The Theme Of Change In Dark They Were, And Golden-Eyed

Change is a touchy subject for some people. Some people are afraid of the risks associated with change. The fear of failing can also be a reason people resist change. The story “Dark They Were, And Golden-Eyed” is a significant story because it teaches people that change is not always bad. The theme of the story is overtime everything changes. The theme relates to the real world because no matter what we do things are going to change. It is inevitable. People change from year to year, day to day, hour to hour. People go from tired in the morning to completely energized by the end of the day. So, it relates to the real world because things do not only change over time in the story, over time everything changes in people's day to day life.
It is vital to make sure all the characters are well thought out and have an impact on the story. The main character in the story is Harry. When Harry first arrives at mars, he is not happy. “The children looked up at him, as people look to the sun to tell what time of their life it is. His face was cold. “What’s wrong?” asked his wife. “Let’s get back on the rocket.” “Go back to Earth?” “Yes! Listen!” ( Lines 11-16) That shows that in the very beginning of the story Harry does not want to be on Mars and he wants to go back. He has a very negative attitude about the experience and situation at first. Once Harry was a little more used to the atmosphere and Mars in general, he starts to forget about things that were once so important to him. In the middle of the story, Harry wanted to find a way home so he started building a rocket by himself. He let his family and townspeople convince him to come back and work on it in the autumn. “ I've got work to do here.” “Work! You can finish that rocket in the autumn when it's cooler.” “... Yes, in the autumn. I’ll begin work again then.” (Lines 442-458) Harry was once so determined to start and finish that rocket to find a way back to Earth but after staying on Mars for an extended period of time, his values start to change. Not only has his values changed but his speech also starts to change. “Iorrt. Iorrt.” He repeated it. It was a Martian word. He knew no Martian.” (lines
In the story, there are 3 main types of conflicts that occur. Man vs. Self, man vs. society and man vs. nature. Harry has a conflict with himself because he debates who he should let influence him and he debates leaving. Harry also has a conflict with the townspeople. The townspeople think that Mars is fine to live on but Harry does not. “...You did hear the news, the other day, didn’t you?” They nodded and laughed. “Sure. Sure, Harry.” “What are you going to do about it?” “Do, Harry, do? What can we do?” “Build a rocket, that’s what!” “...doesn’t it scare you?” “Can’t recall that it did much, Harry.” ( Lines 220-240) The townspeople firmly believe that Mars is a safe place and Harry clearly shows that he does not, when later on in that section Harry refers to them as “Idiots”. The last type of conflict in the story was man vs nature. Nature causes change that Harry resist. Throughout the story, Harry shows he does not want to be there and part of his frustration is occurring because he can not change anything, especially nature. “ We must get away,” said Bittering. “We’ll eat this stuff and then we’ll change-who knows to what?” (Lines 197-198) Harry does not want to eat the food because the food is apart of the nature in mars and he believes something bad will happen if he engages in eating the food. The 3 types of conflict that occurred in the story, relates to the theme because throughout the story