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Ray BradburyA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Summary
“January 1999: Rocket Summer”
“February 1999: Ylla”
“August 1999: The Summer Night”
“August 1999: The Earth Men”
“March 2000: The Taxpayer”
“April 2000: The Third Expedition”
“June 2001: —And the Moon Be Still as Bright”
“August 2001: The Settlers”
“December 2001: The Green Morning”
“February 2002: The Locusts”
“August 2002: Night Meeting”
“October 2002: The Shore”
“February 2003: Interim”
“April 2003: The Musicians”
“June 2003: Way in the Middle Air”
“2004-2005: The Naming of Names”
“April 2005: Usher II”
“August 2005: The Old Ones”
“September 2005: The Martian”
“November 2005: The Luggage Store”
“November 2005: The Off Season”
“November 2005: The Watchers”
“December 2005: The Silent Towns”
“April 2026: The Long Years”
“August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains”
“October 2026: The Million-Year Picnic”
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Several young boys hike out to the ruins of a Martian city, goading each other further into the ruins. They bring packed lunches of ham and mayo sandwiches with pickles, and their outing recalls those they undertook on Earth, particularly during autumn; the boys imagine “scuttering through autumn leaves” (117).
As they arrive at the town the boys’ exuberance is dampened as they recall the warnings of their parents about venturing into the abandoned towns. Inside the abandoned homes, they boys hear a crackling, like autumn leaves. They proceed forward slowly, sticks held like weapons, daring each other deeper into the fallen city.
When one of the boys bolts toward the Martian homes, the others run as well, under the agreement that the “first boy there would be the Musician” (117). The boy who assumes the role of the Musician takes up the bones of the dead Martians and uses them as percussive instruments, while the others kick and thrash their feet, sending into the air “black leaves […] thin as tissue cut from midnight sky” (117). The “black leaves” are the remains of the Martian carcasses, death having “turned the dead to flakes and dryness” (118), but the boys are unbothered by the gruesomeness of their game.
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