A Rover's Story

The relationship between Resilience and Fly grows in these chapters, showing how relationships forged during uncertain times can become pivotal parts of our coping mechanisms. During the voyage to Mars, Resilience and Fly only have each other. Resilience has suffered a substantial loss, having been removed from everything and everyone he was ever familiar with. At first, the situation frightens Resilience. He relied heavily on Journey’s guidance and superior ability to think logically. Without her, Resilience fears he will fail because his emotions will get in the way. As they approach Mars, these emotions persist, but they are tempered by his growing relationship with Fly. Whereas Resilience is blanketly afraid, Fly tries to remain optimistic, believing they will succeed if they work together. Fly’s presence and assertion that Resilience isn’t alone again assert the importance of teamwork in The Pursuit of Knowledge and the necessity of Balancing Emotion and Logic. Prior to this moment, Resilience thought of himself as alone because Journey wasn’t there and because Fly, while company, wasn’t a rover. Fly’s confidence in their teamwork skills, though, helps Resilience realize that he doesn’t need other machines like him to feel less alone. Moreover, Fly’s differences from Journey prove all the more valuable in helping Resilience find courage in the rocket, just as those differences will also later help Resilience find Courage, the rover, on Mars.

Fly’s optimistic encouragement juxtaposed with the pessimistic scientists in Chapter 32 shows how the people around us can influence emotions, which can then affect our capacity to succeed in important missions like the pursuit of knowledge. The earlier chapters in this section show Resilience becoming frightened and unsure as a result of the scientists’ lack of enthusiasm about him, especially in comparison with Xander and Rania. On board the spacecraft, though, Resilience rallies against his fear thanks to Fly’s friendship and positivity. Resilience’s emotions are influenced by his surroundings, symbolizing how we cannot separate ourselves from the world and the people we interact with.

Resilience’s expanding number of interactions with new characters is another example of how Part 2 of the novel represents early adulthood. Before entering young adulthood, our world feels smaller. School and pre-organized activities with a familiar group of people generally provide a consistent and reassuring environment. As we advance into the world, however, that close-knit community is replaced by new people who don’t know us as well and, thus, may not appreciate us like the people from our childhoods. The scientists at the launch site don’t have the emotional connection to Resilience that Xander and Rania formed while building and testing the rover. Thus, they don’t treat him the same way, which contributes to Resilience’s uncertainty prior to launch.

Sophie’s letters in this section show how she is similarly growing and, as part of that growth, coming to understand both Rania and Resilience. After meeting Resilience and seeing how important he is to her mom, Sophie has been more understanding of Rania’s work, even if she still would like her mom to spend less time at the lab. The letter in Chapter 33 shows that Sophie views Resilience’s situation as both scary and inspirational, and her concerns echo Resilience’s own fears. As the parallel between their emotional growth strengthens, the novel pushes deeper into the theme of Grief and Loss as Part of Life. Sophie’s final lines about why she thinks of rainbows, namely their infinite nature, foreshadow the finite nature of life that both she and Resilience are about to encounter.