For Monday: Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles (see below)

Stories: “The Shore,” “Interim,” “The Musicians,” "The Way in the Middle of the Air," “The Naming of Names,” “Usher II”

NOTE: “Way in the Middle of the Air” is a story explicitly about race in the 40’s/50’s, and uses some harsh racial language. Be warned!

Q1: In “Usher II,” he alludes to the Great Burning of 1975, where most imaginative literature (such as Poe’s stories) were burned throughout the world. Why did this occur? What were people trying to accomplish? How might this reflect political fears of the 1950’s—or even of our own time?

Q2: “The Musicians” is a very controversial story, and like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is often censored by schools and libraries (especially as it contains the “N” word). Do you think its message is still relevant despite the objectionable language? Or is it no longer safe or appropriate to read such stories?

Q3: When the teenage boy, Silly, is finally escaping the town, he calls back to his former boss, Mr. Teece, and says, “What you goin’ to do nights, Mr. Teece?” What does he mean by this? And why does the question (and its answer) both anger and terrify Mr. Teece?

Q4: In “The Shore,” the narrator notes that “The second men should have traveled from other countries with other accents and other ideas. But the rockets were American and the men were American and it stayed that way…And they came from cabbage tenements and subways.” Why do you think Bradbury makes Mars exclusively American in these stories? If Mars is made not in Earth’s image, but in America’s image, what does that allow him to do (or show) in these stories? In other words, if Mars is a metaphor for America, what does that metaphor look like?