Time is Vital

Andy Weir’s The Martian presents a uniquely formatted story that explores the life of an astronaut that spends his days isolated on Mars.  As mentioned in my previous blog post, Mark notes at the end of a log entry, “After all, I’ve got nothing but time” (40).  This quote perfectly reflects the role that time plays in the novel.  When Mark is accidentally abandoned, he has no way of communicating with the outside world.  The only thing left with him besides his life is time.  The rest of the novel is centered around how Mark uses the time that he is left with.  When left to fend for himself, Mark is exceptionally efficient at managing his time as he calculates how much food he has to sustain himself and devises plans to ensure he can travel outside of the Hab. Weir’s story shows the reader that time is closely linked to survival, while simultaneously manipulating the reader’s experience of time.

            The final chapters of The Martian have an intense focus on the passage of time.  Mark’s log entries are careful marks of the passage of time on Mars, but as his journey to the MAV continues, time is marked in a more interesting way.  Mark records his “Air Days” along his trip (Weir 285).  This detail connects the role of time in Mark’s life to survival.  The time he has left on Mars is closely intertwined with his goal of survival. For Mark, time means surviving; as long as he has time, he can stay alive.  This connection is further illustrated by Mark’s log shortly before his rescue.  He writes, “My terrifying struggle to stay alive became somehow routine” (Weir 341).  Mark’s experience of his daily life on Mars shifted. As time passes and the manner in which he uses time becomes routine, he sees his life in a different way. What was once a horrifying, uncertain future becomes less intimidating. It is reduced to the near neutrality of what most people consider “normal.”

            One final part of the book that is interesting is the manner in which Weir manipulates the reader’s experience of time. The novel begins with only Mark’s logs, moving quickly through the days; we experience time at a rapid pace. Weir slows us down when he flashes back to Earth and NASA, but for the most part, these portions of the novel are quite short.  The end, however, does not follow this pattern. Pages 341 through 367 are paced completely differently than the rest of the book because there are no logs.  Time is experienced as the events are happening, forcing the reader to slow down and become a part of the moment, rather than an observer following past events in Mark’s logs. This change of pace allows the suspense of the end to completely build up, grabbing the reader’s attention and driving them forward to find the ending.