The Earth Man
"I don't suppose you could even-" suggested the captain. "I mean, that is, try to, or think about..." He hesitated. "We've worked hard, we've come a long way, and maybe you could just shake our hands and say 'Well done!" do you-think?" His voice faded.
Reading this paragraph, I caught the message the author wants to convey in a story about martians: different people can view on the same incidence from incredibly different perspectives. In this chapter, Captain William landed on Mars with his crews as the Second Expedition. When he first lands on the alien planet, he expected warm, amazed welcome from the Martian. Yet, to disappointment, the Martian are not at all surprised or interested in the 'aliens'.
One of the most interesting, and also the most weird thing, in this novel is the reactions of the martian people to the alien explorers. Isn't it amazing to meet a man from Earth? Are they too busy to realize that talking with an alien is, indeed, an abnormal experience?
It is only 'our expectation' that the martians should be stunned to meet an alien or, more basically, should realize that they are experiencing something exotic. To be stunned, one should find something to be stunned; if he can't, he would feel normal and natural. Since the Martian are very used to psychic activities, such as telepathy and false image, they are more likely to mark the earth men with insanity than to accept what they see, hear, and smell. It is only after Mr. Xxx shots all the innocent explorers off, that he recognize that he has been confronted with something more extraneous than mere imagery. I guess the reason why the fabricated village appears in The Third Expedition is that the Martian understand the existence of extraterrestrial beings on the third planet in the solar system.
When I was reading through the first few chapters, I could not understand why so many readers applauded this childish, cheesy, and simple novel. However, now I realize that this novel appeals with hidden creepiness and fresh and distanced perspective toward the civilization on Earth.
