Never Leave a Man Behind - McAleenan

Ryan McAleenan 

Dr. Anthony  

First Year Experience  

February 7, 2018  

The Martian 

In the Novel The Martian written by Andy Weir readers can easily be emotionally invested to the character Mark Watney. Waking up on Mars after you should've died by a piece of debris in a storm would be incredibly difficult. First thought that went through Mark's mind was probably an expletive word then " I'm going to die"; that would be anyone's reaction if they were in Mark's position. As a reader, you can root for Mark because of the adversity he must overcome. Deciding how to survive with rationing food and water; he had to figure out how to be able to drive around Mars in a rover that would eventually run out of fuel. He found out how to make the rover last longer. He made his own garden with organic potatoes. Mark Watney was able to do what every person hopes he or she could do in a time of adversity and survival. It is easy to root for the return of Mark Watney to earth even though on many occasion it seemed unpromising. Also, I believe Marks story is very much relatable in some circumstances to people today. Many times, people feel lonely at some point or another; just like Mark Whitney felt when he was one Mars. However, Mark did have the whole country constantly wanting updates on his return to Earth.  Everyone wants to feel wanted by people such as Marks crew mates wanted to get him back with every piece of their heart. Marks crew mates felt very much responsible for leaving him on Mars when they thought he was dead, however they came back and did everything they could to rescue Mark in space. His crew mates are just as much of a hero as Mark is by surviving on his own and returning to earth.