The Illustrated Man

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Colony on Mars”

In this activity, students will use creativity and critical thinking to design a colony on another planet.

What would it be like to live on Mars? In small groups, design a colony on Mars or another planet, making sure to consider several important factors:

• Why would humans want to establish a colony on another planet?
• Is conflict, overpopulation, disease, or natural disaster on Earth to blame?
• Does colonizing present certain advantages that do not arise from some dire necessity to leave Earth?
• What factors should be considered in planning this colony?
• What is it like to live on this planet every day?
• How are weather, gravitation, atmospheric conditions, availability of food and water, and other essentials or elements of nature different from Earth?
• What will humans need to live comfortably and sustainably on this planet?
• How can necessary resources be secured for current and future generations?
• How can colonizing on this planet generate new resources or ways of living?

Each group will present their colony to the class through an appropriate medium, such as a poster or slide presentation. After presentations are complete, compare and contrast the ways in which your peers have addressed the assignment. Then, in a class-wide discussion, consider the pros and cons of space exploration and colonization.

Teaching Suggestion: The colonization of a neighboring planet like Mars is becoming more of a possibility in the 21st century. As they build their colony, students might consider projects by SpaceX or NASA that have precisely this goal in mind.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. In the Prologue, the Illustrated Man tells the narrator, “Everyone wants to see the pictures, yet no-one wants to see them.”

• How is the speculative fiction of Bradbury’s stories both compelling and disturbing? (topic sentence)
• Discuss three stories from the collection, highlighting their ambivalent qualities to show how the stories draw the reader in while also disturbing them.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, evaluate the value of these stories for the reader. What message is the author trying to convey?

2. Dysfunctional relationships, especially dysfunctional familial relationships, abound in the stories collected in The Illustrated Man.

• What causes relationships between people to become dysfunctional? (topic sentence)
• Consider three stories from the collection that highlight dysfunctional relationships and discuss the causes of their dysfunction.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, reflect on what the dysfunctional relationships in these stories might illustrate about Bradbury and his perception of healthy relationships.

3. When Bradbury published The Illustrated Man in the early 1950s, space exploration was a new and rapidly growing field.

• What role does space exploration play in the collection? (topic sentence)
• Consider different angles from which Bradbury explores space travel, including cultural, technological, political, and military angles, citing specific stories in your response.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of space exploration as imagined in the collection.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by textual details, and a conclusion.

1. In a few of his stories, especially “The Other Foot,” Bradbury addresses the thorny issue of race relations. Consider the ways in which Bradbury addresses and suggests solutions for race relations. How are these issues still relevant today? In what ways are Bradbury’s ideas outdated or in need of modification?

2. Books—and book bans—feature prominently in several of Bradbury’s stories, especially “The Exiles.” What gives literature its power? What motivates censorship in the stories? What are the dangers that arise as a result? What stance does Bradbury take on the relationship between literature, power, and censorship?

3. In “The Rocket,” Fiorello Bodoni instructs his children on the best way to make the most of their (imaginary) space flight: “Listen. Keep your ears clean. Smell the smells of the rocket. Feel. Remember.” Reflect on Bradbury’s sensory techniques throughout the collection. How does Bradbury use sensory experience to characterize future society, space travel, or life on other planets? What kind of sensory experiences are particularly prominent in the collection, and what are the author’s intentions in making these choices?

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. What does the Illustrated Man mean when he says, “Everyone wants to see the pictures, and yet nobody wants to see them” (Page 2)?

A) That the tattoos never live up to people’s expectations

B) That people are drawn to the tattoos, but they are also repulsed by them

C) That people want to see the tattoos, but they are hidden from them

D) That people do not understand what they are seeing when they look at the tattoos

2. In “The Veldt,” why do George and Lydia Hadley threaten to lock up the virtual reality nursery?

A) Because they are afraid it is exacerbating their children’s neuroses

B) Because it is too expensive

C) Because virtual reality is illegal

D) Because they want to buy a new house

3. In “The Other Foot,” what does Hattie fear Willie will do to the visitor from Earth?

A) Give him a position of power

B) Introduce him to her children

C) Let him live on Mars

D) Lynch him

4. In “The Man,” why does Hart leave Mars?

A) To live out his insanity alone

B) To stop his rivals

C) To return to Earth

D) To find “the Man”

5. In “The Long Rain,” what causes Pickard to go insane?

A) Boredom

B) Lack of food

C) The constant rain

D) The heat

6. In what way is “The Rocket Man” unique within the collection?

A) It has a happy ending.

B) It is the only story told in first-person point of view.

C) It takes place in the future.

D) It takes place in the present.

7. In “The Last Night of the World,” how do the husband and wife decide to spend their last night?

A) Like any normal night

B) Looking for a bunker

C) Death by suicide

D) Praying

8. In “The Exiles,” how does the space crew from Earth neutralize the threat on Mars?

A) By bombing the planet

B) By asking God for help

C) By burning the banned books on board

D) By returning to Earth

9. Which of the following quotes from “No Particular Night or Morning” best illustrates Hitchcock’s philosophy?

A) “We don’t like this world of 2155.”

B) “I don’t believe in anything I can’t see or hear or touch.”

C) “You’ve got to learn to hold on.”

D) “I think the only way we can grow and get on in this world is to accept the fact we’re not perfect and live accordingly.”

10. In “The Visitor,” why does Saul Williams abduct Leonard Mark?

A) So that only he can experience Leonard’s telepathic abilities

B) So that he can ransom him

C) To get revenge for Mark’s past deeds

D) To use him as a bargaining chip to negotiate a visit to Earth

11. In “The Concrete Mixer,” what does Ettil Vyre ultimately realize will destroy Martian culture?

A) Human consumerism

B) Human military strength

C) Human diseases

D) Human leadership

12. In “Marionettes, Inc.,” why does Braling’s marionette lock Braling in the cellar?

A) Because he wants to take Braling’s place

B) Because he has fallen in love with Braling’s wife

C) Because he has been programmed to do so

D) Both A and B

13. Why does the city shut down at the end of “The City”?

A) Because its machinery malfunctions

B) Because it has accomplished its revenge

C) Because the explorers from Earth destroy it

D) Because it pities Earth and the explorers

14. In “Zero Hour,” who are the “tall and silly dictators” (Page 241) that the children cannot forgive?

A) The Nazis

B) Their teachers

C) The government

D) Their parents

15. In “The Illustrated Man,” why does the old woman forbid William from looking at the covered tattoos on his chest and back?

A) Because he will not understand them

B) Because doing so will cause him to die

C) Because she is not satisfied with her work

D) Because they will reveal his future

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating textual details to support your response.

1. Summarize the “The Exiles.” What message is the author conveying through this story?

2. How does the death of the Illustrated Man’s wife demonstrate the paradox of free will?