Before
Mr. Xxx committed suicide, these were his last words. Although Captain Jonathan
Williams and his crew made a successful journey to Mars, the Martians thought
they were psychologically troubled patients with astounding hallucinations.
Actually, the tragedy was caused by the Martians' psychologically developed
ability to telepathy. The "normal" earth people reading the script
may feel frustrated at the stupidity of the Martians, or maybe the Martian's
own insanity. However, the actions of the Martians imply that the definition of
insanity can be subjective. People might actually be all insane.
People
like to define other people based on their own grounds. When another person
does an action that seems abnormal in their own perspective, that person is
considered "insane." However, everyone's psychological state is
different; nobody can define if other person is insane or not. Maybe, the
person who is defining others is insane. Then, that person views other
"normal" people as insane. People's mentality is not constant, because
it changes according to the environment. When everybody except that person act
in an different way, that person doubts own normality. There is no boundary
between insanity and normality. Even in the Martian Chronicles, Mr. Xxx,
who was certain of his own normality and the insanity of Martians in the
asylum, is certain of his own insanity after just a few happenings.
Instead of regarding people who have different personalities as insane, people need to learn how to encompass the differences. Everybody is both insane and normal.
Nice commentary on that story. I hope you get to finish the book at some point, assuming you enjoyed the parts we did cover.
ReplyDeleteI think Bradbury was critcizing the McCarthy era of American history when many artists and homosexuals were labeled "insane" by a large section of conservative society. Good work.