62 pages • 2-hour read
Red Mars
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Parts 1-2Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1 Summary: “Festival Night”
Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of death and suicidal ideation.
Red Mars begins after humanity has already colonized the “empty” planet Mars. Long fascinated by the distant planet, humanity made it the focus of stories and legends. Through scientific progress, stories gave way to data and information. When humans arrived on Mars, it ceased to be the powerful figure from religions, myths, and folklore; it “became a place” (14).
Frank Chalmers is the technical leader of the US contingent within the first 100 selected Mars colonists. He disagrees with the views of fellow colonist John Boone, who is famous as the first man on Mars. Chalmers cynically disagrees with Boone’s romantic, religious “lies” (18) that the journey to Mars changed the travelers into fundamentally different beings. During a festival, Chalmers plans to assassinate Boone. He watches Boone’s speech, given under the dome of an enormous tent that separates the people from the hostile Martian atmosphere. Among the crowd are others from the first 100.
Chalmers mingles with the different communities in the small town. The town is home to Swiss and Arab communities, which Chalmers considers well-suited to coexist with one another. He has many allies in the Arab community, even though their culture feels “alien” to him. He signals to a young man named Selim to meet with him later, allowing Selim to believe that the “anti-Arab” Boone plans to betray the Arabs when the treaty governing Martian life comes up for renewal in the immediate future. As the sun sets, Chalmers takes a mix of chemicals from a nearby farm. He knows that, mixed correctly, these chemicals are a slow poison. He works these into a patch and fixes it to Selim, who unknowingly now has six hours to live. Selim believes Chalmers’s arguments that Boone must be stopped.
Later, Chalmers talks to another member of the 100, Russian scientist Maya Katarina Toitovna. They refer to their romantic past aboard the Ares, the ship that carried the 100 to Mars. To Chalmers, the 100 are the only people who seem alive any longer. Everyone else seems like “ghosts.” At midnight, as the planet enters the Martian time slip—a 39-minute period of free time as the Martian clock reconciles with Earth time—a riot breaks out. Chalmers and Maya are interrupted by Sax Russell, a scientist from the 100. He says that Boone has been attacked. Boone’s body is found, and the doctors try to save him, but he’s pronounced dead. Maya accuses Chalmers of never liking Boone, which angers Chalmers. As he leaves the medical center, he takes comfort in his belief that he now controls Mars.
Part 2 Summary: “The Voyage Out”
The narrative flashes back to the colonists’ journey aboard the Ares, following the 100 as they make their flight to Mars. They’re evenly split between men and women, with 35 each from the US and Russia (the two most powerful spacefaring nations) and 30 from other countries. Among the scientists, Michel Duval is the only Frenchman and the only psychologist to join the mission. The 100 are all experts in their respective fields who were rigorously tested for their mental and physical capacity to endure the rigors of the long, dangerous mission. Duval, however, worries about their human tendency to “disguise their real selves” (44).
The narrative begins on December 21, 2026, focusing on the leader of the Russian scientists, Maya Katarina Toitovna. Though she was selected for “her diplomatic ability” (47), she’s hopeful that the mission will be more successful than her failed marriage. Maya tours the Ares, her new home. She thinks about the profound influence of her mother on her life, an example of women’s struggles in Russia’s “tight male oligarchies” (51). Two of Maya’s fellow Russians, Nadezhda Francine Chernyshevski (known as Nadia) and Arkady Bogdanov, discuss the living arrangements on the ship. Arkady believes that the crew should integrate rather than separate along national lines. Thus, they make the ship a “little more cosmopolitan” (52) by breaking from the mission plan.
Maya meets Boone, the first man on Mars. He strikes her as a natural leader and a typical American. Boone is more famous, but Chalmers is the designated leader of the Americans and Maya’s counterpart. She notes some tension between Chalmers and Boone. Maya also meets Sax Russell and Ann Clayborne, who vehemently disagree over whether their mission should change Mars’s climate to make it hospitable to humanity. Sax is willing to do whatever it takes to terraform the “dead” (56) Mars, while Ann believes that humanity has no right to change the planet. Sax argues that simply by visiting Mars, humans will change the planet.
Maya reflects on life aboard the Ares. The ship recreates gravity in certain sections and has a complex array of life support systems. To prepare the crew, the Arkady runs many simulations of emergency situations. These increasingly unlikely and dangerous scenarios annoy the crew, but Arkady insists that they must be prepared for the unexpected. Arkady’s “perverse” test scenarios frequently result in the theoretical deaths of crew members. The 100 are respected scientists, but they soon resort to their more human instincts. Many people strike up sexual relationships, though these occasionally end badly. Maya has a brief relationship with Chalmers. Immediately, however, she regrets the affair and ends it quickly, which frustrates Chalmers. Their interactions become “awkward.”
The 100 become better acquainted with one another. Phyllis stands out as one of the few religious people aboard the Ares. She debates religion with Boone, and their debate is broadcast back on Earth as part of regular broadcast updates. On Earth, people follow these broadcasts like soap operas. Noticing Chalmers talking to the Japanese agriculturalist Hiroko Ai, Maya wonders whether he’s deliberately “sowing discord” as part of a power struggle with Boone. When the computer detects a solar flare, the crew huddle in a radiation-proof chamber. Boone was previously exposed to much more radiation than the other crew members. He wasn’t originally meant to be a part of the 1000 due to his radiation levels; after a late dropout, however, his celebrity guaranteed him a place.
Once the 100 gather in the chamber, Arkady speaks loudly about his vision for Mars. He believes that the colonists are no longer constrained by the old rules and laws of Earth, that they should make a “new society” that has greater equality than Earth. The 100 are split in their reactions. Boone questions how someone like Arkady could have passed the psychological tests. Arkady explains that he lied, as many others did (including Duval). The crew survives the solar flare, though some of their animals receive a lethal dose of radiation.
To maintain her mental health after six months in space, Maya helps on Hiroko’s farm. Hiroko is an “enigma” to Maya, but she’ll be vital for growing food on Mars. Arguments become more frequent, so Maya asks Chalmers and Boone whether the mission has too many leaders. Chalmers believes that the ideological gulf is a more pressing issue. While working on the farm, Maya sees someone she doesn’t recognize. She worries that the stranger is a “stowaway” is aboard the ship. Otherwise, she worries, she may be losing her mind, so she worries about whom she can tell.
Maya notes how cliques are forming among the 100 based on “sex and politics” (92). Since so many of the sexual relationships are secret, Maya wonders what else could be hidden. Rumors suggests that the mysterious Hiroko has formed a “male harem” of male partners. Janet, responsible for the broadcasts back to Earth, stops her duties because she feels like an “outsider” (94). She wants to join the crew rather than document their lives. Mission Control isn’t pleased, as the imminent landing will raise vital funds for the project. Chalmers reaches a compromise by suggesting that they use robots to film the mission. Preparations begin for life on Mars, and everyone selects their favored post. Arkady has become the leader of a small group that wants to take the post on Mars’s moon, Phobos. Maya is wary of giving Arkady what he wants, but no one else wants to go to Phobos. Politics, self-interest, and sex threaten the mission’s efficacy.
Maya dreams of the stowaway. As she wanders through the Ares, she meets Boone. They share a sexual encounter, which develops into a relationship. The pairing makes them a powerful political faction as news of their relationship spreads. Maya knows that she doesn’t love Boone but recognizes the political benefits and comradery that the relationship offers. She even tells Boone about the stowaway. He discusses the matter with her, offering explanations, but they don’t solve the mystery.
The Ares arrives above Mars, and the crew discusses their various mission assignments. At a celebratory dinner, Arkady delivers another speech about a “radically different” society. He again advocates for the 100 to ignore Mission Control and build their own utopic society. His revolutionary stance suggests freeing humanity from the mistakes of the past, but not everyone agrees with him. Phyllis is more focused on survival. Duval assures her that the group will unite together, while Sax is more concerned with the mission’s social element. As the 100 split apart on their missions, Maya descends to Mars with Sax, Nadia, Ann, Vlad, and others. She worries that she has failed to keep them unified; they have become “no more than a collection of strangers” (115).
Parts 1-2 Analysis
Red Mars uses a linear, chronological narrative structure except in Part 1. Part 1 of the novel is radically different, opening in the middle of the story. The story of Chalmers conspiring to assassinate Boone and kill the assassin depicts Chalmers as a ruthless, somewhat desperate figure driven to extreme action by the demands of the situation and his hatred of Boone. A chaotic mix of resentment and duty, Chalmers believes that he’s genuinely operating on the principle of the greater good: He believes that killing the first man on Mars will benefit the nascent Martian society. By front-loading this perspective, the novel creates a contrast between how Chalmers and Maya see Boone. In addition, the nonlinear structure creates a contrast between the younger Chalmers and the man he later becomes. Throughout the novel, these shifting perspectives reveal greater nuances about the characters, but they flow in a linear, organized fashion. By breaking the chronology on one occasion and starting the novel with the assassination of the first man on Mars, the novel creates a sense of foreboding over Chalmers and Boone jockeying for power during the early days of the mission. Whatever they achieve, whatever Maya perceives in these men, whom she takes as lovers, their relationships end in tragedy.
After the brief nonlinear introduction, the narrative unfurls in chronological order. This narrative begins aboard the Ares, introducing the main cast in detail. This introduction emphasizes the importance of the novel’s switching points of view. The novel introduces many main characters from the perspectives of other characters, often Maya’s, which creates a certain expectation in readers’ minds. Arkady see Chalmers as a dangerous radical whose dreams of a different Martian future seem outlandish and at odds with the mission. Maya views Arkady as a charismatic oaf with big dreams. He’s a serious figure, but Maya’s experience of Russian culture leads her to associate Arkady with a lineage of blustering ideologues. Chalmers often struggles to understand Arkady at all. Future conversations between Arkady and Chalmers are brief and mutually incomprehensible. However, Maya’s perspective reveals Arkady as a more rounded, more sympathetic character and demonstrates her emotional intelligence.
Later, other characters dismiss Maya as overly emotional, viewing this as a character flaw. From Maya’s perspective, however, the willingness to be emotionally vulnerable is a strength: It enables her to empathize with people from different backgrounds and create a better sense of unity among the crew, particularly in comparison to the withdrawn and acerbic Chalmers. At the same time, however, this disposition creates a problem for Maya by placing her in the center of a romantic tussle between Chalmers and Boone. While the men struggle to navigate this complicated relationship, Maya can exert her power through sex, which introduces one of the novel’s main themes, Fundamental Elements of Humanity That Complicate Colonization. Though more vulnerable, Maya is self-aware enough to reflect on her behavior. Her perspective shows the importance of emotional self-awareness and openness, particularly among a group of scientists who all consider themselves to be rational, reasonable, and right.
In addition, Maya’s perspective lets readers glimpse parts of the journey that she would rarely share with anyone. The brief moment when she sees a stranger, for example, threatens to unravel her mental health. She’s concerned because telling anyone about the stowaway might threaten her power, particularly if no one believes her. Maya was raised in a patriarchal society and, by her own admission, rose through the ranks of a system that often disregarded strong, ambitious women. She knows the danger of having her authority undermined, so she doesn’t dare risk being seen as mentally unstable. Maya is less prone to doubting herself than to doubting those around her. She doesn’t want to give anyone the ammunition to use against her. Later, the presence of the stowaway aboard the Ares is confirmed, validating Maya’s decision.
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