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Saul Williams
The story’s titular visitor, Leonard Mark is a young, relatively healthy arrival to Mars, with the fantastical ability to implant visions in others’ minds. Upon meeting Saul for the first time, Mark makes New York City spring up around them, and later transports Saul to a beloved childhood creek. Mark explains his telepathic and hypnotic abilities as likely being the result of the “blow-up” of 1957, implying that there has been a nuclear explosion on Earth. He refuses payment for his services, saying that he simply enjoys making others happy. At the same time, Mark insists upon his freedom to use his power as he wishes, and that he, as a human being, does not belong to anyone. After Saul kidnaps him and brings him to a cave to hide him from the other Martian exiles, Mark mocks Saul’s greed and asserts that his selfishness has ruined what he would have freely given. Later, when other men arrive, Mark suggests a schedule that would allow for the equal sharing of his abilities; the men refuse, however, and when Mark points out that one of them, Johnson, has a gun, chaos erupts. Johnson accidentally shoots and kills Mark in the subsequent fight. With the loss of Mark comes the loss of the potential for escape from the lonely drudgery of the men’s Martian existence. Mark more broadly represents the Earth itself, whose resources human beings have selfishly and greedily depleted.
Leonard Mark Quotes in The Visitor
The The Visitor quotes below are all either spoken by Leonard Mark or refer to Leonard Mark. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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“The Visitor” Quotes
New York grew up out of the desert, made of stone and filled with March winds. Neons exploded in electric color. Yellow taxis glided in a still night. Bridges rose and tugs chanted in the midnight harbors. Curtains rose on spangled musicals.
Saul put his hands to his head, violently.
"Hold on, hold on!" he cried. "What's happening to me? What's wrong with me? I'm going crazy!"
Leaves sprouted from trees in Central Park, green and new. On the pathway Saul strolled along, smelling the air.
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Moments after meeting Leonard Mark, Saul asks the visitor, who has recently arrived on Mars from Earth, how things are back in New York. Without pause, Mark uses his telepathic abilities to make the city erupt all around Saul. Bradbury’s description of the city in this moment emphasizes the way it overwhelms all the senses. Saul can feel the wind, see explosions of color, hear the cars, and smell the air. The vision is made all the more vibrant and extraordinary for its sharp contrast with the oppressive stillness of the Martian desert, and this scene helps establish why men Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam
Saul lay on the sand. From time to time his hands moved, twitched excitedly. His mouth spasmed open; sounds issued from his tightening and relaxing throat.
Saul began to make slow movements of his arms, out and back, out and back, gasping with his head to one side, his arms going and coming slowly on the warm air, stirring the yellow sand under him, his body turning slowly over.
Leonard Mark quietly finished his coffee. While he drank he kept his eyes on the moving, whispering Saul lying there on the dead sea bottom.
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Upon Saul’s request, Mark has made him believe he is swimming in a beloved creek outside his childhood hometown back on Earth. This moment, seen from Mark’s perspective, underscores the fact that the visions he grants are just that—visions; they aren’t real no matter how well they fool the senses. While Saul genuinely feels as though he is submerged in a body of water, he is in fact simply flailing about in the dead Martian sea. For men like Saul, however, this difference between reality and illusion is entirely inconsequential. The ability to believe he has escaped his Martian prison Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet
We'll be in Greece, he thought. In Athens. We'll be in Rome, if we want, when we study the Roman writers. We'll stand in the Parthenon and the Acropolis. It won’t be just talk, but it'll be a place to be, besides. This man can do it. He has the power to do it. When we talk the plays of Racine, he can make a stage and players and all of it for me. By Christ, this is better than life ever was! How much better to be sick and here than well on Earth without these abilities!
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Soon after meeting Leonard Mark, Saul begins envisioning all the ways the visitor’s talent will help him escape the drudgery of his Martian quarantine. Saul, who is obsessed with ancient philosophy, dreams not simply of visiting his personal home, but also all those distant lands and times that have for so long fascinated him. Saul’s interest in conversing with ancient philosophers reflects the importance the story places on the life of the mind and the value of intellectual stimulation. More broadly, the fact that Saul declares the ability to imagine himself elsewhere as preferable to actually returning to the Earth Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at
“Come on. Don’t you realize what’ll happen once they discover your talent? They’ll fight over you. They’ll kill each other—kill you—for the right to own you.”
“Oh, but I don’t belong to anybody,” said Leonard Mark. He looked at Saul. “No. Not even you.”
Saul jerked his head. “I didn’t even think of that.”
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While talking with Mark, Saul notices the other Martian exiles in the distance slowly making their way towards the two of them. Immediately, Saul declares that he and Mark must leave for Mark’s own protection. Of course, whether he admits it to himself or not, Saul really just wants to keep Mark’s talents for himself, even though Mark clearly is against this. Saul’s comment that the men will kill each other and Mark in their greed proves prescient, as this is exactly what will happen in the end of the story. In this moment, however, Mark sees through Saul’s attempt Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita dele
“If you’d had any sense and done things intelligently, we’d have been friends. I'd have been glad to do you these little hypnotic favors. After all, they’re no trouble for me to conjure up. Fun, really. But you’ve botched it. You wanted me all to yourself. You were afraid the others would take me away from you. Oh, how mistaken you were. I have enough power to keep them all happy. You could have shared me, like a community kitchen.”
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As Mark sits tied up in a cave, having been kidnapped by Saul in his efforts to keep the visitor’s talents to himself, he bluntly points out the foolishness that Saul has been driven to in his greed. Saul’s refusal to share Mark with the others has led to physical violence. The irony, of course, is that Mark had been perfectly willing to bring help Saul prior to this betrayal; in fact, he had plenty of power to help any man who asked. Saul selfishness and greed, then, have robbed him of the very thing he most desires. This pattern Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollit
By dawn the arguments and ferocities still continued. Mark sat among the glaring men, rubbing his wrists, newly released from his bonds. He created a mahogany paneled conference hall and a marble table at which they all sat, ridiculously bearded, evil-smelling, sweating and greedy men, eyes bent upon their treasure.
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After five other Martian exiles discover Saul and Mark in their cave, the group argues all throughout the night about what to do with Mark. As Saul predicted, each man proves eager to keep the visitor’s talents to themselves. The sleek conference hall and marble table conjured by Mark contrast with the men’s disheveled, filthy appearance, which Bradbury highlights in this moment to suggest the extent to which they have been grotesquely distorted by both their isolation and immense greed. That the men fix their eyes “upon their treasure” again reflects that, in their selfishness, they fail to see Mark Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at.
“The rest of the week I’m to be left strictly alone, do you hear?” Mark told them. A little should be better than nothing. If you don’t obey, I won’t perform at all.” […]
“Let me talk,” said Johnson. “He’s telling us what he’ll do. Why don’t we tell him! Are we bigger than him, or not? And him threatening not to perform! Well, just let me get a sliver of wood under his toenails and maybe burn his fingers a bit with a steel file, and we’ll see if he performs! Why shouldn’t we have performances, I want to know, every night in the week?”
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To end the men’s arguments, Mark rationally proposes a schedule that allots each of them an hour of his talents a week, while also providing Mark himself with some much-needed solitude. Rather than accept this reasonable offer, however, one of the men, Johnson, declares that the others simply force Mark to do whatever they want. Having only a little of Mark is not enough; he wants to wring Mark’s talent dry. In their greed, the men have again dehumanized Mark, reducing him to a performer who must cater to the other men’s desires. Johnson’s readiness to use physical torture to Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque
The men gazed suspiciously at each other with little bright animal eyes. What was spoken was true. They saw each other in the days to come, surprising one another, killing—until that last lucky one remained to enjoy the intellectual treasure that walked among them.
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After Johnson proposes forcing Mark to do the men’s bidding, Mark declares that none of the men can trust one another at all; as soon as they turn their backs, the others will strike in an effort to keep Mark’s “treasure” to themselves. Greed has no only driven the men to deny Mark his humanity and commit violence against him, but it has also robbed them of their ability to trust their only companions on Mars. This is an especially ironic and tragic result given the desperate isolation and loneliness of life in quarantine. This moment instills the story with Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur
It didn't work. It wasn’t the same. New York was gone and nothing he could do would bring it back. He would rise every morning and walk on the dead sea looking for it, and walk forever around Mars, looking for it, and never find it. And finally lie, too tired to walk, trying to find New York in his head, but not finding it.
The last thing he heard before he slept was the spade rising and falling and digging a hole into which, with a tremendous crash of metal and golden mist and odor and color and sound, New York collapsed, fell, and was buried.
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In the final moments of the story, following Mark’s accidental death, an exhausted Saul lies on the Martian ground and realizes just how much they all have lost. As in the beginning of the tale, Saul tries to imagine New York City around him, but without Mark it is no use; any chance of seeing Earth again—of escaping the stifling Martian hell—is gone. As the men bury Mark, they also bury the hope the visitor represented for a glimpse into the world beyond the men’s dismal quarantine. As he falls asleep, Saul hears the world he longs for collapsing around Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam
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Leonard Mark Character Timeline in The Visitor
The timeline below shows where the character Leonard Mark appears in The Visitor. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
“The Visitor”
...young and “fresh in spite of his illness.” The young man introduces himself as Leonard Mark.
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Saul asks Mark about the state of New York, at which point the city itself suddenly erupts around...
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At noon that day, over coffee, Mark tells Saul that he was born with his ability, which he describes as “telepathy and...
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Mark asks Saul what he would prefer to be doing more than anything else, and Saul...
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Saul images all the places Mark will take him and all of the philosophers he’ll be able to talk to through...
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...from his reverie, Saul spots other men in the distance slowly moving towards him and Mark. He tells Mark they must leave, because the other men are “insane” and will fight—even...
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Saul again insists Mark leave, but Mark calls him “too possessive.” Growing angry, Saul feels “an ugliness” rise within...
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Mark awakens tied up in a dark cave. He calls Saul, who is tending to a...
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Saul tells Mark he’ll free him if he promises not to run away, but Mark again insists that...
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...that he is sorry, but that the other men would never have agreed to that. Mark accuses Saul of being no different from the others, before saying that he heard a...
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...investigate the noise; finding nothing, he returns to a now-empty cave. He shouts frantically for Mark but receives no answer. However, he notices a large boulder near the cave’s wall, and...
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The men argue ferociously until dawn. Mark has conjured a conference hall and marble table, around which the men sit. They are...
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In an effort to settle things, Mark suggests creating appointments so that each man gets equal time with him every week. Saul,...
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Mark offers up a schedule, which includes time to himself as well. The other men seem...
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One of the men, Johnson, proposes that they instead force Mark to perform, and torture him if he refuses. They are five against one, Johnson insists,...
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Mark urges the others not to listen to Johnson, calling the man crazy and asserting that...
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The men look at each other with suspicion and understand that Mark is correct. Saul, meanwhile, begins to understand the gravity of his mistake, realizing that they...
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After a tense silence, Mark speaks up again, saying that one of the men has a gun, and the others...
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Mark screams for the men to stop and begins conjuring New York City around them. The...
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New York begins to collapse, buildings crumpling in on themselves with hisses and sighs. Mark stands in the middle of it all, a red hole in his chest. He collapses....
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...throws it as far as he can without watching where it lands. He calls out Mark’s name and grabs his limp hand, but the body is still. “We’ve killed him,” Saul...
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...the background. He wants to sleep, and to dream of New York. Saul wonders how Mark brought them the visions and tries his hardest to imagine the city around him. It...
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