The Illustrated Man

A junkman, Fiorello Bodoni, dreams of riding a rocket. When he is certain his “kind wife” Maria is asleep (245), he sneaks out at night to watch them. On one such evening, he shares with an elderly neighbor, Bramante, that he will ride a rocket one day. Bramante shoots him down, arguing that rockets are only for rich people. Bodoni tells him that he has saved up enough money over six years to send one member of his family on a rocket trip, but Bramante calls him a fool again, saying that whoever gets to go will be envied by the others. He advises Bodoni spend his money on something he needs for his business instead and let his family “be content with being poor. Turn their eyes to their hands and to your junk yard, not up to the stars” (245-27).

Nevertheless, the next morning at breakfast, Bodoni tells his family that he has enough money to send one person to space. At first, they argue over it, then draw straws, but slowly each member of the family realizes that they could not bear to go without the others. Disappointed, but selfless, they decide no one should go.

In the junkyard the next day, a man named Mr. Mathews offers to sell a model rocket ship to Bodoni to melt down for aluminum. At first Bodoni refuses; $2,000 is too much money, and he doesn’t have the proper furnace. Suddenly, he insists on buying it after all. He sits in it and is deeply moved by imagining a space flight. Then, he is driven to destroy the rocket, resentful that it can never actually take him to space. He hears the family radio playing inside and reconsiders. He tells Maria to pack for Mars.

The children are enamored with the rocket, but Maria is devastated. She believes Bodoni should have spent the money on equipment instead, and indeed, Bodoni exhausted his bank account on the rocket and other mysterious deliveries. He works on the ship all night.

Finally, he calls the children out to leave for Mars, but Maria has locked them up, afraid that Bodoni will get them killed in a ramshackle rocket. Finally, she relents. Bodoni tells the children the rocket is very old and can only go on one trip. They take off; the children are mesmerized by space. When they fall asleep, Bodoni opens the door—to his junkyard. He had made the rocket into a simulator. He waves to Maria inside the house; she waves back, “a small wave, perhaps. A small smile” (255). Back inside the rocket, Bodoni is relieved that the illusion has held. He and the children spend a week in “space.”

When they land, the children thank Bodoni for the experience: “We will remember it for always, Papa. We will never forget” (257). In bed that night, Maria kisses Bodoni and tells him he is the best father in the world. He tells her he will take her on a little trip of their own someday.