Dumb Martian

Short Story: Dumb Martian Plot overview: Duncan Weaver purchases a Martian (Lellie) to be his companion for a 5 year
appointment to an outpost (Jupiter IV/II) in space where he will be stationed alone. He pays more than hes hoped in his negotiations for her and discovers that he will also have to pay an additional amount in extra rations to feed her, clothe her, anti-gravity cooking lessons, etc. and also that he is forced to marry her due to anti-slavery legislation. A sum total of 2,360 pounds, which he attempts to justify, but ultimately complains about given that he considers her dumb. They arrive at the weigh station and are shown around the station by the previous station manager, who notices Lellie with interest. As the ship pulls away, Duncan has a moment of deep reflection where he asks whats it all about, but then shrugs off the weighty feeling. As times passes on the station, Duncan grows more irritated with Lellie and at one point, smacks her across the room for saying Yeth, not yes. He continues to attempt to make her act and look more human by forcing her to smile. After 8 months a scientist named Dr. Alan Whint arrives to for a lengthy stay to conduct a geologic survey. He treats Lellie very well, even teaches her to read. Duncan is annoyed with his efforts to pt ideas into lelies head and they argue about her intelligence. Alan calls Duncan a goddam bully, noticing Lellies bruising. Alan continues to educate Lellie and go out on his missions. One day he does not return. After 36 hours - beyond the time any human could survive without oxygen - it becomes clear to Lellie that Alan is dead. She withdraws, staring out at the blackness. After a week, she begins to read voraciously and indiscriminately. Duncan begins to teach her practical things including bookkeeping and finance and finds that she is a vacuum cleaner for knowledge and he must revise his opinions of Marts and admit that they are not so dumb after all. The 5 years has come to a close and as the final ship pulls away and before the next ship comes to take them off of Jupiter IV, Lellie locks Duncan outside. He makes several attempts to break into the station, it becomes clear that Lellie has carefully thworted every possible way in. Duncan dies and Lellie tallies up her sums as his widow. Setting: particularly of note is the description of the universe when they arrive at the way station and of the juxtaposition of the vastness to Duncans own existence, as he notes that he is a mere speck in it. Narration: A good deal of the narration is from Duncans point of view, in 3rd person narration. We hear his thoughts What a bitch! There is a brief shift to Lellies pov after Duncan dies. POV: Characters: Duncans character is revealed in his preoccupation with Lellies cost and in that key scene as the ship pulls away. He is shallow. But he is also a bully and abuses Lellie. Lellies gentle, delicate, child like, physical descriptions help establish her as a character who is easily bullied and needs protection. Ironically it is her intelligence threatens Duncan and he initially thinks she is du b yet she ulti ately is able to kill hi not with her hands, but with her wits and intelligence.
interaction between characters: the way she moved and her gestures, and her silly pidgintalk when she talked, and her self-contained silence when she didnt, and her withdrawnness, and all her differentness, and the fact that he would have been 2,360 better off without her. But he especially is annoyed with how she makes no attempt to remedy for shortcomings. but did she, hell! Her left eyebrow made her look like a sozzled clown He attempts to make her fix her face and hair like a real woman for crysake so that she will stop looking like a bloody mermaid !he relationship between Lellie and "lan is signi#icant as he is her teacher and liberator. Theme: wo ens e ancipation is stated in the story when Lellie asks "lan what it eans. $ertainly slavery and wi#e battery are easily developed. %ducation is another strong the e, especially the di##ering #or s o# &ractical and Book education. Duncan teaches her the practical workings o# the station which she ulti ately uses against hi and "lan teaches her how to read, where she gathers the knowledge she needs to uses to beat hi . Intelligence is also another the e. He is unable to 'read( her #ace, but she is able to understand his e otions and knows when she regains his trust. The Title: Irony is clearly used in this title as Lellie is not du b. It also sets us up #or the point o# view the narration is pri arily told #ro . Writers effects: to be aware o# the writer at work, how e##ects are achieved through literary eans, including: use o# words)diction structure recurrent i agery irony #oreshadowing and parallelis in the plotting What the text is about: to e*perience the literary te*t as a whole, with each o# the above relating to the other ite s. Articulating responses to questions on all o# the above: to be able to co e*perience in di##erent types o# essay. unicate this
Noteworth !xtracts: !he opening e*tract where Duncan discusses Lellies costings +p. ,-. establishes that he sees her only as a co odity. !he e*tract on page /-0/1 clearly shows both verbal and physical abuse o# Lellie by Duncan. 2ote the use o# italics, and the angry word choice. !he e*tract weve already covered. p -3 reveals a #ew shi#ts in work out. ood in Lellie and Duncan and re4uires knowledge o# te*t to

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Short Story: Dumb Martian Plot overview: Duncan Weaver purchases a Martian (Lellie) to be his companion for a 5 year

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