The one of the social ills that Ray Bradbury described in The Martian Chronicles is the issue of colonization: the invasion of Mars by Earth Men. People were leaving the Earth on the edge of distruction and This story is similar to what America experienced during time when it was discovered by Columbus.
their home planet to start over in Mars. Settling on Mars is the only escape left for the population on Earth, which has become a decaying planet facing major environmental, social and political problems. As people have destroyed their former basis for living, they try to find a new one on the foreign planet Mars. History repeats itself during the colonization of Mars, as native populations are decimated and strangeness is familiarized by cultivating the foreign land in order to suit the colonizers’ desires. In his novel, Bradbury questions and criticizes the concept of colonization, thereby drawing on Mars as a symbol of America after its discovery by Columbus, and its inescapable ‘cultivation’ through the Pilgrims. However cruel the history of colonization might be, it is also regarded inevitable for the rest of the world as increasing populations long for more territories and resources. The criticism in the novel primarily centers on how this expansion takes place, namely in a destructive and exploitative way. Bradbury reveals the tensions between inhabitants of Earth and those of Mars, thus questioning the Earthmen’s reckless behavior towards native Martians which serve as a symbol for Native Americans. Moreover, the author criticizes mankind’s irresponsible exploitation of the resources they have been given on Earth, and their ability to destroy nature without even realizing or considering the terrible outcomerom Earth and Mars, but also the future of America. Bradbury’s mentioning of the Pilgrims clearly compares the colonizers of Mars to those of America; everyone had their reasons for emigration, no matter if it presented the escape from the old world or...