Ray Bradbury, American author known for his highly imaginative short stories and novels that blend a poetic style, nostalgia for childhood, social criticism, and an awareness of the hazards of runaway technology. A colony of African-Americans has been sent from Earth and is now living on Mars. Hattie Johnson’s children are buzzing with anticipation over the news: for the first time in twenty years, a white man is coming to Mars. Because “The Other Foot” was published in 1951, Bradbury was imagining a not-so-distant future; Here, the story clarifies that Hattie and her community live on Mars. Hattie Johnson remembers and tells the children how black people left Earth for Mars years ago, how Earth had a terrible war, and how the people on Earth have only recently rebuilt rockets. Struggling with distance learning? My students love how organized the handouts are and enjoy tracking the themes as a class.”. Willie thinks about how there are no more “lynching trees,” pubs, or plantation homes. “Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. Willie shows that he has good reason to still be angry: his own parents were murdered by racist white men. Willie, Hattie’s husband, pulls up in his car and gruffly asks the Browns if they’re going to see the white man “like a bunch of fools.” He adds that he is on his way home to get his guns, and that they should consider doing the same. Once again, by calling for Jim Crow laws that discriminate against white people, Willie consequently shows the inhumane treatment black people were subjected to on Earth. While some people bring guns for the white man’s arrival, others bring picnic baskets. (including. The old man specifically says that the cotton fields and cotton mills have been destroyed—artifacts of slavery in the American South. Now Willie takes over asking questions, revealing that Hattie’s plan is beginning to work. The news reaches towns thousands of miles away, and everyone “lift[s] their dark hands over their upturned white eyes” to block the harsh sunlight as they scan the skies. Hearing the name Greenwater, Willie’s mouth drops open. A voracious reader, the young Ray Bradbury was hungry for fantastical books that would let him travel outside the confines of his small Illinois hometown. The emptiness of revenge (The Other Foot) When they learn that a rocket is coming from Earth with white travellers, they institute a Jim Crow system of racial segregation in retaliation for how the whites once treated them. "The Other Foot" The inhabitants of Mars, all of whom are African-American, receive intelligence that white men will be arriving at their civilization. The repetition of the word “dark, “however, foreshadows the important role race will play in the story. In “The Other Foot,” black colonists on Mars must decide whether to accept white refugees from Earth. This likely touches an emotional nerve among his audience, spurring them to give in to mob mentality and go along with Willie’s emotionally charged plans. The other foot is a touching twisted version of segregation in the late 1980s. Mr. Brown says they’re on the way to see the white man. Willie mutters about why the Earth people couldn’t just stay on their own planet and “blow themselves up.” Appalled, Hattie tells her husband that he doesn’t sound very Christian. These details make clear that Hattie is attempting to shield her children from the brutality of the racism that their mother escaped. The Other Foot. Half of the crowd calls back enthusiastically, while the other half looks “like figures in a nightmare.” The white man’s rocket soars across the sky and begins its descent. “The Highway” also focuses on a minority group: a husband and wife south of the border whose quiet life is disrupted by tourists fleeing nuclear war. Willie underscores the ways in which black people on Earth were made to feel unwelcome and alienated in society, a fact that catalyzed their desire to move to Mars. Analysis. Now that those artifacts are gone, there is “nothing of it left to hate.” Here, Willie realizes that his reverse Jim Crow laws would actually perpetuate painful memories of racism and create even more pain for everyone, Martians and Earthlings alike. The story begins with an element of confusion, as it’s unclear who “the dark people are” and what they’re looking for in the sky. This moment clarifies that this particular community is comprised of black people who have been isolated from white people for a long time; Hattie’s children have never even seen a white person. The rocket is due to land later that day, and although her young boys are excited, Hattie has a feeling that the white man’s visit will stir up trouble. By calling the Earth people fools (himself included), the white man shows humility and willingness to set aside his pride. There is nothing “left to hate,” except for an “alien people” who will be forced to sit in the back of streetcars and theaters. By refusing to give his name, the old man humbles himself and reduces his personal importance. The women are reticent to participate, suggesting they have more empathy than their husbands and don’t want other people to face the same racism, cruelty, and pain that the Martians experienced on Earth. Summary Hernando waits for the rain to stop so he can resume plowing the fields. The detail about the rocket is also the first suggestion that Hattie’s community possibly lives on a different planet. Characters. The car pulls up in front of the Johnson household, and Willie dashes inside in search of guns and rope. He notes that this young man is typically lean and usually Irish. "My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." Although most of the story has centered on the tension between white people and black people, it’s clear that white people aren’t the only race left on Earth. Perhaps he thinks the Earth people shouldn’t ask for or expect help from the Martians after the way that the Martians were treated for so long. Mr. Brown’s comment about almost forgetting what a white man is like underscores the Martians’ isolation from Earth. When she asks the old man about Knockwood Hill—which Willie earlier said is the place where his father was hanged by two racist white men—Hattie attempts to show Willie that the Earth’s mass destruction means that many painful remnants of slavery and racism have also been destroyed. Instant downloads of all 1392 LitChart PDFs He beckons to Martin and the other crew members who want to stay, saying, "We mustn't keep him waiting." Hattie tentatively asks the Browns if they’re going to lynch the visitor, but the Browns laugh and assure her that they’re going to shake his hand. Now, with the arrival of the white man, “the shoe’s on the other foot.” Willie adds that, on Mars, white people will have discriminatory laws leveled against them, be forced to ride in the back of streetcars and sit in the back of theaters, and even get lynched. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Summary Bibliography: Ray Bradbury You are not logged in. Physical artifacts of racism—“lynching trees,” bars populated by racist white men, plantation homes—played a large part in Willie’s long-held anger and bitterness toward the past. He asks about his mother—the other half of the driving force behind his long-held animosity toward white people—and learns that reminders of her death are gone, too. When Willie says that saw the white man clearly, he means that he was finally able to empathize and find common ground with a people he had hated for so long. Hattie oversimplifies the interplanetary migration from Earth to Mars for her children, telling her boys that all black people “just up and walked away and came to mars”—as if doing so were as easy as moving to another town. Once again, the old man humbles himself before the Martians, as he recognizes that the Earth people are undeserving of help. However, when Willie steps back to reveal his handiwork, the conductor is pleased. Clutching a noose in his hands, Willie asks the crowd if they’re ready. Willie’s actions reflect the exact “trouble” Hattie expressed concern about earlier in the story. Meanwhile, Hattie’s question regarding whether the Martians will lynch the white man clarifies her earlier anxiety while talking to her children; she is worried that the Martians will react vengefully and violently to the white man’s visit. One of the ways technology disrupts families is by replacing the parents. His comment about the Earth people “blow[ing] themselves up” further reflects how anger has made him unfeeling and inhumane. Chapter Summary for Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man, the city summary. The Illustrated Man was nominated for the International Fantasy Award in 1952, and its stories have been adapted many times to such media as movies (The Illustrated Man, 1969), TV (The Ray Bradbury Theater, 1985-86, 1988-92), radio (X Minus One, 1955-57), and even rock opera (The Bradbury Tattoos, 2018). We just up and walked away and came to Mars and set down and built towns and here we are. This reflects the fact that the white man appears weary and drained—and, as such, lacks a threatening presence. The town’s mayor tries to get Willie off of his soapbox, saying Willie has formed a mob and is behaving no better than the white men he is shouting about. Willie’s idea for Jim Crow laws that target white people reflect the terrible and inhumane treatment black people were subjected to on Earth. Well, the white people live on Earth, which is where we all come from, twenty years ago. Watching her husband, Hattie thinks about how she wants to chip away at everyone’s hate so that eventually, all hatred and racism will crumble. Find a summary of this and each chapter of The Illustrated Man! Her kids pester her to tell them what white people are like and why they don’t live on Mars. By telling her husband that he doesn’t “sound human,” Hattie points out how Willie’s desire for revenge has robbed him of his humanity. He adds that there are no surviving houses or people in Greenwater. Ray Bradbury is fascinated with technology's effect on human relationships, especially within families. Many people watch Willie carefully to see how he will react. In the book's Introduction, Ray Bradbury says one of his story ideas was "What if you landed on a far world the day after Christ had just left?" Struggling with distance learning? Willie is also able to find common ground with the Earth people and empathize with their experience of loneliness and homelessness in the wake of World War III. The Other Foot (1987) Selected from Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed (1991) The Toynbee Convector (1992) Eventually, the Martians “just up and walked away and came to Mars,” but the white people stayed on Earth and entered into a terrible atomic war with one another. My students love how organized the handouts are and enjoy tracking the themes as a class.”. The detail about the shortage of rockets on Earth further reveals the extent of the war and destruction it caused. The children have never seen a white man before; Hattie herself was only a young girl when she lived on Earth in 1965. Willie asserts his power and dominance over his wife by forcing her to get into the car and driving faster when she asks him to slow down. He ignores the fact that she’s clearly uncomfortable, which hints at his inability to empathize with other people and put aside his own pride. -Graham S. Hattie is clearly concerned about the white man’s arrival but doesn’t voice her worries to her boys, highlighting both her protective nature and her sons’ youthful innocence. The rocket’s door slides open, and an old, tired-looking man steps out. On a roll, Willie shouts that new laws need to be passed banning intermarriages. Ray Bradbury’s short story “The Other Foot” takes place on Mars, twenty years after all black people have fled the racism and cruelty of Earth to colonize the Red Planet. He begins painting the seats, and the conductor quickly objects. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. This is the first indication that certain aspects of racism and prejudice were destroyed in the war. By tying the rope into a noose, Willie gestures to the United States’ history of racism and cruelty toward black people. People look to Willie for cues about how to react to the white man’s speech, again underscoring Willie’s influence over the crowd and the way that mob mentality impairs independent thought. Hattie taps into Willie’s painful memory of his father’s hanging in order to show Willie that the hill, lynching tree, and man responsible for the murder have all been destroyed. Amazon; Adapting the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus’s famous statement that one cannot step into the same river twice, one could say that no person ever steps twice into the same self. Note that Bradbury’s use of the word “Negro” was generally accepted at the time he was writing, though such language would be seen as offensive today. The silence of the crowd feels “like a pressure of a distant storm.” Many people watch. Willie Johnson - Martian settler seeking revenge on his parents' death by lynching. Several people race off to begin their task. Hattie reluctantly follows her husband into the house and watches him bustle around the attic, collecting his guns and muttering madly to himself. Lynching was often a public act used to threaten and spread fear among black people, and the noose itself became a symbol of white supremacy groups. LitCharts Teacher Editions. His wife asks if something is wrong and he responds that something big has happened, emptying the road. Just as the white man used the word “fools” to refer to himself and his fellow Earth people, Willie also calls himself and his community “fools.” In this way, Willie takes responsibility for emboldening the crowd towards vengeance. Mars has been colonized solely by black people. She realizes that if husband lets go of his bitterness, then maybe everyone else will too. When they learn that a rocket is coming from Earth with white travellers, they institute a Jim Crow system of racial segregation in retaliation for how the whites once treated them. Perhaps his best-known book is Fahrenheit 451. For the second time, Willie gestures to the story’s title. LitCharts Teacher Editions. Shocking news sweeps across the town, causing “the dark people” stare at the sky in anticipation. "The Other Foot" is a story about racism. Mr. Brown’s surprise and cheerfulness suggests that Hattie’s concerns may be overblown. Just as Willie wants to establish Jim Crow laws that target white people, Willie puts the “shoe on the other foot” by bringing a noose to meet the white man. Mars, which has been settled by African Americans twenty years earlier. This further reflects his humility and belief that Earth people are deserving of the same treatment they subjected the Martians to. Once again, however, Willie coldly ignores his wife’s concerns, reflecting the tunnel vision created by anger. Elizabeth Brown - Neighbor of the Johnsons. However, when Ettil reaches Earth, Bradbury turns this science fiction trope on its head while simultaneously critiquing American society. Boldly stepping forward, she calls for the old man’s attention, asking if he knows “Knockwood Hill in Greenwater, Alabama?” When the old man produces a map, Hattie asks about the big oak tree on the top of the hill. Willie quickly becomes the unofficial leader of the crowd, showing how one individual has the power to influence the masses. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. When the old man finishes his speech, the crowd is silent. https://www.slideshare.net/lindarubens/the-other-foot-by-ray-bradbury-2012 Willie sarcastically compares the Martians armed with guns and ropes to a “welcoming committee,” implying that the white man’s welcome will be anything but warm and generous. Even small cities, like Greenwater, Alabama, have been annihilated. It is piloted by a white man. The Other Foot Quotes. Willie’s rage continues to control his behavior and rob him of both empathy and rationality. While people like the Browns resisted Willie’s violent call to action, many others were apparently swept up in Willie’s hatred and hysteria. Willie’s reaction to hearing the name Greenwater, Alabama suggests that Greenwater was his hometown on Earth. Willie also asks the crowd to rope off the back two rows in the movie theaters, and several volunteers are chosen. He swiftly moves on to describing the disastrous effects of World War III. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!”, “This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. When a trolley car pulls up, Willie climbs up into it, lugging a gallon of paint. When it lands, the crowd goes silent. The fact that men are swept up in Willie’s call for a violent, authoritative stand while the women remain helplessly on the sidelines (just like Hattie did earlier) reflects the gendered expectations of masculinity and femininity of Bradbury’s era. Unfazed, Willie responds, “This is the other shoe, Mayor, and the other foot.” Willie yells to the crowd that they will elect a new mayor. The white man doesn’t make excuses or justifications for the Earth people’s behavior. Hattie’s young boys have no concept of racial tension and appear utterly aware of the long, grim history of racism on Earth. Willie is immediately established as being domineering and abrasive. ”The Other Foot” by Ray Bradbury Essay Sample “The Other Foot” by Ray Bradbury is a thought-provoking short story about prejudice and racism. On the way to watch the white man’s arrival at the landing port, Hattie notices that other cars are filled with guns. Once again, Hattie asks Willie to slow down, and he does the opposite to assert his dominance and power. Assuming “The Other Foot” is set around 1985, there would have been about five billion people on Earth during that time—Earth’s population being reduced to five hundred thousand reflects a planet on the verge of total destruction. Equality must be present to maintain balance, peace, and structure in society, and Bradbury demonstrates this in his story set on Mars in 1985. The old man continues that there are only five hundred thousand people left on the entire planet. Willie drops the rope to the ground, consequently letting go of his pride and his desire for power, authority, and revenge. And no white men’ve come up here in all that time. This moment foreshadows Willie’s role in stirring up animosity and vengefulness among the Martian community. He tells the Martians that twenty years ago, when they left Earth, World War III broke out. War and political strife is the last major motif of the book, designed by Bradbury to reflect the concerns of that era. In the story, blacks get the upper hand over white people—the shoe is on the other foot, as Willie Johnson notes. The seat reads, “For Whites: Rear Section.” Willie asks for volunteers in the growing crowd to paint every streetcar in the city. They are quickly filled with … Telling her children to stay at the house, Hattie runs down the road and sees her neighbors, the Browns, piled into their family car. Willie’s fingers tightening on the rope show that his aggression is flaring up. (including. The crowd contains people who “wished no participation,” but those people are unable to break away from the mob and act independently, emphasizing the danger of mob mentality and the overwhelming pressure to fit in with a group. Mars has been colonized solely by black people. He reaffirms that Earth people have been stupid and evil, and adds that they will work for the Martians and endure whatever treatment they see fit. War defines several stories, including … Chapter Summaries with Notes / Analysis • Prologue: The Illustrated Man • The Veldt • Kaleidoscope • The Other Foot • The Highway • The Man • The Long Rain • The Rocket Man • … The Other Foot Setting. This passage also reveals Willie’s influence in the community at large. From his perspective, revenge against white people is completely warranted because it is merely a reflection of what white people did to black people on Earth. On the horizon, the “Martian hills” look like they’re baking in the harsh sun. It becomes clearer that this world is comprised of black people, but that its settlers are young enough to have once lived among mixed races. Because “The Other Foot” was published in 1951, Bradbury was imagining a not-so-distant future; Active Themes. His impulse to go home and get his guns is a sharp contrast from Mr. Brown’s warm, cheerful affirmation that he just wants to shake the white man’s hand. As he waits, he realizes no car has stopped in the past hour, which is unusual as he’s always asked to have his picture taken by tourists driving down the road. Suddenly, the rocket’s large door slides open, and a tired-looking. The story takes place on Mars, inhabited solely by black people (Martians). A young boy shouts that the rocket ship is approaching, and “like marionette heads on a single string, the heads of the crowd turn upward.” As the rocket swoops down to Mars, the crowd gasps. A trolley car pulls up. Ray Bradbury wrote the story before the civil rights movement began in the mid-1950s. 16 reviews Chosen as one of the best stories of 1952. In Ray Bradbury’s "The Other Foot," there are three main characters: Hattie, Willie, and the captain of the rocket ship. Historic cities like Paris and London have been reduced to smithereens. Willie asks Hattie if she remembers all of the terrible things the white people did to the Martians, and how Dr. Phillips and Mr. Burton hanged his father on Knockwood Hill and shot his mother. His comment about how “the shoe’s on the other foot now” echoes the story’s theme of revenge: Willie wants to reverse the Jim Crow laws—racial segregation laws in America that were still in effect at the time of Bradbury’s writing—so that they discriminate against white people rather than black people. Teachers and parents! The Other Foot Summary. Ray Bradbury Bradbury feels strongly that a writer is never able to write well about anything with which he is unfamiliar. Our, LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. Everything is radioactive, including the livestock, food, and roads. Willie suggests that other Martians have been too quick to let go of their painful memories of racism and bitterness toward white people. But heres the day and we cant Hattie explains that white people live on Earth, and that twenty years ago, the Martians did too. Clearly, not everyone is as revenge-minded as Willie. Since then, most of the Earth has been destroyed by atomic bombs. It wasn’t until recently that the Earth people scrapped together enough metal to build a single rocket to reach Mars. This hints at the way that racism is a learned behavior, as the boys don’t intrinsically believe that the white man is inferior or superior to them because of his skin color—rather, he is simply different. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. Earlier, the crowd was compared to a single body with thousands of arms, and now it is like a “single string” with many “marionette heads.” The puppeteer is Willie, who can manipulate the crowd however he wishes. Everybody's thought on this day, thinking it'd never be.Thinking,What kind of day would it be if the white man ever came up here to Mars? Sometimes Bradbury discovered a self in the past, and sometimes, particularly in his science fiction, he discovered a self in the future. Story 3 Summary: “The Other Foot” On Mars, Hattie Johnson and her three sons hear that a rocket is coming. At last, there is a feeling of recovery in Hollis turning into a star whereupon a young man makes a desire. Rubbing his temples with his fingers, Willie answers that he did: “Seems like for the first time today I really seen the white man—I really seen him clear.”, Instant downloads of all 1392 LitChart PDFs The rocket is due to land later that day, and although her young boys are excited, Hattie has a feeling that the white man’s visit will stir up trouble. Here, the old man finally reveals the purpose of his visit to Mars: to ask the Martians for help by letting the Earth people borrow their rockets and come live on Mars. Willie tells her that in the past twenty years, the Earth people have endured the same feelings of pain, loneliness, and homelessness that the Martians experienced on Earth, meaning that now everyone is “on the same level.” When Hattie and Willie get home, Hattie lets the children out of the house, and they excitedly ask their father if he saw the white man. They embark on a short-lived vendetta campaign in preparation, preparing to treat the white men like they themselves were treated under the Jim Crow laws. Hattie looks up at the “blue clear Martian sky” painted with “thin white Martian clouds.”. Since Willie’s vengefulness is largely fueled by what happened to his parents, Hattie attempts to show Willie that in many ways, justice has already been served for wicked, racist men. At first the majority of Martians, under Willie's lead, want to get even with whites by meting out discrimination and violence. Hattie is hesitant to talk to her boys about race but seems to have no issue talking to them about atomic war and death, suggesting that she’s not trying to protect them from all pain but rather from the specific evil of racism. Upon seeing Willie drop his noose, the other Martians swiftly unload their guns and race through town, tearing down all of the freshly painted signs and newly installed ropes. Get A Copy. Hattie asks if a certain Dr. Phillips and Mr. Burton are still alive, and the old man replies that they both died in the war and both of their houses burned down. Now we’re Martians instead of Earth people. Hattie also glosses over the Martians’ reason for leaving Earth: racism. This contrast echoes the disparity between Mr. Brown’s hearty laughter at the thought of lynching the white visitor and Willie’s insistence that he bring a rope with the noose already tied. The old man doesn’t introduce himself, saying it doesn’t matter who he is. Ray Bradbury Contents Prologue: The Illustrated Man The Veldt Kaleidoscope The Other Foot The Highway The Man The Long Rain The Rocket Man The Fire Balloons The Last Night of the World The Exiles No Particular Night or Morning The Fox and the Forest The Visitor The Concrete Mixer On the way home, Hattie muses that everyone will finally have a fresh start. Hattie wisely decides to focus her efforts on dismantling her husband’s hatred rather than trying to go up against the entire crowd. Surprisingly, the Martians greet the old man with tension and silence rather than immediate chaos and violence. The old man says that the hill and the tree are both gone. Study Resources ... No one is left to enjoy the revenge, which suggests that revenge is an empty goal. The old man continues, explaining that cotton fields, cotton mills, and factories have all been destroyed. The Martians hear rumors and realize that a rocket, from Earth, will soon land on Mars. Willie then forces Hattie to get into the car with him, and the two speed home. She accuses her husband of provoking people in the community, and Willie proudly reveals that he stopped at every house earlier that day and told everyone to bring guns and ropes. By describing the crowd as “one dark body,” Bradbury suggests it is no longer made up of individual people with independent thoughts; rather, the crowd has adopted a mob mentality and bends to Willie’s will. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!”, “This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. Quickly, Willie tells the old man that Earth people won’t have to work for the Martians. On Mars, the Martians finally were able to find peace and a sense of communal belonging, which the white man’s arrival may threaten. Instead, they show a childlike curiosity and wonder at the notion of having skin so different from their own. The Other Foot Summary. Climbing into the empty trolley. The Illustrated Man - Kaleidoscope Summary & Analysis Ray Bradbury This Study Guide consists of approximately 50 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Illustrated Man. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. If you create a free account and sign in, you will be able to customize what is displayed. Hattie asks her husband to think about what he’s doing, but he snaps that all he’s done for the past twenty years is think about white people and the cruelty and racism the Martians endured on Earth. Hattie’s uncertainty about how the day will unfold suggests that she fears the Martians will react violently to the white man’s arrival, possibly exacting revenge for centuries of bitter abuse and prejudice on Earth. A dense crowd gathers at the landing port, and Willie passes out guns. Learn more about Bradbury’s life and career. The mayor suggests that cruelty is never warranted, but is powerless against Willie—further emphasizing the latter’s influence in the community.

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