Mark Waatney's Dilemmas

Mark Watney is the protagonist of the novel The Martian. Throughout the novel, he has an ongoing list of problems that he has to overcome on a planet that is over 12 light minutes away from Earth. Right away at the beginning of the novel, Mark Watney has a life threatening problem. His crew left him on a deserted planet after a devastating sandstorm. Watney’s side was penetrated by a satellite communication dish. However, his suit was able to save his life and blood from his wound sealed the hole to his suit. The most prominent obstacles were food, communication, and rescue. The next manned mission to land on Mars would be the Ares 4 in 1,425 Earth days. His main goal was to figure out how to grow food on a dry, lifeless planet and ration his meals until NASA could figure out a rescue mission. All of this could never be achieved without communication because of the satellite that broke off during the sandstorm. As Mark learned more about biology on Mars, he figured out how to make fertilizer, water, a suitable atmosphere for growing. To get fertilizer the most disgusting obstacle was using his own and his crewmates’ feces. In the process of making water, Watney had to use hydrazine from the

Each of these moments had a large impact on the result of the story. The sandstorm that left with alone with no communication and no crew was the most significant of the three. This was the event that set the rest story into place and forced Mark Watney to use all of his skills that he trained for. However, the road trip across Mars was the event that forced him to use the most of his knowledge and wit. He needed to keep himself alive for 3,200 kilometers inside of a rover about the same size of a minivan. The ascent from Mars to intercept the Hermes spacecraft was one of the most significant because it was the resolution to the story and it finally brought Mark Watney