Sense of Humor and Survival

In The Martian an astronaut named Mark Watney is stranded on the planet Mars on the Ares 3 mission. He is a botanist that was chosen for the mission to see if Mars’ soil could support plant life. While stranded he gets to test this not only because he wants to but because he has to. With the radio transmitter down, he has no way to communicate with Earth and his only chance of getting back is to wait until Ares 4. Ares 4 does not land on Mars until Sol 1412 and his “adventure” began on Sol 6. With all of the food rations provided for his crew on the mission he can make it last up to 400 Sols but that does not even get him half way to Sol 1412. Soon he puts his botany skills to use creating fertile soil that can sustain plant life through using his poop for bacteria and creating enough water to moisturize the soil enough for the bacteria to stay alive. Then he starts growing potatoes to create more food that can sustain him until Sol 1412. Although all of this is very important for his survival but the main thing he needs to maintain to survive is his sanity. He does this by having an amazing sense of humor. Throughout the book Dr. Watney has subtle jokes and jabs at people including himself. His ability to laugh at himself makes it easier on him when he messes up. Where if he couldn’t do this, he would quickly get frustrated and give up. He even jokes about him being a botanist saying that it was mostly a field that was filled with pot smoking hippies trying to find better ways to grow their plants. My favorite funny quote from him is when NASA finds out he’s alive and alone and they wonder what he is thinking, and Mark says, “How come Aquaman can control whales? They’re mammals! Makes no sense.”