28 pages • 56 minutes read
Ray BradburyDark They Were, and Golden Eyed
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1949A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Literary Devices
Personification
Personification is a literary device that ascribes human qualities to nonhuman things. The Martian landscape is so foreign and strange to Harry Bittering that he thinks of the planet like a person, describing it as if it had agency of its own. After the nuclear bomb hits New York and the colony becomes stranded on Mars, Harry reflects that “this was the moment that Mars had waited for. Now it would eat them” (634). While he knows there are no Martians left on the planet to cause them harm, Harry feels as if the planet itself is antagonistic toward the Earth people and wants to devour them. Later, Harry speculates to his wife, “[M]aybe we’re children too. At least to Mars” (640). Again, there is a sense that the planet is perceiving them in some way, and that the changes that it is inflicting on them are active and intentional. This is in keeping with the way the story depicts The Meaning of Names; the Martian language seems to emanate from the landscape rather than merely describe it, suggesting that the planet and its features have personalities of their own.
Repetition
Much of the characters’ dialogue and thought exhibits repetition, which serves to accentuate themes around naming and contributes to the story’s conversational tone. When Harry tells his wife that the plants growing in the garden have changed, he says “[T[he roses. The roses. They’re turning green!” (635). This dialogue mimics the informality of everyday speech. Repetition also characterizes Harry’s thoughts. After Laura brings the news of the atom bomb, Harry thinks, “No way back. No way. No way” (633). The repetition here makes it clear that this is Harry’s internal monologue because it reads like speech; it also conveys his emotional response to the news, which eclipses all other thoughts and feelings.
Vignette
“Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed” is episodic in nature, jumping from one scene to the next. After the opening scene of arrival, the narrative moves to the Bitterings’ daily life in the village, then to the news coming of the atomic bomb, then to Harry gardening, etc. Such scenes often read as vignettes; as standalone episodes, they have little in the way of plot, but they create an impression of the story’s alien setting and the characters’ uncertain place within it. Besides allowing Bradbury to cover a lengthy stretch of time in a short story format, these vignettes support the depiction of time itself. It is often unclear how much time (if any) has passed in between scenes, creating a dreamy effect not unlike the temporality of Mars, which is both timeless and ephemeral where human time is regimented and forward-looking.
Third-Person Limited Narration
While told in the third person, the story gives access to Harry’s thoughts alone, which cements him as the main character and makes his perspective primary. For example, after the atom bomb has hit New York, the narration continues, “As long as the rockets had spun a silver web across space, he had been able to accept Mars. For he had always told himself: Tomorrow, if I want, I can buy a ticket and go back to Earth. But now: The web gone […] What would happen to him, the others?” (634). While it is not expressly indicated, it is clear that Harry’s direct thoughts are here being conveyed. This grants the reader access to his perspective in a way that allows his voice to dominate the otherwise third-person narration.
As Harry spends much of the narrative panicking about what is happening to him and his family, the use of third-person limited encourages readers to share his views on Change as Death, Change as Survival. Although the story ultimately suggests that change is inevitable and perhaps even positive, the choice of perspective therefore strikes a slightly discordant note: Harry’s voice is so defined by anxiety and activity that the mellowing of his tone registers as a loss of self, reminding readers that the settlers’ transformation comes at a price.
Related Titles
By Ray Bradbury
