Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Nick Romero
Period 5
The Martian by Andy Weir has many of the stages of the Heros Journey. One stage it
shows is the Ordinary World. Ordinary World is where the hero starts and he or she usually finds
this part unfulfilling. Watney experiences the Ordinary World when walking on Mars or doing
missions with his crew. The regular check-ins and daily tasks NASA makes them do may get
boring at times and is an unfulfilling job to Mark. Watney, although elated to be on Mars because
you only get to do such a thing once in a lifetime, also longs for more. This is represented by
Watneys groans and not wanting to get out of bed after being awoken by his commander,
Watney added his voice to a chorus of groans (Weir 132) and Bad people take pillow,
Watney groaned, unwilling to open his eyes (Weir 133). Mark definitely experiences the
Ordinary World stage in this novel, and it sets up the rest of the stages in the Heros Journey
well.
Another stage of the Heros Journey that Mark goes through is The Approach. The
Approach is a stage where the hero prepares and may mourn the dead. In this novel, Watney is
approaching a major ordeal in which he has a chance of being saved by being picked up in the
orbit of Mars. In order to do this, though, he needs to prepare very much by making adjustments
to different things. These adjustments include modifying rover, In that time, I need to modify
the rover to carry the Big Three.. (Weir 217), make plans for food and water on his trip, and
learn how to navigate the MAV he will have to launch. In the Heros Journey, the hero needs to
make these adjustments and must organize in order to complete his journey. Not only will
Watney have to prepare and plan, but so will NASA and his crew or else he will never make it
back to mankind. NASA and his crew will have to do a lot of math and they must account for
every sol Watney will be on Mars, The flyby is on Sol 549, so Ill need to leave by 449. That
gives me 257 sols to get my ass in gear (Weir 217). The Approach is a key stage in the Heros
Journey. It is where the Hero prepares in order to face the Supreme Ordeal or The Resurrection.
Watney, NASA, and his crew all prepare and work hard in order to be ready for whats about to
come.
Advanced
(10)
Proficient
7.
Partially
(8.5)
Prof. (7)
Unsatisfactory ND
(5)
Critical
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