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DARK THEY WERE, AND GOLDEN - EYED

READER’S QUIZ: Some of these statements are true, some are false. Can you

tell which are true, and why the others are not?

1. Mr. Bittering’s first reaction when he landed on Mars was good; he knew

he would like this new life. (False) 

2. After the Bitterings had arrived on Mars, atomic bombs blew up all the

space ships on Earth. (True) 

3. One of the first signs of change that Harry Bittering noticed was the

difference in the flowers on the peach tree.(True) 

4. Harry actually sank down into the canal and stayed underwater like afish. (False) 

5. The Earth people left their town and went up into the hills, but they never 

forgot their origins and who they were. (False) 

GUESSING THE MEANING: Select the meaning that you think is closest to the

meaning in the context for each of these words and expressions. What clues in

the story helped you to make the correct guess?

1. (to be) amiss

a. be very small

b. be out of order; be wrong

c. be expensive

2. anachronism

a. an unusual or interesting kind of vegetable

b. an umbrella

c. a person or thing that is out of place in historical time

3. (to) do something in : A plague did this town in.

a. An epidemic disease destroyed this town

b. A large group of people visited this town

c. Something unknown built this town

4. Foggiest: they hadn’t the foggiest notion 

a. They hadn’t even the least idea: they didn’t know at all. 

b. They had no fog where they were

c. They had fog where they were

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5. Colonial days

a. Holiday times spent with the family

b. School vacations between semesters

c. The period of early settlement in America

QUESTIONS FOR COMPREHENSION

1. Why did Harry Bittering want to go back to Earth?

Because he felt strange in this new planet. The environment of Mars did

that Harry Bittering felt as if the wind flaked away their identity and he felt

submerged in a chemical that could dissolve his intellect and burn away

his past.

2. Why did his wife want to stay?Because it was too late to go back. They had traveled more than sixty

million miles. Furthermore, she thought that one day the atom bomb

would destroy the Earth, so she felt safe in this place.

3. What were some of the changes he noticed in the people and things

from Earth?

One of the first signs of change that Harry Bittering noticed was the

difference in the flowers on the peach tree. Also some vegetables like

onions, radishes and carrots had changed. Finally, he saw his skinbaking brown and he saw the yellow eyes of his wife and his children.

4. How did the react, how did he feel about these changes?

He was afraid for all the changes. He tried to look for the way to go back

to the Earth. It was when he decided to build a space ship with the

materials that he could find in Mars.

5. How did the others feel about the changes?

They don't give importance to the changes that happen around them.

They continued with his life and they made fun of the ideas that Harry

had.

QUESTIONS FOR APPRECIATION

1. The author of this story writes poetically: the rockets had spun a

silver web across space (like spiders spinning their delicate webs).

What are some of the other poetic expressions (similes and

metaphors) that make this story vivid and haunting?

The man felt his hair flutter and the tissues of his body draw tight

as if he were standing at the center of vacuum.

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  They saw the old cities, lost in their meadows, lying like children’s

delicate bones among the blowing lakes of grass.

A river of wind submerged the house.

A few trembling shook him, but were carried off in waves of 

pleasant heat as he lay in the sun.

2. What kind of family life did the Bitterings have?

The Bitterings had a communicative life because we can find in the story

that they talked frequently each other, especially Henry and his wife. This

couple demonstrates confidence when they express your feelings and

worries between them.

3. How did it change finally? Was this better or worse? At the final the story, they show the same confidence but this gets better 

when Harry loses his fear of the changes was produced by the

atmosphere of Mars.

4. What happened to harry Bittering’s fear? (Why did he have it in the

beginning and why did he seem to lose it at the end of the story?)

Henry Bittering's fear changes at the end of the story because in the flow

of days and weeks he forgot the space ship that he was building. He had

accustomed to the atmosphere and he had let to think about it.

5. Is this a story with a happy ending? Why?

In my opinion I think this story don't have a happy ending because Henry,

his family and people that arrived to Mars lost their identities like Earth

people, even when the new tripulation arrived to Mars to rescue them,

they were treated as Marcians.