mars's sick isolation.

During the process of reading both books "The Martian" and "The Maze Runner," we learn that not only is their recurring themes but symbols that could mean the same meaning. Both authors were able to use Fear, and friendship, with the use of Symbolism. to give of motivation and curiosity within both of our characters. as well Both characters experience curiosity of their environment them in. Thus, to me, the "The Maze Runner" and "The Martian" are wonderfully written books with big similarities

The Martian Disco Music From The Movie "The Martian"