Ray Bradbury is well known for his attention to detail and his dystopian view of humanity's future. The short story, Dark They Were and Golden Eyed, is absolutely no exception. In the blurb preceding the story, the text is described as "a parable, illustrating the ways that people respond to the environments in which they find themselves." This is the perfect way to introduce this text. Bradbury's tale is a story of the inevitability of nature to reclaim its land, and how man is powerless to stop it.
Harry Bittering’s journey is really a perfect example of the alpha male slowly being worn down by the environment around him. The three elements that really do this are fire, sun, and water, each a vital part of nature and each appearance of these three in the story represents a stage of Harry giving in to his new reality of being controlled by nature.
From Cliffs Notes, "[Bradbury] employs sun, fire, and water imagery to describe the changes that occur on Mars. Fire imagery describes the changes that take place in the houses. The air "burns" them, warping the boards out of shape and making them no longer Earthmen's houses. The sun burns the Earthmen's skin almost black, and Bittering himself feels his flesh melt in the hot and liquid air. Water completes the process of change as Bittering lies in the Martian canal water, convinced that this water is eating his flesh away until only his skeleton will be left. He senses that eventually the water will continue its work, evoking a change upon him as it metamorphoses his skeleton. Finally, all the material trappings that are so important to Earthmen are shuffled off, transforming the Earthmen into Martians. The regeneration is complete." This quote excellently summarizes how the elements are unstoppable in their mission to turn these Earthlings to the Martians they truly became when they arrived on Mars. It is as though the planet itself has taken these new residents in under its wing to create a sort of forced evolution. It's really quite a caring planet.
Beyond the physical changes, their ideas and values change as well. Sure, they get thinner and taller, but they choose different names, beginning with the children, because their Earth names have no meaning to them now. They cast off their earthy possessions, moving up a hill to an old Martian villa, something Harry most likely would have balked at before, along with the other residents of Mars. The renaming of the old Martian landforms, to things like Roosevelt and Rockefeller, mean nothing to these people, because they are no longer of Earth. They reclaim the old names of Tirra and Pillan, words that mean nothing to you or me, but clearly feel wrong to the people in the story.
Beyond the physical changes, their ideas and values change as well. Sure, they get thinner and taller, but they choose different names, beginning with the children, because their Earth names have no meaning to them now. They cast off their earthy possessions, moving up a hill to an old Martian villa, something Harry most likely would have balked at before, along with the other residents of Mars. The renaming of the old Martian landforms, to things like Roosevelt and Rockefeller, mean nothing to these people, because they are no longer of Earth. They reclaim the old names of Tirra and Pillan, words that mean nothing to you or me, but clearly feel wrong to the people in the story.
This story parallels many of Bradbury’s others in its references to the idea that nature will reclaim all when it comes to man. Other stories invoke images of nature changing and warping man’s mind to believe that she knows best, and this is no exception. Bittering is led, by the time he has been submerged in the water of Mars, to believe that it is perfectly alright that he is becoming something other than human. Upon reflection, maybe it is. Bittering, upon entry into Mars, is no longer an Earthman. He is only of Earth in his biology and physiology. He is a Martian. So why should he not become a Martian fully?