Concepts of Space

Throughout Red Mars, the characters focus on the space Mars provides and what they can do with that space. Ann admires the space for its pure emptiness and wants to leave the openness of Mars alone. Her position is explained on page 221,"She had fallen in love with Mars for the same reason that Michael hated it: because it was dead. And Ann was in love with death." While a pessimistic description, it is clear that Ann loves Mars because it is different from Earth; she sees it as natural and untainted and can't stand the idea that humans will mess it up. Ann describes her own feelings for Mars on page 157 when she says, "I mean I look at this land and, and I love it. I want to be out on it traveling over it always, to study it and live on it and learn it. But when I do that, I change it- I destroy what it is, what I love in it."

In contrast, Arkady and Sax are very much in favor of terraforming Mars. Regarding the concept of space, this can be seen as a more aggressive approach in which they try to remake Mars in their own image. They view Mars as a new manifest destiny. Sax defined this mission on page 178 when he says, "We are the consciousness of the universe, and our job is to spread that around, to go look at things, to live everywhere we can." Sax uses the language of a calling or a duty to the universe, not just their nations or even mankind, to convince the rest of the one hundred that they should terraform. This position is similar to the U.S. sovereignty as described by Hardt. Hardt states that it was necessary for the U.S. to expand into a vast open space during the beginning of its history in order to expel outward the energy of the multitude that would otherwise disrupt order. This idea applies to the Mars colony as well, as they must expand their control over the planet or risk stagnation.

A third concept of Mars's space is held by Hiroko and her followers. "It was a kind of landscape religion, a consciousness of Mars as a physical space suffused with kami, which was the spiritual energy or power that rested in the land itself." (229). This view is most similar to the superstitious herotopias, places that are outside of all spaces, although still possessing a physical location. They believe in Mars as a magical place that has power beyond that of an ordinary location. Perhaps the power of Mars is a clearer view of the world they left behind, and their relationship with Earth and viriditas. If this is the case, they view Mars as the reader views science fiction, as a lens through which we can better focus on our own experiences.