"It is sad, Sola, that you were not born a million years ago, when all the hollows of the land were filled with water, and the peoples were as soft as the stuff they sailed upon. In our day we have progressed to a point where such sentiments mark weakness and atavism. It will not be well for you to permit Tars Tarkas to learn that you hold such degenerate sentiments, as I doubt that he would care to entrust such as you with the grave responsibilities of maternity."
Sarkoja comments upon her perceived naiveté and weakness displayed by Sola, a younger female Thark and her monologue completely frames the pragmatic, warlike ways of the Green Martians who see Sola’s uncharacteristic kindness and appreciation for matters other than combat as a distraction and a form or weakness rather than a more noble or more civilized inclination.
"I see nothing wrong with my expression of interest in this red woman," "She has never harmed us, nor would she should we have fallen into her hands. It is only the men of her kind who war upon us, and I have ever thought that their attitude toward us is but the reflection of ours toward them. They live at peace with all their fellows, except when duty calls upon them to make war, while we are at peace with none; forever warring among our own kind as well as upon the red men, and even in our own communities the individuals fight amongst themselves. Oh, it is one continual, awful period of bloodshed from the time we break the shell until we gladly embrace the bosom of the river of mystery, the dark and ancient Iss which carries us to an unknown, but at least no more frightful and terrible existence! Fortunate indeed is he who meets his end in an early death. Say what you please to Tars Tarkas, he can mete out no worse fate to me than a continuation of the horrible existence we are forced to lead in this life."
This monologue of Sola crystalizes her clear disgust for the current culture of the Tharks. She verbalizes that there is no more cruel form of punishment for her more than being allowed to live out their nomadic, combat-oriented lifestyle that they currently have. For Sola, this lifestyle is a cultural dead-end that would eventually lead to the demise of the Tharks.
“My laughter frightened Woola, his antics ceased and he crawled pitifully toward me, poking his ugly head far into my lap; and then I remembered what laughter signified on Mars--torture, suffering, death.”
The hero still has much to learn about the vast differences between life on Earth and Mars, and nothing is, as it seems. He learns that laughter has a very different meaning on Mars, and tragically it has nothing to do with mirth and merriment.
"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 the dumb brutes that serve you! A people without written language, without art, without homes, without love; the victim of eons of the horrible community idea. Owning everything in common, even to your women and children, has resulted in your owning nothing in common. You hate each other as you hate all else except yourselves. Come back to the ways of our common ancestors, come back to the light of kindliness and fellowship. The way is open to you, you will find the hands of the red men stretched out to aid you. Together we may do still more to regenerate our dying planet. The granddaughter of the greatest and mightiest of the red jeddaks has asked you. Will you come?"
The Princess of Helium graciously extends her hands to Tharks to give them an opportunity to elevate themselves from the nomadic hunter-gatherer-raider lifestyle that they currently espouse. She attempts to appeal to a higher sense of purpose and mission as well as a greater sense of community with the rest of the Martian races.
"Why did you do it? You who refused me even friendly recognition in the first hour of my peril! And now you risk your life and kill one of your companions for my sake. I cannot understand. What strange manner of man are you, that you consort with the green men, though your form is that of my race, while your color is little darker than that of the white ape? Tell me, are you human, or are you more than human?"
A puzzled Princess of Helium inquires of her rescuer why he extended such kindness and gallantry to her as John was initially in the company of the green Tharks. Her line of questioning then moves over to what race he is, because although at least in form similar to her race, save for the lack of a copper tinted skin.
