Sara Osborne: Love Vs. Loneliness

Love is a very powerful thing and can be a driving factor for people to do things that they never believed that they could. In the situation that Mark had a romantic relationship on earth there could be two different outcomes from that. One scenario is, he becomes extremely depressed with the fact that he may never be able to see his romantic partner again. In this situation, he could become very lazy and develop a ‘well I won’t see her ever again so who cares’ kind of attitude. This could cause him to lose his motivation completely and just give up. On the other hand, if he did not have anyone waiting for him back home then this could potentially be his mindset anyway. Although, another scenario is that his romantic partner at home is what pushes him to get back safely. Like I mentioned earlier, love can help people do things that they never believed were possible. In this scenario Mark wakes up every single day with the goal that he will live through this situation and make it back to earth once again to see his romantic partner. He would push through every situation of adversity with the assurance that the person that is waiting back home for him is worth it. Even on the days like Log Entry: Sol 200, “I hauled rocks today” (Weir pg. 233), he would do that with the idea that it would help him to get home to his partner. If he did have a romantic relationship this could make the isolation almost unbearable for him. The reason being, he went from being around his romantic partner all of the time to having no companionship at all. Many people believe that loneliness alone can drive a person crazy. Taking away the companionship of someone very close to him could make it happen even sooner.


Weir, Andy. The Martian, Crown: MC, 2014.