Red Planet (novel) - Connections With Stranger in A Strange Land

Connections With Stranger in A Strange Land

The life cycle of Martians (as theorized by Doctor MacRae) is the same in Stranger in a Strange Land. It is noted in this novel that the "old ones" inhabit two planes of existence: the physical and the (unspecified) other. Further, the water friends theme is recapitulated in Stranger in a Strange Land as "water brothers." Furthermore, the Martian ability to make an item or person disappear, which was a major plot point in Stranger, is demonstrated here.

The general description of Martian society as characterized by reverence for freedom is similar. For instance, the Martian Gekko "radiates displeasure" upon understanding what is meant by "london-zoo," and further discovering that Howe meant to sell Willis to a zoo—a reaction not dissimilar to that of Mike, who oftens senses a "wrongness" in cages, and whose first impulse when encountering the caged animals of a zoo is to attempt to set them free.