A Princess of Mars

One can enjoy A Princess of Mars as a very clever and entertaining science fiction novel from over a century ago. John Carter of Virginia descends from the Southern planter aristocracy and, through an unexplained phenomena in a cave in the Arizona desert after the Civil War, finds himself transported to Mars. While he was able to escape Apaches after his skin in Arizona, he finds spectacular obstacles on Mars among a variety of creatures and races. Intelligent life on Mars is now reduced to the "red" composite race of advanced beings living under monarchs in vast cities and domains on the decaying red planet. 

The green men, more alien and warlike, bring to mind the Apaches and other Native Americans John Carter encountered on Earth, although one would think the "red-skinned" humans on mars would be more reminiscent of them. For an adventure story based on the to-be-expected conventions of its genre and time, John Carter falls in love with a Martian princess of Helium, Dejah Thoris. They must survive a number of obstacles, ordeals, battles, and separations before all ends well as two inevitably marry. Through an eventual alliance with one of the more noble leaders of the "savage" Tharks, John Carter succeeds. Needless to say, the novel ends on a cliffhanger which, presumably, hooked more readers to engage the sequel.

In spite of its predictable storyline, A Princess of Mars introduces some very interesting lore and themes of ancient civilizations of Mars. The advanced forebears of the present humans were able to construct vast cities with plazas, amphitheaters, and their descendants retain some of this advanced technology. Powered through different rays of sunlight, they create a livable atmosphere on Mars while developing aerial navies and other gadgets, weapons, and amenities. While the "red" Martians are aware of humans on Earth, they lack spaceships to contact the human-like beings on the various planets in the solar system. Moreover, perhaps due to the racial theories of the era in which the novel appeared, Edgar Rice Burroughs attributes the advanced ancient civilization on Mars to a white-skinned race, who have disappeared after several generations of race-mixing among the yellow, black, and white Martians. Burroughs has woven into the narrative some popular notions of miscegenation and decline, which the white Southern gentleman of Virginia will presumably "correct" by his time and relationship with Dejah Thoris. 

Yet, despite the possibility of Social Darwinism and the nearly feudal politics in which Carter, who descends from Virginia pioneers and planter stock himself, promotes, cross-racial relationships and possibilities for alliance lead to a promising future. Through an alliance with Tars Tarkas of the green men, the "savage" and most war-like of the Martian races, Carter is able to subdue the Zodanga. And Carter himself is hopelessly in love with a red-skinned woman of Mars, and finds nobility in her people and their culture. Without reading the sequel novels, one can say there is an ambiguous embrace of the new that may differ from the subsequent books.