Summary-Man from Mars

The Man from Mars by Margaret Atwood
This story takes place in a town somewhere north of Montreal, Canada. There are several settings but most often the story centers on a college campus or the main character’s residence. The main female character is a Caucasian citizen of Canada and is very affluent, while the main male character is Asian and is visiting Canada on a study visa, and is not wealthy at all.
The political climate of this story is not completely present; however, at the end of the story, reference is made to a war between the North and South of the male character’s home country. Due to his ethnicity, one could assume it would possibly be a war between North and South Korea.
The theme of this short story is that of an affluent girl finding a stronger sense of self-esteem and worth through a series of events generated by an older Asian man that seems to become attracted to her and stalks her, albeit harmlessly. The female character, Christine comes from a wealthy family. She has two beautiful sisters and mother. She is homely and overweight, but athletic. She has been the outsider in her own life and feels invisible. When the Asian character, whose name is never mentioned in the story, shows attraction to her and starts to follow her relentlessly, she tries to avoid him, but the stalking turns into a game of sorts for her, devising tactics of trying to get away from him and escape daily. As the stalking continues, other men start to take notice and are curious about the “invisible” Christine. She starts to date and consequently gains self-esteem and a sense of control over her life, she feels like a temptress. She fears him somewhat but also enjoys the attention in a strange sort of way. The character is ultimately deported back to his Asian country, and Christine discovers that she was not the only one that the Asian character stalked, which deflates her self-esteem once again.
The moral or theme of the story is that of tolerance, wealth versus poverty, and self-discovery. Christine did not consider herself a “catch” or worthy of attention from men, however, when the Asian character became attracted to her, other men took notice. She gained confidence and control in her life and even became the aggressor in her actions of playing and dictating how the “game” with the stalker went.
The Asian was deported and Christine’s life went back to the way it was before. As the years went on, she became more invisible. A war started in the area where Christine had believed the man was from. She became the stalker, obsessing over whether or not he was still alive. She scoured magazines, news reports and pictures looking for signs of him. She withdrew back into herself and imagined he was the same, unharmed because he was invisible to society, or just something in the background easily overlooked.
The author writes this story in the third person, and she writes with vivid and descriptive passages. I found it very easy to picture what the characters and the settings of the story might have looked like. The authors detailed description of the two main characters in very beginning of the story set the stage and tone of how I interpreted the rest of the story. I liked the story and it was easy to read. It took me on a short journey within the characters’ lives. It was very interesting how a short ugly foreign man’s attentions toward a homely woman could create feelings of attractiveness in the woman about herself as well as create feelings toward the woman from other men who were previously not attracted to her. I am not certain the correlation with the title and the story. Maybe it just refers to his residence status as an alien or his appearance.