A Princess of Mars
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Introduction
Prince of mars is comparable to many other books written in the 19th century. The novel begins with the author discovering a manuscript and remembering his uncle’s memory. Burroughs has used the instrument well to create the legendary of John Cater and later goes direct into the story. The first chapter elaborates John Cater’s journey to mass. He discovers that he is stronger than most people in Mars are. Here Burroughs has portrayed John Cater as a strong character physically who can use his muscles to challenge almost anything (Burroughs, 2010).
Burroughs has used a lot of time describing the outside world and this makes current readers complain that the author is dumping senseless information. There is no need for the reader to complain because this style was even useful in history. At the end of chapter one, John cater falls in love after meeting the princess of mars Dejah Thoris. Burroughs has portrayed John cater as an extraordinary person who is strong and has fallen in love with the princess of mars. Burroughs has portrayed John Cater as an extraordinary person with superior strength, very attractive, intelligent and has problem solving skills. This makes him extraordinary and that there is nothing he cannot do in mars. “It appears as God created Cater from 20 natural people and cater knows how to take advantage of his gift” (Burroughs, 2010). He has established a strategy to transverse in the low gravity of mars. He uses his knowledge of civil war battle in fighting the aliens of different races. The green color of people in mars does not amaze him. John Cater learns to speak alien language despite coming from earth. He was familiar with English as his only language.
It is not shocking that he conquered the conviction of the people around him. He considers the few people who do not like him as evil. The reader knows that Cater will punish them using his sword. The other part of the story is a narration of uniting Carter with Thoris. The two couples separate on the second chapter and the author focuses on bringing them together again (Burroughs, 2010). The author is a leader who leads good aliens against evil aliens. It is interesting to understand that there are honorable aliens as well as evil aliens.
The book is very interesting and world building even though aliens appear more like humans. This is not a failure because most books followed that suit during that time. The author has used the characters consistently hence, the reader cannot stop following the story.
John Cater is a mysterious man from Virginia and a captain who fought in the civil war on the confederate side. During the end of the war, he went looking for gold in Arizona and apaches attacked him. He went to mars miraculously to search for gold. “John Cater disappeared for nine years in mars and people on earth thought that he was dead”. He stunned people when he appeared to settle in a house adjacent to Hudson River. Later he dies and leaves a manuscript for Burroughs, which refers to Cater as his uncle. John leaves his nephew with a manuscript that he is not supposed to publish for anther 21 years. “Cater claims that he does not remember his life before the age of 30 and he has never aged”. He is skilled with a lot of strategy including firearms and weapons. He is physically attractive, with black hair and gray eyes. He is a honorable man courageous and very positive thinking in the inside.
The novel is full of sword fighting and it is an example of 20th century fiction. It is also an example of romantic mars play with science fantasy (Burroughs, 2010). The begging chapters of the book contain western elements. The setting of the story is in Mars and is comparable to a dying desert with harsh conditions. “Mars vision has connections to the works of an astronomer known as Lowell whose ideas were very popular in the 19th and 20th century”. This book became an inspiration to scientist who wanted to discover life out of earth. The novel is a science fantasy but also contains planetary romance associated with swords and witchcraft. Planetary romance is evident during sword fighting and swashbuckling.
The story starts from the west just after the civil war. Carter and his friends are mining gold when Indians ambushed them. Carter escapes to the Top Mountain when his friend was killed but mysterious gases paralyze him. Since he could not move, he desperately and effortlessly looked at his body. It appears as if he has turned into a ghost and has drawn in the red planet. After getting into the planet, he notices that he is more human but has lots of strength that makes him able to walk on low gravity. He has enough energy to fight the aliens. He is strong enough that he fights the aliens without difficulty and reaps off their heads. Carter is daring as he goes to one of the alien’s incubators where he risks his life. “His strength and ability to fight impress the aliens and they decide to take him as a prisoner”. He later learns that the aliens live to fight and respect brutal actions.
Watching John Cater appears to be a disaster since it emanated from confusing circles. The movie has enough visual elements and good production values but its major problem is a lot of story telling. It is difficult to keep track for the many characters that are in the movie. It is quite easy for a person who has read the book princess of mars to understand the movie John Cater. This is because there is direct connection of the movie to the book (Chmielewski & Keegan, 2012). John Cater is a soldier who fought during the civil war but apparently turns to be an animal and uncontrollable. This is partly because of family problems and he is ready to fight anyone and everyone. Circumstances take him to mars where he jumps through the lighter gravity. This ability impresses the fiercest worriers including an energetic princess. “The father’s princess forces her to marry their enemies to create a peaceful relationship”. The overriding question to the reader is whether Cater will be involved in other people’s battles. “This epic production is so physically bona fide that it is tricky to tell whether it is magical”.
This is a challenging movie to understand since there many changes in character. “The biggest edit in the movie is 9-foot tall green aliens that inhabited the world of Barsoom”. The true nature of aliens should be like giant insects with bug eyes. The director of the movie tried to make the aliens appear as humans. Therefore, he made them able to emote. This does not give the real picture of aliens since they do not have the intended impact to the viewers.
Conclusion
Burroughs has portrayed John cater as an extraordinary person who is strong and has fallen in love with the princess of mars. It is not surprising that he wins the trust of the people around him. The few people who do not like him are evil and the reader knows that Carter will punish them through his sword. Burroughs has portrayed John Cater as an extraordinary person with superior strength, very attractive, intelligent and has problem solving skills. John cater is a mysterious man from Virginia and was a captain who fought in the civil war on confederate side. The novel is full of sword fighting and it is an example of 20th century fiction. It is also an example of romantic mars play with science fantasy. The story starts from the west just after the civil war. Carter and his friends were mining gold when Indians ambushed them. Watching John cater appears to be a disaster since it originated from confusing circles. This is a challenging movie to understand since there many changes in character. The movie has enough visual elements and good production values but its major problem is that it has lots of storytelling.
Reference
Burrughs, E. (2010). A prince of mars. Retrieved on May 27 2013 from,
<http://escapepod.org/2010/11/08/book-review-a-princess-of-mars-by-edgar-rice-
burroughs/>
Chmielewski, D & Keegan, R. (2012).Why did Disney’s ‘John Carter’ flop? Retrieved on May 27
2013 from,
< http://articles.latimes.com/2012/mar/13/entertainment/la-et-john-carter-flop-20120313>
