A Rover's Story

Sophie is only seen twice in the book, but her letters make up a good portion of the narrative and offer insight into her character as well as that of Rania, Sophie’s mother. Sophie begins the book at age 12. By the end, she is in her mid-thirties. By tracing Sophie’s coming of age through the letters, Warga creates a dual narrative: Resilience’s story helps illustrate just how challenging growing up can be, and Sophie’s narrative shows that science and discoveries take time and perseverance in addition to curiosity. That Resilience never receives any of Sophie’s letters, to the reader’s knowledge, makes the letters more like a diary or journal in which Sophie sorts through her feelings. From the start of the novel, Sophie thereby exemplifies the work of Balancing Emotion and Logic. She wrestles with many complicated emotions regarding Resilience because the rover takes so much of her mother’s time; Sophie steadily deconstructs those emotions, though, striving to be precise about what exactly she feels toward who. Eventually, she finds that writing to the rover helps her feel connected to her mother, and as the book progresses, Resilience also becomes a way for Sophie to unpack her stress and express herself. She writes to tell Resilience how she feels about his mission and to spill her secrets, whether positive or negative. She sometimes tells Resilience that she would like to be a robot because it would free her from the more difficult human emotions; ironically, of course, Resilience is experiencing the same emotions as she does. Placing Sophie in juxtaposition with Resilience helps to show how humanlike Resilience truly is.

Rania is Sophie’s mom and one of the main scientists who works on Resilience. Resilience favors Rania because she is crisp and clear like her own well-written code; he can tell when he receives instructions from Rania because no one writes code like she does. Rania begins the book closed-off to Resilience. She views the rover as a machine, albeit one that represents great hope and significant fear of failure. As a result, she distances herself from him emotionally because she doesn’t want to get too close in case something goes wrong. Through interacting with Xander, though, Rania comes to understand that feeling emotions toward an (apparently) inanimate object is understandable. Xander is just as concerned about Resilience, but he trusts the rover—that is, he trusts the hard work and teamwork of his peers. Xander’s trust and encouragement are what allow Rania to open up and trust Resilience too. Much as with Sophie’s character arc, Rania’s character arc aligns in many ways with Resilience’s—Rania gets sick again during the time Resilience is offline. Rania’s return at the end of the book is a pleasant surprise for Resilience, hinting at hope in the face of grief and loss as part of life, and brings closure to his character arc.

Fly is Resilience’s drone companion. Fly learns human emotions from Resilience, though Resilience is initially wary of imparting emotions to his new companion. Journey told Resilience that emotions are bad, so the idea that Fly learned bad things from him makes Resilience feel like he’s letting Journey and the mission down. However, Fly’s emotions quickly allow a strong friendship to grow between the two robots, and this friendship is one of the greatest assets to both of them on Mars. Fly’s loyalty is both his greatest quality and his tragic flaw. He is willing to put himself in harm’s way for the mission and to help Resilience, which causes him to crash and take damage during the dust storm. Fly also brings out loyalty in Resilience, as shown when Resilience ignores the order to leave Fly behind. Together, Fly and Resilience illustrate the enduring power of friendship and the importance of teamwork in The Pursuit of Knowledge.

Journey is a test rover in the lab next to Resilience’s, though she initially believes Resilience is the “backup.” While Resilience is immediately drawn to human emotions, Journey is against emotions in the beginning, arguing that, if emotions were a good thing to have on Mars, then humans would go to the planet themselves. Instead, Journey firmly believes that rovers are better equipped to survive on Mars because they are built to make logic-based decisions and not let emotions get in the way. Journey’s character represents how being closed-minded to new ideas gets in the way of the pursuit of knowledge. She refuses to entertain the potential of emotions, and her attitude influences Resilience, who initially fears he is the wrong rover to go to Mars. Together, Journey and Resilience show how different perspectives and a willingness to listen and learn (or “observe,” as Resilience might phrase it) help us grow. By the end of the novel, Resilience sees the benefit to logic, and Journey has begun to understand emotions. Both still believe their way is best for them, but they let the lessons the other taught them influence how they think, which makes their relationship stronger.

Guardian is a satellite in orbit around Mars. Having seen many rovers land on Mars and then go offline, Guardian is dedicated to her mission of helping rovers survive as long as they can by making strong, logic-based decisions. However, as she watches Resilience traverse Mars and sees the benefits of the friendship between Resilience and Fly, Guardian begins to let her walls down. Especially when she sees what Resilience and Fly are willing to do for one another, she realizes there is something special about this team, and she begins to exhibit more emotions herself. Guardian exemplifies a sense of higher purpose. Her gradual shift into a being that has more compassion and patience for Fly in particular helps demonstrate the importance of balancing emotion and logic. The pursuit of knowledge, as a purpose, is best undertaken when cool-headed resolve is balanced with genuine emotion.