"Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed" is a short story of science fiction by Ray Bradbury. It was originally published in the Thriller Miracle Story magazine in August 1949, with the title "Name Naming". It is then included in the short story collection A Medicine for Melancholy and S is for Space .
This story happens in the near future on Mars, as is the case with many of Bradbury's stories.
Video Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed
Plot
In the midst of atomic war on Earth, the United States sent a number of colonists to set up a leading post on Mars. The Bittering family, led by Harry's father and Cora's mother, with their children Daniel, Laura, and David, arrived as part of the eight hundred colonists chosen for the first wave. Harry initially felt uncomfortable with the Martian environment, but was comfortable with the fact that the family could return to Earth every time the ships arrived.
Strange events began to affect the life of Terran being brought as part of the settlement effort, including the grass growing sowing purple, the family cow growing a third horn in the center of his head, and another anomaly with a vegetable garden. Harry's discomfort on Mars increased, and the thought of returning to Earth on his next supply mission soon became his only consolation, much to Cora's concern. This comfort was taken when Bittering was told that the war had caused the atomic bomb to destroy New York City and flattened the only space port capable of traveling to Mars.
Deciding to build his own rocket house, Harry isolates himself from his family and townspeople, who are beginning to show signs of being transformed into Martians when their legs and bodies are elongated and their irises turn into glistening gold, along with their increasingly dark skin. Moreover, the invaders began using the Martian language, referring to their formerly unofficial home as Iorrt, the ancient name of Mars for Earth. Harry avoids the transformation because he only consumes food and water brought from Earth, but his supplies run out, and he is forced to eat food grown on Mars to survive. Immediately, Harry noticed that his eyes had turned into gold.
Cora assures Harry that the family who swam in the canal of Mars will make him happy to relax, and he hesitantly agrees. While there, their eldest son, Daniel, asks to be called Linnl, the name of Mars. Harry and Cora, now almost entirely Martian, agree easily, and the other two children quickly adopt the names of Mars as well. When they returned to town, Bitterings discovered that the colonists retreated to the ancient Martian villas in the mountains, when summer had made the valley hot. Harry briefly expressed a desire to stay and work on his rocket, but was easily persuaded to go with the rest of the colonists and return when the weather was colder.
Five years later, the United States, after winning the war and rebuilding New York, sent small military shipments to restore the colonies sent to Mars, only to find their abandoned settlements. The soldiers instead found a large Mars settlement in the mountain villa, where the native Martians are delightful and have great affinity for English. Sure they had nothing to do with the disappearance of the original colony, the group agreed to try a second larger settlement using the city built by the first.
Maps Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed
External links
- Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed title listing on Internet Speculative Fiction Internet
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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