The Martian: Why Do We Care?

What makes us root for a character to live in a survival story? In what ways do you identify with Mark? How does the author get you to care about him?

The reason why we become so invested in movie characters is because it is our natural instinct to put ourselves in the shoes of the main character. We wanted Mark to succeed because we see ourselves in him. Not only is it human nature for us to empathize with an underdog, such as Mark, but it becomes almost impossible not to as Mark’s personality starts to show through his difficulties. Aside from this, the author never made Mark seem angry at the rest of the crew for leaving him which helps us like him more because he did not come off vengeful or bitter about the situation. Mark was a happy-go-lucky guy that zealously worked through his problems no matter how grave they seemed at the time. He was simple, he wanted to get back home so that his parents knew that he hadn’t died on Mars. He planned to do so by utilizing his knowledge of botany and engineering to get out of every problem. Although at times it was hard to follow the scientific explanations for what was happening, it was Mark’s attitude that made everything seem alright. Because of how scientific the book became at some points and because Mark’s undefeatable will to survive I found it very hard to relate to him being that I would have given up right away, but that’s probably why he’s an astronaut and I am not. Aside from this, although Mark’s problem was being stranded on Mars, I found that I related with the feeling of isolation and complete independence the most. I believe that most humans are truly afraid to die alone, and I think that’s why we were all rooting for Mark to find a way back home. In a way, we were looking for him to beat out one of our biggest fears.