space

chemistry

cloud cover

surrounding air

a soccer team that has just won a game

an abandoned dog sitting alone in the rain

a teenage babysitter watching two young children play

a busy man on a city street who has just missed a bus

the power of the environment to completely change the Earth people

the sadness that Mr. Bittering feels when he cannot return to Earth

the very hot weather on Mars that disturbs the Earth people

the destruction of the Earth people’s settlement on Mars

The wind blew as if to flake away their identities. At any moment, the Martian air might draw his soul from him, as marrow comes from a white bone.

“Even the house. The wind’s done something to it. The air’s burned it. The fog at night.”

The nights were full of wind that blew down the empty moonlit sea meadows past the little white chess cities lying for their twelve-thousandth year in the shallows.

The captain looked at the room, the dusty windows, the blue mountains rising beyond, the canals moving in the light, and he heard the soft wind in the air. He shivered.

Since we have limited resources on Earth, governments should look to other planets to meet our needs.

Humans are generally open minded and peaceful in their encounters with the unknown.

Though people often fear and resist it, change is unavoidable in the end.

Far-off worlds can be anything people imagine them to be.

He finds the environment on Mars unappealing.

He likes the Martians and believes they are peaceful.

He suspects the Martians’ involvement in the disappearance of the settlers.

He feels enthusiastic about the new settlement that the captain is planning.

The captain established headquarters in an abandoned bar. His lieutenant came back to report.

“Dark people. Yellow eyes. Martians. Very friendly. . . . I’m sure our relations will be most friendly with them, sir.”

“Six, eight hundred, I’d say, living in those marble ruins in the hills, sir.”

“They hadn’t the foggiest notion of what happened to this town or its people.”

The man felt . . . the tissues of his body draw tight as if he were standing at the center of a vacuum.

At any moment the Martian air might draw his soul from him.

A few tremblings shook him, but were carried off in waves of pleasant heat as he lay in the sun.

And then the water can build on that skeleton—green things, deep water things, red things, yellow things.

It makes the river and the wind seem like human beings.

It describes how wind can overpower solid objects.

It suggests that the wind is a powerful river.

It shows that the house is near a river.

The children, small seeds, might at any instant be sown to all the Martian climes.

They saw the old cities, lost in their meadows, lying like children’s delicate bones. . . .

“I feel like a salt crystal,” he said, “in a mountain stream, being washed away.”

The fear would not be stopped. It had his throat and heart.

The rubber tire swings are peeling in the harsh summer sun.

The rubber tire swings swing back and forth in the breeze.

The rubber tire swings are no longer used as playthings.

The rubber tire swings are too hot to play on.

It suggests fear for the safety of the children.

It conveys a sense of nostalgia for life on Earth.

It expresses loss while suggesting the power of Mars.

It suggests dread that the settlers will return to revive the settlement.

uncover

upset

copy

ruin

The story text’s narration directly reveals Harry’s thoughts and feelings, which must be inferred through his dialogue in the radio play.

The radio play’s music and sound effects build on Harry’s thoughts and fears, which are not as well supported in the story text.

The radio play’s dialogue and the actor’s interpretation of it create a better sense of his feelings than the story text’s narration does.

The story text’s specific focus on Harry develops a stronger character than the radio play’s focus on his entire family does.

The actors in the radio play interpret the characters’ traits and emotions differently from the way described in the story.

The children play a smaller role in the radio play than they do in the story text.

The adaptation for the radio play leaves out important information from the written story.

The ideas presented in the story’s narration are often left out or presented in dialogue in the radio play.

The radio play not only relies on the words of the text but also adds sound effects, music, and silence to bring the story to life.

Starting with this excerpt quickly establishes Mars as a threat and creates a feeling of dread in the audience.

Because the excerpt is out of context, it makes little sense until the radio play reaches the middle of the plot.

Beginning in the middle of the plot makes the radio play seem more modern than the text.

The introductory excerpt sets up the audience to be surprised by the twist at the end of the plot.