A Princess of Mars is a formulaic science fiction romance that chronicles the journey of civil war veteran John Carter to the planet of Mars, where he becomes immersed in an interspecies conflict. Readers might interpret the Barsoom series as a commentary on 18th century western culture, specifically focusing on the troubled relationship between Native American Indians and American-European Settlers. However, in the words of Edgar Rice Burroughs,

“No fiction is worth reading except for entertainment. If it entertains and is clean, it is good literature … If it forms the habit of reading, in people who might not read otherwise, it is the best literature.”

When analyzing the story from the time frame and point of view of the author it becomes apparent that the theme of a technologically superior race struggling with a nomadic savage people is merely a setting that informs the grand adventure, and not a deliberate social commentary. Burroughs employed the parallels between warring races based upon his real life experience.

Essentially the exact opposite of the 2009 film “Avatar,” “A Princess of Mars” shows the primitive green Martians opening the hostilities, as opposed to the sophisticated human inhabitants. This comes to a head when Dejah Thoris, princess of Helium, is being held prisoner by the Tharks. She says resolutely,

“Why, oh why will you not learn to live in amity with your fellows, must you ever go on down the ages to your final extinction but little above the plane of dumb brutes that serve you!”

If this were to be read as a serious critical analysis, then A Princess of Mars not only demonizes Native Americans, but also paints them as mindless barbarians. Dejah describes Tharks as, “A people without written language, without art, without homes…the victim of eons of the horrible community idea.”
While intriguing, the subtexts in the Barsoom books are not the incentive for reading; Burroughs essentially wrote stories to help pay the bills and aimed them at the common man, just looking for escapism.