When I was ten, I went on a boy scout camping trip, and got lost. For two hours, I was stuck in the forest with only a water bottle, three granola bars, and a whistle. But this is nothing compared to what Mark Watney faces during his fight for survival on Mars. Mark Watney (engineer and botanist of Ares 3) with his crew of five other people (Beck, Martinez, Vogel, Lewis, and Johanssen), is on Mars, left behind by his crew on accident after a strong wind storm. The crew leaves him behind after presuming him dead, and take the MAV (Mars Ascent Vehicle) with them. As author Andy Weir describes Mark Watney’s epic fight for survival, some important themes that pop up very frequently are fearfulness, perseverance, and interplanetary isolation. Andy Weir, an extraordinary author and programmer, sure knows how to include elements such as suspense and sarcasm in his books very efficiently. The writer of the Martian has led a very interesting life, from 1972 to …show more content…
One time when Andy Weir uses suspense very effectively is when he uses foreshadowing to describe what happens to AL102 (airlock 1) after the storm: “Every time the astronaut used the airlock, the strain of AL102 relaxed, then tightened anew. Pulling, stressing, weakening, stretching...” (Weir 155). As the suspense builds, readers will be anxious to know what happens to AL102 next. Another time suspense really pops out is when Weir describes what happens to the rover and trailer in third person: “Before the traveller [Mark] could react, the rover rolled onto its side. As it did, the solar cells…flew off and scattered like a dropped deck of cards...The traveller was alive, for now” (Weir 310). The cliffhanger has so much suspense, readers will probably read on no matter what. Whenever suspense is used, it definitely shows Andy Weir’s skill at making perfect cliffhangers in The