Dark They Were, and Golden Eyed

“Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed” is a short story by speculative fiction writer Ray Bradbury that was first published in 1949. Originally titled “The Naming of Names” (though distinct from his later story of the same name), it explores how people and names change when taken far from the places they are from. While not a part of his Martian Chronicles (1950), a collection of stories about Earth settlers on Mars, it has many of the same interests, also imagining a colony of settlers from Earth on Mars. The story explores the connection between names and land, colonization’s effects on the colonizers, and the inevitability of change on both personal and humanity-wide scales.

This guide refers to the version in the collection The Illustrated Man, The October Country, Other Stories published by the Library of America in 2022 and edited by Jonathan R. Eller.

Harry Bittering, his wife Cora, and their three children (Dan, Laura, and David) arrive on Mars by rocket. They are joining an American colony escaping the threat of nuclear war on Earth. As they exit the rocket, Harry is immediately taken aback by the strange, dusty atmosphere and hot climate, and he tells his wife they need to go back to Earth.