The Lion of Mars

Bell’s earnest and naive point of view characterizes him as innocent, which serves several narrative purposes. The innocent point of view is a form of dramatic irony where the reader is aware of, or familiar with, elements that a character may find strange, new, or confusing. Bell, for example, is both a child and alien, which marks him as inexperienced and unfamiliar with commonplace concepts about life on Earth. Indeed, Bell’s worldview is initially limited to a small frame of reference: He has only known life in the settlement, has only ever met the 10 people he lives with, and is afraid of going against the rules. As for everything else, he has only heard stories or watched digi-reels.

The innocent point of view creates humor, such as when Bell is seemingly baffled by concepts like football: “Football was an Earth game where you threw around a ball and knocked into people. I didn’t really understand it” (4). Similarly, with the concept of grass, he says, “Meems said the only thing missing [on Mars] was grass. Phinneus explained it was a plant you grew and cut and then grew again and cut. It didn’t make much sense” (12).

Bell’s naivete furthers the plot. His curiosity drives him to seek out people from the other settlements and wonder at the possibilities that new friendships open. When he realizes that Sai’s buried resentment and grief are preventing him from cooperating with the other countries, Bell says:

Good memories were important. They kept us going. But the grown-ups had forgotten that. They couldn’t remember what life was like before everything went wrong. They needed someone to remind them. Someone like me (235).

This quote exemplifies the young boy’s innocent optimism, which ends up being what inspires the adults to mend their relationships. In short, the innocent point of view is used as comic relief and as a catalyst for narrative resolution.