Prince of Mars
Introduction
Prince of mars is like many other books written in the 19th century. The novel begins with the author discovering a manuscript and remembering his uncle’s memory. Burroughs used the instrument well to create the legendary John cater and later goes direct into the story. The first chapter is well elaborated as john cater goes to mass and discovers that he is stronger than most people there and this impresses the natives. Here Burroughs has portrayed john Cater as a strong character physically who can use his muscles to challenge anything (Burroughs, 201o). Burroughs has used a lot of time describing the outside world, making current readers complain of the author is dumping information that does not make sense. There is no need for the reader to complain because this style was used back in those days. At the end of the chapter, one John cater falls in love after meeting the princess of mars Dejah Thoris. Burroughs has portrayed John cater as an extraordinary person who is strong and has fallen in love with the princess of mars.
Burroughs has portrayed John Cater as an extraordinary person with superior strength, attractiveness, intelligence, and problem-solving skills. This makes him extraordinary and there is nothing he cannot do on mars. It appears as if God created Cater from 20 natural people and cater knows how to take advantage of his gift (Burroughs, 2010). He has established a strategy of moving on the low gravity of mars. He uses his knowledge of civil war battles to fight with aliens of different races. He is not amazed by the green color of people in mars. John cater learns to speak alien language despite coming from the earth; the only language he knew was English.
It is not surprising that he win the trust of the people around him. The few people who do not like him are evil and the reader knows that they will get punishment from Carter’s sword. The other part of the story is a narration of bringing carter together with Thoris. The two couples are separated on the second chapter and the author focuses on bringing them together (Burroughs, 2010). The author is a leader who leads good aliens against evil aliens. It is interesting to understand that there are honorable aliens and evil aliens.
The book is very interesting and world-building even though aliens are appears more like human. This is not a failure because that is how most books were written then. The author has used the characters consistently hence, the reader cannot move out of the story.
John cater is a mysterious man from Virginia and was a captain who fought in the civil war on the confederate side. During the war’s end, he goes looking for gold in Arizona as he encounters attacks from Apaches. He is miraculously transported to mars while searching for his gold. John cater disappears for nine years in mars and people on earth thinks that he is dead only to appear settling in a house in adjacent to Hudson river. Later he dies and leaves a manuscript for Burroughs and he refers to Cater as his uncle. John leaves his nephew with a manuscript, which he is not supposed to publish for anther 21 years. Cater claims that he does not remember his life before the age of 30 and he has never aged. He is skilled with a lot of strategy and weapons including firearms and weapons. He is physically attractive, with black hair and gray eyes. He is a honorable man courageous and very positive thinking in the inside.
The novel is full of sword fighting and it is an example of 20th century fiction. It is also an example of romantic mars play with science fantasy (Burroughs, 2010). The begging chapters of the book contain western elements. The setting of the story is in Mars that is imagined as a dying desert with harsh conditions. Mars vision is connected to the works of an astronomer known as Lowell whose ideas were very popular in the 19th and 20th century. This book became an inspiration to scientist who wanted to discover life out of earth. The novel is classified as science fantasy but is also contains planetary romance associated with swords and witchcraft. The difference it noted by including scientific elements. Planetary romance is evident during sword fighting and swashbuckling.
The story starts from the west just after the civil war. Carter and his friends are mining gold when Indians ambush them. Carters escape to Top Mountain when his friend is killed but mysterious gases paralyze him. Since he cannot move, he desperately looks at his body. It appears he has turned into a ghost and drawn in the red planet. After getting into the planet, he notices that he is more human but has lots of strength that makes him able to walk in low gravity. He has enough energy to fight the aliens. He is strong enough to fight the aliens without difficulty and reaps their heads. Carter is daring as he goes to one of the alien’s incubators, where he risks to be killed. Aliens are impressed by his strength and ability to fight and they carter as a prisoner. He later learns that the aliens live to fight and respect brutal actions.
Watching John cater appears to be a disaster since it is created from confusing circles. The movie has enough visual elements and good production values but its major problem is a lot of storytelling. It is difficult to keep track for the many characters that are in the movie. It is quite easy for someone who has read the book princess of mars to understand the movie John Cater. This is because there is direct connection of the movie to the book (Chmielewski & Keegan, 2012). John Cater is a soldier who fought during the civil war but apparently turns to be an animal and uncontrollable. This is partly because of family problems and he is ready to fight anyone and everyone. Circumstances take him to mars where he jumps through the lighter gravity. This ability impresses the fiercest worriers including an energetic princess who is being forced by his father to marry their enemies to create a peaceful relationship. The reader is asking himself whether Cater will be mixed up in battles that are not his own. This epic production is so physically real that it is difficult to tell whether it is magic.
This is a challenging movie to understand since there many changes in character. The biggest edit in the movie is 9-foot tall green aliens that inhabited world of Barsoom. The true nature of aliens should be like giant insects with bug eyes. The director of the movie tried to make the aliens appear as humans thus make them able to emote. This does not give the real picture of aliens since they do not have the intended impact to the viewers.
Conclusion
Burroughs has portrayed John cater as an extraordinary person who is strong and has fallen in love with the princess of mars. Unsurprisingly, he wins the trust of the people around him. The few people who do not like him are evil and the reader knows they will get punishment from Carter’s sword. Burroughs has portrayed John Cater as an extraordinary person with superior strength, very attractive, intelligent and has problem-solving skills. John cater is a mysterious man from Virginia and was a captain who fought in the civil war on the confederate side. The novel is full of sword fighting and it is an example of 20th-century fiction. It is also an example of romantic mars play with science fantasy. The story starts from the west just after the civil war. Carter and his friends are mining gold when Indians ambush them. Watching John cater appears to be a disaster since it is created from confusing circles. This is a challenging movie to understand since there many changes in character. The movie has enough visual elements and good production values but its major problem is a lot of story telling.
Reference
Burrughs, E. (2010). A prince of mars. Retrieved on may 27 2013 from,
<http://escapepod.org/2010/11/08/book-review-a-princess-of-mars-by-edgar-rice-burroughs/>
Chmielewski, D & Keegan, R. (2012). Why did Disney’s ‘John Carter’ flop? Retrieved on May 27 2013 from,
< http://articles.latimes.com/2012/mar/13/entertainment/la-et-john-carter-flop-20120313>
