A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Introduction
The novel ThePrincess of Mars is a fantastic novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the first in his Martian series. The genre of the novel in the English-language literature was defined as a planetary fantasy. It was based on the scientific hypothesis of the existence of an inhabited but dying world, created by the famous astronomer Percival Lowell. The cycle was popular, having influenced Ray Bradbury. Carl Sagan pointed out that it was the reading of Burroughs’ novels in his childhood that prompted him to tackle astronomy and problems of extraterrestrial life. Traditionally, the book is considered sci-fi, but in the English-speaking world, it is referred to as the subgenre Planetary romance, adjacent to fantasy (action, unlike cosmic opera, unfolds on one planet in the pre-cosmic era). The action of novels of this type takes place on someone else’s exotic planet, including sword fights, monsters, and magic, etc. The civilization of Mars fancifully combines the signs of a developed society and pre-technological (Martians know how to create an atmosphere and have an air fleet artificially, but the army is equipped with cold Weapons, they are divided into tribes governed by absolute rulers).
The protagonist of the novel is JohnCarter with heroic characteristics is a captain of the army of the Confederate States as portrayed in the novel in the time of action of 1866. The various ways in which Carter fulfills his role in the novel makes him the hero, such as his characteristics in the novel demonstrate him as a hero when the defeat of the Confederates in the Civil War. It was his decision that makes him a hero when Carter decided to go to Arizona to extract gold. There many examples in the novel which are discussed below that make him a hero. For example, after a skirmish with the Indians who killed his friend, he is attacked by a strange paralysis, but the hero does not die, and, having found a second body, is on Mars. Initially, he enters the nomadic tribe of the Tarkas one of the races that inhabit this planet. The tribe does not look much like people, are prone to cruelty and lead a nomadic way of life. Carter, thanks to a smaller attraction on Mars, has outstanding physical data and acquires a heroic position in the tribe and the friendship of one of the leaders Tars Tarkas. Soon the Tarkas destroy the airship and capture the beautiful Princess Helium. It belongs to the race of red Martians, similar to people who created a high civilization.
This paper discusses the main character in the novel The Princess of Mars and analyzes factors in the novel that makes JohnCarter a hero. About it, the paper defines the Carter as a hero and then discusses the various ways in which he fulfills that role.
Analysis
Carter’s heroic trait during the wandering Mars: During the wanderings of Mars, Carterheroic qualities imbue Dee Thoris with high feelings, but she was seized by the Prince of Zedong, the eternal enemy of Helium. Thanks to the help of the Tarkas, JohnCarter destroys the Zodang and attaches it to Helium. He marries DejaThoris and becomes the Prince of Helium, but soon a catastrophe begins: there is not enough air on Mars, since the atmospheric station where the air is artificially produced stops. Carter leaves his wife to start the factory but resurrects in the body on Earth, which has lain in Arizona for more than ten years. He remains alive on the Earth in eternal melancholy, contemplating the red disk of Mars. JohnCarter, Captain of the US Army, originally from Virginia. The date of birth is unknown; he is ancient, although always looks like a thirty-year-old. I do not remember my childhood. The height is six feet two inches (188 cm). The author-narrator (identified with Burroughs himself) writes that before his death in 1886, JohnCarter ordered to bury him, without opening or embalming the body, in a crypt that can only be opened from the inside. DeyThoris is the princess of Helium, the daughter, and granddaughter of his rulers Morse Kayak and Tardos Morse (Helium is a second city, ruled by two leaders). An extraordinary beauty, in the first three novels of the series, the storyline about the capture of Dei Thoris into captivity by various leaders of Martian states serves as the main storyline. Tars Tarkas is a representative of the Tara race, their supreme leader. A cruel Martian nomad, distinguished from his fellow tribesmen by his ability to love.
John Carter’s other heroic traits as (model Antonio Sabato Jr., among other things who played in the Scrubs in a successful cameo), captain of the US Special Forces, is looking for terrorists on Afghan villages. Unsuccessfully interfering in the course of the deal between the opium merchants and the owner of one local teahouse, Carter finds himself with multiple gunshot wounds in the field hospital under an oxygen mask. In a feverish delirium, two American military men hang over him, white and black, inform him that he will not survive until the morning, and also that he became a participant in the experiment. He is going to be sent to Mars (not to Mars, which he knows, but to an alternative one, in Alpha Centauri). They show a mysterious flash drive for 16 gigs, where all its genetic information will be entered. John shows them the middle finger in return. Once again recovering, he observes the conversation between the blond blonde in a hayrack (“pinched” in the 80s by porno actress Tracy Lords) and an unpleasant thug with an ugly, wrapped rag, shot in blurry sunny-impressionistic tones. They are talking about whether to save Carter life or finish it off on the spot. As a result, the blonde completes the discussion with a satisfactory quote from the finale of the novel “The Irony of Fate or with a Light Steam.”
Carter’s personality Traits: After all these impressive vision-introductions, Carter discovers himself completely naked, in the middle of a stony desert. Above his head are two moons and unknown purple nebulae. When you try to take the first step, you fly up, like a grasshopper. Moving by those familiar with the source, caused by the difference in gravity, by leaps and bounds, the hero finds behind the nearest rocks lying of eggs and a clothes line with rags. He manages to build himself something like a loincloth … And then he is surrounded by a mob of cabinets Aborigines with horny growths on their heads, clad in plate armor and red shirts. Carter is put on a collar with a chain, introduces the local boss, fat and ugly even against the background of his fellow tribesmen, repeatedly asked to jump still. In the course of a sortie against a whole horde of giant spiders, an American Marine shows that he is not a sly either. Then he is removed from the chain and allowed to eat a wriggling worm, thanks to which the inhabitants of Mars overcome the language barrier. Introduce the hero, and at the same time the viewer, in the course of the matter.
Carter heroic traits make him part of the hostile and wild tribe of the Tarkas, here, on Mars, there are people – these are called Helium, they are ruled by a princess, they oppress them in every way, explaining this by the fact that they care about the good of the planet and only by their efforts oxygen and life are still preserved in it (a little bit of Socio- Political satire for the rage of the day). As proof of this, because of the mountains, there is a Giant Flying Ship painted in diesel-punk flavor. Tarkas are excitedly shooting at him from thin guns, the hero jumps and jumps, observing with his own eyes the Intrigue unfolding on the deck of the burning ship. The young blonde in a hayratnik turns out to be a princess, a type with a wrapped rag of erysipelas – a traitor. Carter captivates the princess; he is produced for valor in the Jeddakhs. The princess, who is fascinating with her armor and high boots, puts the carcass in a cage, Carter is given out a battle harness – to cover up dubious tattoos with hieroglyphics (either the hero’s memory of the service in the USMC or the actor’s own made on vacation in Phuket).
The princess needs to urgently deliver before the eyes of the local fat ugly boss so that he decides her fate. On the road, Carter, with varying success, seeks a common language with the princess (magical worms here, in search of understanding between a man and a woman, are predictably powerless), fires off the unpleasant flying creatures with green insides and makes friends with the Tarkas, field commander. He also learns that the princess’s people are in charge of an air-purifying station, thanks to which the planet has not yet completely turned down, and a giant ship was heading there. The culmination is a conversation with an ugly fat-dressed man, sitting in an environment of many guards and clothed in the bikini of human concubines, in such a chic castle as Conan the Barbarian himself would not hesitate to destroy. As a result of the conversation, Carter, of course, is put in a casemate, his friend is sent to the penal battalion, and the princess is appointed into concubines. In the casemate, the traitor, crocheted with rags, penetrates to the hero. Unwinds them – and who we see! It turns out that the US military also threw it on Mars – for a bribe. Like Carter, having discovered in himself an extraordinary leap, the treacherous drug dealer also fell in love with the princess, and now he is ready to make all sorts of madness for her! For example, to destroy the air purifying mechanism and to strangle all life sprouts on Mars! Burroughs began to write a novel in 1911, not having succeeded in business. The manuscript was completed on August 11, 1911. He concealed his literary works, fearing that this would destroy his reputation.
Conclusion
The hero of the story is JohnCarter, captain of the army of the Confederate States. After the defeat in the Civil War decides to go to Arizona to extract gold. After a skirmish with the Indians who killed his friend, he is attacked by a strange paralysis, but he did not die and found the second body, which is apparently heroic trait of the character. Carter fell into the nomad tribe of the Tarkas is one of the races that inhabit this planet. Tarkas do not look much like people, are prone to cruelty and lead a nomadic way of life. Carter, thanks to a smaller attraction on Mars, has outstanding physical data, and acquires a high position in the tribe and the friendship of one of the leaders – Tars Tarkas. Soon the Tarkas destroy the airship and capture the beautiful Princess Helium. It belongs to the race of red Martians, similar to people who created a high civilization. Carter helps her escape.
Works Cited
Porges, Irwin (1975). Edgar Rice Burroughs. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press. ISBN 0-8425-0079-0.
Slotkin, Richard (1998). Gunfighter Nation.University of Oklahoma Press.ISBN 0-8061-3031-8.
Bleiler, Everett F. (1948).The Checklist of Fantastic Literature. Chicago: Shasta Publishers. p. 68.
Basalla, George (2006). Civilized Life in the Universe: Scientists on Intelligent Extraterrestrials. Oxford University Press US. ISBN 978-0-19-517181-5.
Burroughs, E. R. (2014). A Princess of Mars.Edmedia Publishing.
