WHY ROOT FOR A CHARACTER IN A SURVIVAL STORY?

-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?

A survival story usually creates a sense of curiosity as to how the person affected would use the resources at his or her disposal to survive. We are often eager to know what the character must go through to stay alive, and unconsciously feel empathetic, but most of all it becomes interesting once we know that the character can devise means to keep them alive amidst adverse situations.

When Mark Watney, a NASA astronaut is separated from his crewmates by a strong storm and finds himself stranded on Mars having been left behind, he gets creative and strives to use his knowledge of botany to grow potatoes on the Martian soil so that he can survive and not starve to death. Additionally, the small achievements and progress he makes such as stitching his bleeding wound, starting a small self-sustaining garden in the Hab and grow potatoes for food using his botany background make us believe that he still has a chance to live and hopefully get rescued.

Emotionally, Mark finds comfort by listening to some music the “70s' reruns” and watching what he referred to as “crappy TV shows” to entertain himself rather than worry about being stranded in a place where he was the only human. Despite all the challenges he faces, Mark fights against all odds to lead a closer to normal life. I can relate to this scenario in a way that whenever I feel stressed out, my way of refreshing my brain and staying calm even during hardships is listening to music.

The author makes us care about him by telling us how his family must have felt once told that he did not make it and that he wished they knew that them he was still alive. He also worries that at some point he might run out of oxygen and water.