Physical, Biological, and Psychological Time

In Andy Weir’s, The Martian the character Mark objectively measures his time on Mars by “sols,” which is a term used to refer to the duration of the solar day. While Mark often refers to “sols” when describing his past, present, and future, it is worth noting that physical time is not the only source of structure to Mark’s experience on the desolate planet. The novel also captures how two other sub-types of time, biological and psychological, play a role in shaping Mark’s understanding of time.

Biological time holds that there are cyclical temporal patterns in all living things. Mark’s chances of survival on Mar’s depends on his ability to understand his own biological clock and his crop’s. Knowing this, Mark dedicates a large portion of his time calculating the amount of water and calories his body needs over an extended period of time. He figures that eating three-fourths portion per meal “will turn his three hundred days of food into four hundred” (Weir 10). After analyzing his body’s needs, Mark works to understand the cyclic processes of plants to grow additional calories. As Mark examines his body and his crops, he starts to see his time in terms of how many crops he can plant, how many calories they will yield, and how well they will sustain his metabolic rate. Mark is focused on the biological clock to a great degree because his life depends on it, but it is worth noting that biological processes affect every human’s perception of time. Our days are constantly governed by our bodies need to rest and receive energy. For example, we are more likely to be surprised if a supermarket was closed at 12 pm, but not as likely to be surprised if it was closed at 2 am because we know that our bodies need to sleep at night. Natural rhythms such as eating and sleeping always provide structure to our understanding of time, but humans are forced to pay greater attention to them when they experience a looming threat death like Mark Watney.

Mark’s understanding of each sol is also constantly shaped and reshaped by psychological time. Psychological time is the way that the human’s consciousness experiences time. Psychological time differs from both physical and biological time because it is not directed by a steady pace; the mind can project itself into the future or the past and live there momentarily. As the novel unfolds, it becomes clear that Mark’s perception of time is constantly tugged in different directions by his mind’s ability to simultaneously look forward and back. For example, even though Mark is stuck on Mars for another 400 sols, he emails with Commander Lewis about drinking beer when they get back to Earth. Even though it is subtle, Mark’s response that he “will take [her] up on that beer” illustrates how Mark’s mind navigates beyond his current situation (Weir 149). The moment that Mark thinks about the future beer he will have, he is able to temporarily live in the future. Consequently, Mark’s perception of his current time on Mars is then altered. Instead of perceiving his current situation as indefinite, he sees the sols he spends on Mars as just stepping stones that lie between him and his future on Earth.