The Silent Towns Literary Analysis

The short story “The Silent Towns” by author Ray Bradbury explores the concept of being realistic, as it is an important skill that we must acquire, because it can prevent detrimental disappointment. Ironically, the last woman on mars was the complete opposite of Walter's dream woman, Walter kept building an unrealistic,perfect image of Genevieve in his mind of what Genevieve only to be disappointed upon first meeting her. “ Her voice was still soft and cool and sweet, as it had been on the phone. But when he opened his eyes and looked at her...he backed up”. Walter expected an exact copy of the Genevieve he had built in his imagination and was so consumed with the thought that he forgot to consider the other possibilities of what Genevieve
might look like. Thus his disappointed led him to live the rest of his days alone.

The wedding dress was a symbol of Genevieve's unrealistic hope in Walter’s character.Just like Walter, she automatically assumed that he would love her no matter her physical appearance and was disappointed when the real Walter did not correlate with the imaginary Walter "I thought: Well, here I am, the only lady on Mars, and here is the only man, and, well..." She lifted the lid and folded back crisp layers of whispery pink tissue paper. She gave it a pat. "There."

In his short story “The Silent Towns” Bradbury brings to light the importance of being realistic and not being too consumed with our dreams as some of us might not respond positively to the disappointment.