The Andromeda Strain

Mark Hall becomes the true hero of The Andromeda Strain. While the other scientists continually fail to understand the alien organism, Hall redeems himself by making breakthroughs. He transitions from a fool to a savior throughout the story. At the beginning of the book, he is presented as a character who is simply filling a quota. He is selected because he is unmarried, not because he possesses any particular quality. He hardly cares about the top-secret project. He does not read the files he is sent and only exists as a perfunctory member of a team he does not truly understand. He is a fool who cannot recognize the scope of the crisis he faces. His dismissive attitude indicates his disregard for the Wildfire Project, but that flippant attitude does not last long.

In each chapter Hall develops a greater understanding of the truly serious nature of the project. Once inside the facility, he proves himself by conducting useful, thorough experiments. Even though he does the work well, his fellow scientists still doubt him. They never voice their doubts but an unspoken agreement exists between them: They would prefer to replace Hall with almost any other scientist.

Hall’s hard work pays off. He conducts the experiments that come closest to explaining the nature of the organism, both by examining data and by talking to the survivors. He explores avenues the other scientists do not, and he even checks the missed messages, revealing the failure of Directive 7-12. In the closing stages of the story, Hall saves the entire facility by subjecting himself to extreme pain and difficulty, averting a nuclear detonation. The team does not save the world. They never come close to truly understanding the organism. However, Hall succeeds in saving human lives, in saving his reputation, and in justifying the existence of the Wildfire Project through diligent science. Hall may begin the novel as something of a joke, but he ends the story as the most successful member of a team of the world’s best scientists.

Charles Burton only has a small role in the novel. He is the least prevalent member of the Wildfire Project and plays the role of the consummate sidekick. Stone regards him as a brilliant scientist but disproves of Burton’s disheveled appearance. Burton’s clothes show that he does not particularly care about his outward appearance; he would prefer that his work speak for him, not his clothes. This approach succeeds in so far that Burton is chosen to join the Wildfire team, suggesting that even Stone values Burton’s intellect above his ragged appearance.

Burton travels with Stone to Piedmont to make the initial incursion on the mission to understand the alien organism. He lacks Stone’s ruthlessness and must be reminded of the broader mission at several points. While Stone is willing to leave behind anything that does not serve the mission and perform acts like gassing the birds, Burton does not possess this same determination. He has to think twice about such actions. Stone is a natural leader, while Burton plays a deferential role to Stone, allowing him to make the important decisions that serve the whole mission rather than the immediate situation.

Burton may be the most limited member of the Wildfire Project. He makes big mistakes, like failing to perform autopsies on all the lab rats. Such failures and oversights illustrate that even the smartest men can crumble in a difficult situation. Burton’s mistakes are highlighted by the narrator, who laments how much quicker the situation could have been resolved were it not for Burton’s oversight. However, these failures are not particular to Burton. While Burton receives most of the narrator’s blame, everyone makes mistakes during the mission.

Burton also has the misfortune of being the only team member exposed to the Andromeda Strain. The exposure is not necessarily his fault. He is performing a routine experiment when the alien organism begins to dissolve the rubber connectors that seal the lab chamber shut. Burton is then portrayed as a terrified man, losing his dignity and calling for help in the form of miracle cures and radical drugs, succumbing to panic rather than maintaining his composure, demonstrating how the unknown, and especially fear of it, impedes reason and rationality.