The Martian

Andy Weir

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2011

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-5

Chapters 6-10

Chapters 11-14

Chapters 15-18

Chapters 19-22

Chapters 23-26

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Character Analysis

Mark Watney

An American astronaut with the NASA Ares 3 mission to Mars, Watney is a trained botanist and mechanical engineer. On sol 6, he is stranded on Mars, and he spends the rest of the novel solving every problem and working every angle to somehow survive and return to Earth. He is an independent thinker and creative problem solver, two characteristics that, in his opinion, are part of the reason he was chosen for the mission. These characteristics—as well as his resilience stemming from a seemingly innate optimism, and a dark, self-deprecating sense of humor—allow Watney to keep moving forward in the face of a seemingly impossible task: surviving Mars, alone.

Watney is the protagonist, and the bulk of the novel follows him as he works toward his goal. The reader is privy to Watney’s innermost thoughts and struggles through his use of his mission log as a record of his struggle. In the mission log, he is brutally honest about his successes and failures as well as the physical and mental challenges he faces. From the beginning, he steadily works toward surviving, and there is really only one place in the text where he considers just giving up and letting the obstacles get the better of him. Yet even then, this thought lasts only a moment, and in his next mission log entry, he has gotten past the feeling and moved on to solving the problem. Although Watney chafes against the instructions and orders he receives from NASA, he understands and appreciates that so many people on Earth, at NASA, and his fellow Ares 3 crew members, are willing to work tirelessly and sacrifice much to help him in any way they can, and he recognizes that this support from the human community is essential to his success and survival.

Commander Melissa Lewis

Commander Melissa Lewis heads the Ares 3 mission to Mars and commands their spacecraft, the Hermes. Although her character does not directly appear until rather late in the novel, in many ways she is central to the text. On sol 6 of the mission, she is forced to abort their mission due to a storm that threatens their ability to launch from the surface in the MAV. When Watney is hit by wreckage in the storm and disappears, she sends the rest of the crew to prepare for launch and stays on the surface to search for Watney until she is forced to leave, or else risk the deaths of the entire crew.

Lewis feels great guilt over her decision even though no one, including Watney, blames her. Her guilt deepens upon learning that Watney is alive on the surface of Mars. Yet when she is faced with the decision of whether to return and rescue him, she does not force her crew to take action but allows them each to make their own decision when they fully understand what is at stake. Through her actions, Lewis shows herself to be a quintessentially strong leader. She is firm in her decision-making and does not allow anyone to pressure her, yet she’s open to others’ input with decisions and problem solving. She prioritizes the good of her crew and her mission, but she remains cool-headed even as she is emotionally invested in the decision making. Her character gains further complexity as the owner of the data sticks that provide entertainment to Watney throughout his ordeal. It is revealing and surprising to Watney (and perhaps the reader) that she is a fan of 1970s and 1980s disco and American television shows like Three’s Company and Million Dollar Man.

Venkat Kapoor

Venkat Kapoor is the director of Mars operations for NASA. He oversees all Mars missions, including the Ares 3 mission. When Mindy Park sees signs of life at the Ares 3 site via satellite, Venkat is the first person she calls. From then on, Venkat is involved in all discussion and decision making surrounding Watney’s situation. In fact, the reason that Park discovers that Watney is alive is because Venkat requested satellite imagery of the site to assess the status of the equipment that the Ares 3 mission was forced to leave behind. In addition, Venkat is the one to first understand that Watney is traveling to the Pathfinder to contact NASA and works with JPL to put a system in place on their end which will allow that to happen.

Venkat is in an interesting position at NASA in that he is forced to straddle the line between scientist and administrator. Like Teddy, the head of NASA, Venkat is forced to be aware of bureaucratic considerations when making his decisions. However, the welfare of Watney and of the entire Ares 3 crew is his deepest concern. Venkat also plays an important role in NASA’s interactions with JPL and is actively involved in their on-the-ground problem-solving. Throughout the novel, he shows himself to be a compassionate individual who cares deeply about Watney—not just his survival but his mental and emotional state as he struggles on Mars.

The Ares 3 Crew

Rick Martinez, Beth Johanssen, Chris Beck, and Alex Vogel make up the Ares 3 crew, along with Watney and their commander, Melissa Lewis. Each of the crew members serve multiple crucial functions to the mission, and their distinct personalities serve the group dynamic. Martinez, the pilot, is clearly the class clown, and Watney obliquely refers to him as his best friend. Johanssen is a software engineer, and it is her coding skills that enable the Hermes to undertake the Rich Purnell maneuver. Chris Beck is the in-flight surgeon, but he is also the EVA expert, and he is the one who goes out into space to secure the Ares 4 MAV and bring Watney back to the Hermes. Alex Vogel is a chemist and is able to create the impromptu bomb that allows the Hermes to get within range of the Ares 4 MAV to rescue Watney.

One characteristic that the entire crew share is their absolute commitment to the safety and well-being of Watney, They go to considerable lengths and risk to get him, finally, safely aboard the Hermes, including extending their own missions by 533 days. This decision is more far-reaching than just delaying their return home—they are also in a craft, and working with equipment, that was only designed to last about the length of their mission. The potential for accident or system failure as a result of aging equipment is a serious consideration in their decision to rescue Watney. They are all fully aware of this situation, yet every crew member unhesitatingly chooses to return for Watney.

NASA/JPL

Teddy Sanders, Mitch Henderson, Annie Montrose, Rich Purnell, Mindy Park, and Bruce Ng are all central to the action and decisions that are being made on Earth to save Watney. As the head of NASA, Teddy is ultimately responsible for final decision making, but his positions are often complicated by the need to protect NASA and support its future. Mitch, the head of the Ares 3 mission, serves as a counterpoint to Teddy in many meetings. His ultimate concern is the well-being of the mission and the crew, and he serves as an advocate for them in many of the meetings that are taking place regularly at NASA. Annie is in charge of public relations at NASA and deals with the unrelenting media storm surrounding Watney’s predicament. Mindy is the satellite engineer who first realizes that Watney is alive, and she becomes the person in charge of watching Watney’s daily progress and reporting events and messages to the rest of the team at NASA. Rich is a physicist at NASA who comes up with the plan for the Hermes to return to Mars to pick up Watney, dubbed the Rich Purnell Maneuver. Bruce is the director of JPL. He works tirelessly, and seemingly without sleep for the entire length of the book, to make and modify the equipment and spacecraft to address Watney’s situation and bring him home safe, including communications. By portraying such vastly different people working together to rescue Watney, the narrative highlights the theme of community.