Mark Waatney Character Analysis
5 points
Mark Watney (the main character), in my opinion, would make a very gook friend. First
Of all, he has a great sense of humor. It’s sarcastic, casual and it’s pretty similar to my own. For example, the way he worships duck tape: “Yes, of course, duct tape works in a near-vacuum. Duct tape works anywhere. Duct tape is magic and should be worshiped.” or in chapter 11 when he questions: “How come Aquaman can control whales? They’re mammals! Makes no sense.”. He is a light-spirited person and if you were his friend you would be sure to share a laugh with him. Secondly, even though he hardly has real interaction with any other humans in the book, you can tell that he is a nice and understanding person because of the way that he is immediately concerned about his parents when he finds out that he is stranded on Mars. He forgives his crewmates as soon as he realized that they had left him on mars. He knew that they did …show more content…
the right thing to survive and had no hard feelings. Lastly, since he is an astronaut, we could have very interesting conversations. Since I was little, I have wanted to become an aerospace engineer (that was part of the reason that I took this book anyways). Because of what he does, we would have one more thing to talk about.
-20 points-
To the beat of “ the wheels on the bus”
The Ares 3 team landed on mars, mars, mars. Mars mars. Mars, mars, mars. The Ares 3 team landed on mars, mars, mars, but there was a storm.
It’s traveling at 105 miles per hour, miles per hour miles per hour miles per hour. We now have to evacuate. But Mark Watney was left behind.
The only way for him to survive vive, vive, survive vive, vive, survive vive vive. The only way to survive is to wait for the Ares 4 missions.
He planted potatoes on mars, mars, mars, mars, mars, mars, mars, mars, mars. He planted potatoes on mars, mars, mars and now stands a chance.
After reviewing photos of Mars, Mars, Mars, Mars, Mars, Mars, Mars Mars Mars. After reviewing pictures of Mars, Mars Mars, NASA realizes that Mark is still alive.
Mark must find a way to communicate with NASA communicate with NASA communicate with NASA. Watney must find a way to communicate with NASA so he goes and finds the Pathfinder.
The rest of the Ares 3 crew decided to come back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back the rest of the Ares 3 crew decides to come back, back, back to save Watney.
Mark goes on a 90 solo trip to Schiaparelli. Schiaparelli, Schiaparelli, Schiaparelli, Schiaparelli, Schiaparelli, Schiaparelli, Schiaparelli, Schiaparelli, Mark goes on a 90 Sol trip to Schiaparelli, to get saved by his team mates.
-25 points-
I was wondering if it was really possible for Mark to grow plants on Mars. I picked this subject because it seems a little far-fetched that a man could grow living organisms in space. And since the potatoes are his only food source for several years, It’s an important part of the novel.
One of the biggest problems of growing crops in space is the lack of gravity. On Mars, the gravity is actually not an issue. It may be a lot less than the levels on earth, but it is enough to keep the plants growing upright and to keep water flowing to their roots.
What about the soil? Wouldn't there be a deficiency of the essential plant
nutrients?
Well, surprisingly, no. According to NASA, the Martian soil has all the micronutrients and micronutrients the potatoes would have heeded. Plus, to enrich the soil, watney reused his and his old crew mates poop to add other nutrients to the soil. It Turns out that we already use human faces that go through an intense cleaning process as manure in most farms across the world. But the poop that mark has has not been turned into biosolids. This means that it might contain pathogens. We are immune to our own pathogens, but other’s could make you really sick. Watney could not use this as fertilizer because if there are pathogens in the soil, then they could get passed on to the plants growing in it. But the fact that he is in space saved him yet again. The poop would have been freeze-dried because mares can get down to minus 125 degrees Celsius and so all the pathogens would have died.
Wait… what about actually surviving on almost nothing but potatoes? Well, surprisingly
Enough, it is possible. They are pretty high in almost all the nutrients that the human body needs, except for vitamins A, B12, E, and calcium. In fact, a man named Chris Voigt decided to go on a diet of eating only potatoes for 60 days, and he was fine (except for the fact that he lost 21 pounds, but maybe that was his goal)! But, you're not going to find it pleasant. On day 3 of his blog, he says “ It has finally sunk in that I’LL BE EATING JUST POTATOES FOR 57 MORE DAYS.”
-40 points-
Sol 7
I (Commander Lewis) am super bummed. Today there was a huge sandstorm. It had 105 kilometers per hour winds, and we had to abandon the mission. Watney is not here, though, and it's pretty much a hundred percent my fault. One second he was there right beside Johansson, and the next he wasn't. Something must have hit him, or the wind was too rough. Or maybe he just fell. It doesn't matter, though. He's still dead and I can hardly stand the thought of him screaming for help with no one to answer.
I tried to look for him after the rest of the crew got safely into the MAV, but after a few minutes I knew it was either his wife or both of ours, and so now we launch in 3, 2, 1.
Sol 42
The crew keeps on reminding me of Sol 7. They keep on reminding me that it was the “ best choice I could have made as Captain” and that it “ for the best of the rest of the crew” and all These other lies. But I guess I am starting to accept what I did more every time they say it. But God, I can't get him out of my head.
Johansson has been the most helpful. But that's probably due to the fact that she is the only other female here. She seems to be able to tell when I’m thinking about what happened and will remind me that I have to leave the rest of us back home and will tell me to snap out of it. That seems to put me in place for a while. Or sometimes, she'll just sit next to me and we'll spend a few minutes in silence. So now to keep my mind off of what happened, I'm blasting Abba into my ears. It doesn't let me concentrate on much else.
Sol 142
The whole crew of the Aries 3 is on board with the plan to save Watney. We have already changed the course of the ship to follow the plan. The idea behind this is pretty complicated, and writing in space is a lot harder than you would think, but I will say that it's called the Purnell Maneuver, and I'm excited as heck to do it. But I do have my doubts.
And so we needed a backup plan. If NASA does not end up sending us the extra resources we will need for the trip back to Mars, Beck, Vogel, Kapoor and I will take the pills as soon as possible. And We're kind of going to die. This will enable Johansson (the smallest and she needs the least resources) to extend the existing food supply, and for her to have extra food if it's needed. (I bet she’ll eat Beck first. We all know her favorite type of food is Mexican). So that'll suck, but we hope that it won't come to that. We will keep thinking happy thoughts and are all excited to be coming back to Mars.
Sol 549
He's back! Mark Watney is back. Beck pulled him in about 4 hours ago. Right now, he's drinking coffee back where we store the food. Right before I left to go to bed (and to write this) he was muttering about something called “Nothing tea”. Well, I guess you can't go on saving people who have been on a planet alone for 2 years without expecting them to be a bit crazy.
I could hardly recognize him when he came in. He had a huge beard, his teeth were completely rotted and he has lost at least 30 pounds. But I know, even if he has gone a bit crazy, that this mission will be a lot more fun now that he's here.
Mark Watney (the main character), in my opinion, would make a very gook friend. First
Of all, he has a great sense of humor. It’s sarcastic, casual and it’s pretty similar to my own. For example, the way he worships duck tape: “Yes, of course, duct tape works in a near-vacuum. Duct tape works anywhere. Duct tape is magic and should be worshiped.” or in chapter 11 when he questions: “How come Aquaman can control whales? They’re mammals! Makes no sense.”. He is a light-spirited person and if you were his friend you would be sure to share a laugh with him. Secondly, even though he hardly has real interaction with any other humans in the book, you can tell that he is a nice and understanding person because of the way that he is immediately concerned about his parents when he finds out that he is stranded on Mars. He forgives his crewmates as soon as he realized that they had left him on mars. He knew that they did …show more content…
the right thing to survive and had no hard feelings. Lastly, since he is an astronaut, we could have very interesting conversations. Since I was little, I have wanted to become an aerospace engineer (that was part of the reason that I took this book anyways). Because of what he does, we would have one more thing to talk about.
-20 points-
To the beat of “ the wheels on the bus”
The Ares 3 team landed on mars, mars, mars. Mars mars. Mars, mars, mars. The Ares 3 team landed on mars, mars, mars, but there was a storm.
It’s traveling at 105 miles per hour, miles per hour miles per hour miles per hour. We now have to evacuate. But Mark Watney was left behind.
The only way for him to survive vive, vive, survive vive, vive, survive vive vive. The only way to survive is to wait for the Ares 4 missions.
He planted potatoes on mars, mars, mars, mars, mars, mars, mars, mars, mars. He planted potatoes on mars, mars, mars and now stands a chance.
After reviewing photos of Mars, Mars, Mars, Mars, Mars, Mars, Mars Mars Mars. After reviewing pictures of Mars, Mars Mars, NASA realizes that Mark is still alive.
Mark must find a way to communicate with NASA communicate with NASA communicate with NASA. Watney must find a way to communicate with NASA so he goes and finds the Pathfinder.
The rest of the Ares 3 crew decided to come back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back the rest of the Ares 3 crew decides to come back, back, back to save Watney.
Mark goes on a 90 solo trip to Schiaparelli. Schiaparelli, Schiaparelli, Schiaparelli, Schiaparelli, Schiaparelli, Schiaparelli, Schiaparelli, Schiaparelli, Mark goes on a 90 Sol trip to Schiaparelli, to get saved by his team mates.
-25 points-
I was wondering if it was really possible for Mark to grow plants on Mars. I picked this subject because it seems a little far-fetched that a man could grow living organisms in space. And since the potatoes are his only food source for several years, It’s an important part of the novel.
One of the biggest problems of growing crops in space is the lack of gravity. On Mars, the gravity is actually not an issue. It may be a lot less than the levels on earth, but it is enough to keep the plants growing upright and to keep water flowing to their roots.
What about the soil? Wouldn't there be a deficiency of the essential plant
nutrients?
Well, surprisingly, no. According to NASA, the Martian soil has all the micronutrients and micronutrients the potatoes would have heeded. Plus, to enrich the soil, watney reused his and his old crew mates poop to add other nutrients to the soil. It Turns out that we already use human faces that go through an intense cleaning process as manure in most farms across the world. But the poop that mark has has not been turned into biosolids. This means that it might contain pathogens. We are immune to our own pathogens, but other’s could make you really sick. Watney could not use this as fertilizer because if there are pathogens in the soil, then they could get passed on to the plants growing in it. But the fact that he is in space saved him yet again. The poop would have been freeze-dried because mares can get down to minus 125 degrees Celsius and so all the pathogens would have died.
Wait… what about actually surviving on almost nothing but potatoes? Well, surprisingly
Enough, it is possible. They are pretty high in almost all the nutrients that the human body needs, except for vitamins A, B12, E, and calcium. In fact, a man named Chris Voigt decided to go on a diet of eating only potatoes for 60 days, and he was fine (except for the fact that he lost 21 pounds, but maybe that was his goal)! But, you're not going to find it pleasant. On day 3 of his blog, he says “ It has finally sunk in that I’LL BE EATING JUST POTATOES FOR 57 MORE DAYS.”
-40 points-
Sol 7
I (Commander Lewis) am super bummed. Today there was a huge sandstorm. It had 105 kilometers per hour winds, and we had to abandon the mission. Watney is not here, though, and it's pretty much a hundred percent my fault. One second he was there right beside Johansson, and the next he wasn't. Something must have hit him, or the wind was too rough. Or maybe he just fell. It doesn't matter, though. He's still dead and I can hardly stand the thought of him screaming for help with no one to answer.
I tried to look for him after the rest of the crew got safely into the MAV, but after a few minutes I knew it was either his wife or both of ours, and so now we launch in 3, 2, 1.
Sol 42
The crew keeps on reminding me of Sol 7. They keep on reminding me that it was the “ best choice I could have made as Captain” and that it “ for the best of the rest of the crew” and all These other lies. But I guess I am starting to accept what I did more every time they say it. But God, I can't get him out of my head.
Johansson has been the most helpful. But that's probably due to the fact that she is the only other female here. She seems to be able to tell when I’m thinking about what happened and will remind me that I have to leave the rest of us back home and will tell me to snap out of it. That seems to put me in place for a while. Or sometimes, she'll just sit next to me and we'll spend a few minutes in silence. So now to keep my mind off of what happened, I'm blasting Abba into my ears. It doesn't let me concentrate on much else.
Sol 142
The whole crew of the Aries 3 is on board with the plan to save Watney. We have already changed the course of the ship to follow the plan. The idea behind this is pretty complicated, and writing in space is a lot harder than you would think, but I will say that it's called the Purnell Maneuver, and I'm excited as heck to do it. But I do have my doubts.
And so we needed a backup plan. If NASA does not end up sending us the extra resources we will need for the trip back to Mars, Beck, Vogel, Kapoor and I will take the pills as soon as possible. And We're kind of going to die. This will enable Johansson (the smallest and she needs the least resources) to extend the existing food supply, and for her to have extra food if it's needed. (I bet she’ll eat Beck first. We all know her favorite type of food is Mexican). So that'll suck, but we hope that it won't come to that. We will keep thinking happy thoughts and are all excited to be coming back to Mars.
Sol 549
He's back! Mark Watney is back. Beck pulled him in about 4 hours ago. Right now, he's drinking coffee back where we store the food. Right before I left to go to bed (and to write this) he was muttering about something called “Nothing tea”. Well, I guess you can't go on saving people who have been on a planet alone for 2 years without expecting them to be a bit crazy.
I could hardly recognize him when he came in. He had a huge beard, his teeth were completely rotted and he has lost at least 30 pounds. But I know, even if he has gone a bit crazy, that this mission will be a lot more fun now that he's here.