Welcome to J G Ballard's 'The Man Who Walked on the Moon'

This short story by J. G. Ballard is featured in Stories of Ourselves: Volume 2 for Cambridge IGCSE Literature in English (0475). Ballard explores the blurred boundary between reality and illusion, myth-making, and the quiet desperation of life on the margins.


In these revision notes, we will break down the setting, plot, characters, core themes, and Ballard's literary techniques to help you prepare high-scoring responses for Paper 1.

Section 1: Context and Plot Summary (AO1: Knowledge)

Setting the Scene

Unlike traditional science fiction stories set in space laboratories or launch facilities, this narrative takes place in a sun-drenched, urban setting.

  • Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (specifically the cafés and streets of Copacabana and Ipanema).
  • Atmosphere: Faded, impoverished, and populated by wealthy tourists and desperate expatriates seeking a living.
  • Significance: The exotic tourist backdrop highlights the contrast between the global glamour of the space race and the mundane financial hardship of everyday survival.

The Plot: Step-by-Step Breakdown

  1. The Impoverished Observer: The story is told in the first person by an unnamed narrator—a struggling former journalist and translator living in Rio de Janeiro, weighed down by poverty and feelings of failure.
  2. Observing the Astronaut: In a beachside tourist café, the narrator observes an American known as Mr. Scranton (or 'Commander Scranton'), who claims to be a former Apollo astronaut who walked on the Moon. Scranton regales wealthy American tourists with dramatic tales of lunar missions in exchange for drinks and tips.
  3. The Investigation: Intrigued by Scranton's act, the narrator befriends him and investigates his background. The narrator discovers Scranton is an imposter—a former crop-duster pilot who lost his licence and invented his astronaut persona to survive.
  4. The Bond of Delusion: Rather than exposing Scranton, the narrator visits his modest living quarters and becomes increasingly fascinated by the power of the illusion.
  5. The Transformation: When Scranton falls ill and disappears/departs, the narrator inherits the persona. The story concludes with the narrator taking Scranton's place at the café table, posing as a former Moon explorer to solicit handouts from tourists.

Key Takeaway: The narrative tracks a psychological transition from detached observation to active participation in a shared fantasy.

Section 2: Characters and Relationships (AO2: Understanding)

1. The Unnamed Narrator

The narrator serves as our first-person perspective into the world of Rio's expatriate fringe.

  • Social Situation: A down-on-his-luck writer and translator living in financial insecurity.
  • Psychological State: Disillusioned, cynical, and longing for purpose and escape from a mundane existence.
  • Evolution: Starts as an analytical observer seeing through Scranton's deception, but gradually adopts the fantasy himself as an emotional and financial lifeline.

2. Mr. Scranton ('The Commander')

Scranton is a tragic, theatrical figure living off a fabricated past.

  • Identity: A former American crop-duster whose flying career ended in failure.
  • The Performance: Poses as an Apollo astronaut, selling souvenirs, photographs, and dramatic personal anecdotes to receptive tourists.
  • Function: Represents the human desire for significance and the ease with which society consumes manufactured myths.

The Relationship: Doubles and Complicity

The dynamic between the narrator and Scranton functions as a study of doubles (doppelgängers). The narrator recognizes his own failures in Scranton. Instead of judging the fraud, he empathizes with Scranton's need to construct a heroic identity.

Quick Review: Character Dynamics

The Narrator: The disillusioned intellectual who becomes captivated by the power of myth.
Mr. Scranton: The fragile imposter whose crafted illusion provides dignity and survival.

Section 3: Major Themes and Ideas (AO2: Understanding)

1. Illusion vs. Reality (Imposture and Authenticity)

  • Ballard explores how human beings rely on illusions to cope with disappointing realities.
  • Scranton's moonwalk is a lie, but it provides emotional truth, wonder, and comfort to both himself and his audience of tourists.

2. Commodification of Fame and Media Mythology

  • The space race is treated not as a pure scientific achievement, but as a media spectacle and a commercial commodity.
  • Tourists eagerly buy into the fantasy because they desire proximity to historic fame and heroic narratives.

3. Alienation and Failure

  • Both central figures are alienated outcasts stranded far from home in Rio de Janeiro.
  • Adopting the persona of a moonwalker provides a symbolic way of expressing their profound isolation from ordinary society.

Section 4: Writer's Methods and Language (AO3: Methods)

1. First-Person Narrative Voice

By using an unnamed first-person narrator, Ballard allows the reader to witness the subtle psychological process through which the narrator gradually rationalizes and adopts the imposter's identity.

2. Irony and Pathos

  • Situational Irony: One of mankind's greatest technological achievements (walking on the Moon) is reduced to a cheap café trick used to beg for drinks and small change.
  • Pathos: Ballard generates sympathy for Scranton by exposing the physical frailty and poverty underlying his confident performance.

3. Setting as Symbolism

The bustling, sunlit beach cafés of Copacabana provide a stark ironic contrast to the cold, distant, and lonely vacuum of the Moon that Scranton describes in his fabricated stories.

Exam Tip (AO3)

When analyzing Ballard's craft, examine how he uses dramatic irony and character doubles to demonstrate how the narrator's identity is gradually consumed by Scranton's performance.

Section 5: Preparing for Your IGCSE Response (AO4: Personal Response)

Passage-Based Questions

  • Track the Tone: Look at how the narrator describes Scranton's storytelling—notice the shift from skepticism to fascination.
  • Analyze Diction: Examine words related to performance, deception, and decay to highlight the tension between glamour and poverty.

Essay Questions

  • Structure Clearly: Address the question using a clear line of argument (e.g., exploring how Ballard portrays delusion, how the setting reinforces alienation, and why the narrator takes over the role at the climax).
  • Personal Engagement (AO4): Reflect on why the story remains compelling: it reveals universal human desires for significance, dignity, and escape in the face of failure.