Everything about Green Mars totally explained
The
Mars trilogy is a series of award-winning
science fiction novels by
Kim Stanley Robinson, chronicling the settlement and
terraforming of the
planet Mars through the intensely personal and detailed viewpoints of a wide variety of characters. Ultimately more
utopian than
dystopian, the story focuses on
egalitarian, sociological, and scientific advances in human culture. The three novels are
Red Mars (1992),
Green Mars (1993) and
Blue Mars (1996). An additional collection of short stories and background information was published as
The Martians (1999).
Awards
Plot
Red Mars - Colonisation
Red Mars starts in 2026 with the first colonial voyage to Mars, a crew of the "First Hundred" colonists, composed for the most part of
Russians and
Americans. The book details the construction of the first settlement on Mars, called "Underhill". A debate among the colonists breaks out about the advisability of
terraforming the planet, focusing on the two extreme views personified by Saxifrage "Sax" Russell who believes their very presence on the planet means some level of terraforming has already begun and it should be continued, a viewpoint held by "the Greens", and Ann Clayborne who represents "the Reds" viewpoint that mankind doesn't have the right to change entire planets at their will and Mars should be left in its original state. Hiroko Ai represents a middle ground, believing that a new way of living could evolve on Mars, a philosophy referred to as "Areophany".
The Greens eventually win out, through direct intervention in some cases, and the first steps to terraforming Mars start during the book. At the same time, new towns are developed across the planet, increasingly "open" as new technologies and materials allow pressure to be contained in new ways. However, due to the greed of the
transnational corporations which come to dominate and control the
nation states of
Earth, the new Martian towns become overcrowded and undermaintained. Several cases of
sabotage of terraformation infrastructure occur, blamed on anti-terraforming forces. The situation results in a violent
revolution in 2061, in which many of the First Hundred are killed, and much of Mars' infrastructure, notably the
space elevator, and
Phobos, are destroyed. Most of the surviving members of the First Hundred are forced into hiding in the "underground", in this case a literal underground shelter created by Hiroko Ai under the Martian south pole.
Green Mars - Terraforming
Green Mars takes its title from the stage of terraforming that has taken place allowing
plants to grow. It picks up the story from
Red Mars, following the lives of the remaining First Hundred (and their children and grandchildren). Hiroko Ai's base under the south pole is attacked by UN forces and the survivors are forced to escape into a less literal underground known as the "demimonde". Among the expanded group are the First Hundred's children, the
nisei, a number of whom live in Ai's second secret base, Zygote.
As unrest in the multinational control over Mars' affairs grow, various groups start to form with different aims and methods. Watching these groups evolve from Earth, the CEO of Praxis Corporation sends his representative, Arthur Randolph, to organize the resistance movements. This culminates into the Dorsa Brevia agreement, in which nearly all the underground factions take part. Preparations are made for a second revolution beginning in the 2120s.
The book follows the characters across the martian landscape, which is explained in detail. As Sax Russell's character infiltrates the transnat terraforming project, the newly evolving martian biosphere is described at great length. A mainstay of the novel is a detailed analysis of philosophical, political, economical, and geological experiences of the characters. The story weaves back and forth from character to character, providing a picture of Mars as seen by them.
Blue Mars - Long-Term Results
Blue Mars takes its title from the stage of terraforming that has taken place allowing atmospheric pressure and temperature to increase so that
liquid water can exist on the planet's surface, forming
rivers and
seas. It follows on from the end of
Green Mars and has a much wider scope than the previous two books, covering an entire century after the second revolution and showing the spread of human settlements across the
solar system — a process Robinson terms the
Accelerando. One major event is a sudden, catastrophic rise in Earth's global
sea levels, caused not by any
greenhouse effect, but by the eruption of a chain of
volcanoes underneath the ice of west
Antarctica, disintegrating the ice sheet and displacing the fragments into the ocean.
Other Elements
The Martians is a collection of
short stories that takes place over the timespan of the original trilogy of novels, as well as some stories that take place in an alternate version of the novels where the First Hundred's mission was one of exploration rather than colonization. Buried in the stories are several hints about the eventual fate of the Martian terraforming program.
The books also speculate on the colonization of other planets and
moons in the
solar system, and include descriptions of cities on
Callisto,
Mercury,
Titania,
Miranda and
Venus. Towards the end of the last book, humans are taking sub-light colony ships to other stars, taking advantage of the longevity treatments to survive to their destinations.
A great portion of
Blue Mars is concerned with the effects of extreme longevity on its protagonists, most of whom have lived over two hundred
years as a result of repeated
longevity treatments. In particular, Robinson speculates on the
psychological effects of ultra-longevity including
memory loss, change, mental instability and
boredom.
Corporations
Transnational corporations, nicknamed "transnats", are extremely powerful transnational corporations that first emerge in the mid-21st century. These multinational corporations have grown so large as a result of
globalisation that they've sufficient economic power to take over or strongly manipulate national
governments, initially only relatively small
Third World governments, but later larger developed governments too. In Robinson's
future history, the transnational corporations hence becomes the inheritor to the
nation-state, continually to attempting to take over competitors in order to become the sole controller of the
interplanetary market. As the Mars trilogy draws to a close, in the mid 22nd century, the transnational corporations are forced by a global
catastrophe to concede more democratic powers to their workforces.
Although there are many transnational corporations mentioned, two play a active role in the development of the plotline. Praxis, a largely benevolent and relatively democratic firm, and Subarashii, which plays a large role in the maltreatment of the citizans of Mars.
Writing style
The author, Kim Stanley Robinson, uses a third person perspective throughout the entire series. We follow a multitude of characters who see the plot from different angles. This gives the reader a broad picture of the developments in the novels. The chapters are separated by "Arch" chapters which mark off the character the reader follows.
Another interesting aspect to his writing style is the protagonist/antagonist relationships. Because the series spans a period of 200 years, there are multiple characters that hold the title of protagonist. In contrast the antagonist position is only filled by one or two characters (depending on the readers perspective) More so, Robinson introduces a unique perspective on the protagonist/antagonist relationship. The transnational corporations which play an integral role in the series also match each other in this bond. Unlike the individual characters, this relationship lasts through all three books.
Robinson also doesn't just use the standard plot graph of build up, climax, and conclusion. The books delve into much more than one plot. Each with its own time line and conclusion. But all of these fall under the great umbrella that defines the Mars Trilogy - the colonization of Mars. Such an example of this is relationships between characters in which end abruptly, only to be touched upon again much later in the story as a 'side note', but sufficiently reminds the reader that it did play a part in the development of the character.
Characters
The First Hundred
The initial colonists from the
Ares
John Boone
An American
astronaut, and the first man on Mars. He returns from Mars a public hero, and uses his considerable influence to
lobby for a second mission, this time one of
colonization. Boone received too much
radiation on his first trip to make the second one, according to medical regulations; however, his celebrity status allows him to skirt this. On the second voyage, Boone is one of the 'First Hundred' colonists sent to permanently colonize Mars. His accomplishments and natural charm yield him an informal leadership role. In the first chapter of
Red Mars, John Boone is assassinated by fundamentalists acting under the aegis of Frank Chalmers. The narrative then steps back to the First Hundred's voyage to Mars aboard the spaceship
Ares. His ideas continue as a point of reference for the remainder of the trilogy. Boone's character is complex. In one light, Boone is a stereotypically simple, heroic figure, an everyman hero: his first words on his first trip to Mars are "Well, here we are". He is almost uniformly cheerful and good-natured, and approaches everything he undertakes with hale bonhomie. But later in
Red Mars, Robinson switches to Boone's
point of view, rather than showing him through others' eyes. This section reveals that late in life, Boone is addicted to omegendorph, a fictional drug that's based on
endorphins in the
human brain. In addition, it reveals that at least some of his seeming simplicity might simply be an act designed to further his political goals. Overall, Boone is presented as larger-than-life.
Desmond "the Coyote" Hawkins
The
Trinidadian stowaway. He is a friend and supporter of Hiroko, and a fervent anarchist. Present in
Red Mars only as a shadowy figure who blends effortlessly into the Martian background, he isn't even identified as anything more than "the Coyote" until the beginning of
Green Mars. He becomes a leading figure in the "underground," and an unofficial coordinator of a developing
gift economy.
Their descendants
Since the trilogy covers over 200 years of human history, later immigrants and the children and grandchildren of the first hundred eventually become important characters in their own rights.
Kasei
Kasei is the son of Hiroko and John Boone, father of Jackie Boone. Kasei is the leader of Kakaze, a radical Red faction. His name is Japanese for the planet Mars.
Nirgal
The son of Hiroko and the Coyote is raised communally by Hiroko and her followers in Zygote. He is a good-natured wanderer who eventually becomes a political leader advocating ties with Earth. He stated "FreeMars" and is famous for his running technique that allows him to run all day for days on end. Nirgal was part of a mission that was sent to Earth where he almost died. He was named after a
Babylonian wargod, since the planet
Mars was named after a Roman wargod.
Jackie Boone
The granddaughter of Hiroko and John Boone (raised with Nirgal), emerges as an isolationist leader, presented as manipulative. After an influential political career she steps down from Free Mars and joins an expedition to an
extrasolar planet near
Aldeberan.
Peter Clayborne
Peter is the first human born on Mars. He is also Ann's son. Being one of the first children born on Mars, Peter holds a position of older brother to all the following first generation. Many revolutionary and later political decisions of the MarsFirst movement are influenced by his opinions and judgement. Part time he works as an engineer and a "green."
Zoya "Zo" Boone
She is daughter of Jackie. Via the gerontological longevity treatment, she's feline traits (purring) inserted into her genome. In
Blue Mars, she travels the solar system running political errands for Jackie, although the two don't get along particularly well. Her character is portrayed as hedonistic, making sexual satisfaction a priority and seemingly having little regard for the feelings of others. On the other hand, she apparently has a conscience, risking her life to rescue a man on Mercury and later dying in an attempt to save a distressed flier.
Nikki
She is the daughter of Nadia and Art.
Other characters
Arthur "Art" Randolph
A representative of the Praxis corporation sent to contact the Martian underground movement on a quasi-
diplomatic mission. The Praxis Corporation is an attempt to create a system of "ecological capitalism" based on democratic corporations; like the other "metanationals," it takes on intensive economic and political ties with governments, but Praxis aims for partnerships rather than exploitive relationships.
Zeyk Tuqa and his wife Nazik
They are
Muslim nomads. Zeyk's
eidetic memory becomes a minor plot point.
William Fort
He is the founder of Praxis, one of the huge multinational corporations. He embraces a fusion of Eastern and Western lifestyles.
Quotes
Nirgal: "No hierarchy is worth acknowledging but this one: the more we give, the greater we become."
Zoya Boone: "It's like a rainbow. Without an observer at a twenty-three-degree angle to the light reflecting off a cloud of spherical droplets, there's no rainbow. The whole universe is like that. Our spirits stand at a twenty-three-degree angle to the universe. There is some new thing created at the contact of photon and retina, some space between rock and mind."
Hiroko Ai: "This is home. This is where we start again."
Sax Russell: "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to be a rocket scientist."
Adaptions and uses
Screen adaptions
The Mars trilogy rights were at one point held by James Cameron (External Link
), who planned a five-hour miniseries to be directed by Martha Coolidge(External Link), but he passed on the option. Later Gale Ann Hurd planned a similar mini-series for the Sci-Fi Channel, which has also remained unproduced.(External Link)
On Phoenix spacecraft
The content of Green Mars is included on the 'Phoenix DVD', carried onboard of Phoenix, a NASA lander which successfully touched down on Mars in May 2008. The 'First Interplanetary Library' is intended to be a sort of time capsule for future Mars explorers and colonists.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Green Mars'.
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