Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed

The title of this blog is the title of a short story by Ray Bradbury. The story is set on Mars in the future after an atomic war causes many people to flee Earth in hopes of colonizing a new planet. While on the planet, a nuclear bomb destroys New York City and any space ships that could possibly carry the humans back to Earth.

The main character is Harry Bittering who, along with his wife Cora and three sons, are among those most recent inhabitants of Mars. Harry begins to notice some unsettling (to him) changes taking place in his surroundings and to other characters. The cow grows a third horn and the grass becomes purple~but it seems to only bother Harry. The other Earthlings are beginning to refer to a visible mountain range by its Martian name and even his children want to be called by their Martian names. All of this terrifies Harry so much that he begins building a rocket ship to carry him and his family back to Earth. But Harry eventually abandons the idea as his family slowly assimilates to the Martian environment~they become very dark skinned, tall, thin, and golden-eyed. As Harry physically changes, he also goes through an attitude adjustment. He convinces the other Earthlings that they should move into the mountains and swim in the canals. The humans slowly change into Martians and take up permanent residence in the mountains.

The story ends with a group of American astronauts who arrive a few years later to rescue the humans, but there are no humans~only some friendly Martians who live in the mountains.

I've been reading and teaching this story to seventh-graders for many years, and each time I always make a connection to our own ideas of immigration and assimilation. No, I'm not here to debate the United States' policy~I'll leave that to the politicians. My point is that a single science fiction story can be used to spark a debate over a current issue. Again I'm encouraging my students to make connections with what they read.

The Common Core State Standard Reading Literature 1 states that students will "cite textual evidence to support inferences drawn from the text". As the students read this story, have them keep three sticky notes on how Harry changes over the course of the story; label one "beginning", one "middle", and one "end". Students cite the text identifying how Harry changes during the story. The student will then use these notes to write a response to the story. This strategy will teach students to read with a purpose and to keep notes while they read. Give the students the writing prompt up front~How does Harry change over the course of the story? But remember, while this is the prompt, you are really seeing if students can cite textual evidence.

The Common Core State Standard Reading Literature 3 states students will "analyze how particular elements of a story interact." I think that this one is a tough one; go ahead and tell the students what specific elements to which you are referring: the mood of this story and the elements of science fiction. Ask students to create a "T" chart with one side labeled "Elements of Science Fiction" and the side labeled "Examples in the Story". This strategy also encourages students to cite textual evidence. When teaching mood, have the students list words that give them a specific feeling about the piece~have them keep a list of "mood" words in their journal. Later they can go back and write why that word reflects the mood of the story. Also, ask them to identify how the mood of the story changes over the course of the story.

Use this article "Proof of Martians 'to come this year'" from Scientific American as a nonfiction connection to this story. Also, check out this video from the History Channel called "Mars: The Red Planet." Some students might be interested in reading H.G. Wells's novel War of the Worlds. Students could participate in a debate~one team would research and write about the pros of the life of the Bitterings on Mars and another team would take the opposing view. Using real debate techniques, have students debate their opposing views in front of the class. 

Imagine the research projects that you could incorporate into your curriculum using this theme~students research major space explorations to Mars such as the Mars Global Surveyor, the Mars Odyssey, the Mars Express, and the Mars Exploration Rovers. Have students research the goals of the mission and any other important information. Students could connect this story of exploration and colonization with other attempts at colonization: St. Johns in Newfoundland, Roanoke Island, Jamestown, or Plymouth Colony. Students could respond in writing the theme of why countries explore and attempt to colonize other areas.

If you like connecting short stories to nonfiction to poetry (like I do), then check out this site as a way to connect "Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed" to T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land". If you think that the text is too difficult, you may want to front-load the poem or give them plenty of background knowledge to aid in their understanding.

Melissa