What effect does it have on the novel to have an ordinary, unnamed narrator, not technically trained and often far from the center of activity? What irony is created by the topic of the series of papers he is writing?
The bicycle had been recently invented, and Wells was learning how to ride one during the writing of the novel. In the second paragraph, what evidence is there that Wells is trying to avoid making his narrator a perfect observer?
Why do you suppose he does this? In the absence of broadcasting , the telegraph was the fastest means of communication, and ordinary people received the news by one of several different editions of newspapers during the day. What error do the first reports of the landing make? What is a Gorgon, and why might Wells have chosen to compare the Martians to one?
In what way does Wells make his narrator distinctly unheroic? Navvies are manual laborers. Why is it a hopeful sign that the Red Weed dies so quickly and thoroughly? Why is it important that the narrator not be an omnicompetent swaggering hero in the Arnold Schwarzenegger mold? How does Wells once again compare the Martian invasion to British colonialism? Maxim guns, invented in the s, were the first truly automatic machine guns. Hint: see Matthew What act of realistic cowardice does the narrator commit in the last part of the chapter?
What is the eventual fate of the landlord in a later chapter? What technique does Wells use to emphasize the thoroughness of the destruction?
What is unusual about the sound of the attack the narrator is caught in? A curate is a sort of assistant clergyman. Wells had a low opinion of conventional religion. The disastrous Lisbon earthquake of November 1, was famous partly because the Catholic church claimed it was caused by the wickedness of the inhabitants. More skeptical minds, like Voltaire, argued that Lisbon was the most orthodoxly pious of cities, and its destruction on a Sunday morning argued rather for a lack of divine justice.
Just as had his Enlightenment predecessors, Wells refuses to read religious meaning into a natural disaster. Hint: see Genesis See also Revelation Can you think of reasons that Wells chose not to continue with the same first-person narrative technique?
What prevents many Londoners from immediately reacting to the Martian invasion? What is foreshadowed by the sentence in parentheses? The gas used by the Martians was seen as more prophetic than the fantastic heat-rays, for poison gas was used widely in World War I.
Why would a gas like this be a particularly frightening weapon? The first cylinder had landed Thursday, the fighting began Friday, and the panic in London described in Chapter 14 had begun on Saturday morning. We are now at the dawn of Monday. What evidence is there that panic is overriding civilized behavior in this flight from the Martians?
The novel was published after Wells published an essay about life on Mars in A less prevalent inspiration for the novel was the unification of Germany, which led to great anxiety and a number of novels describing the invasion of Britain by a foreign power.
These were also written in a factual manner, which likely inspired Wells in his writing of this novel, which describes the invasion of Britain by a truly alien power.
The War of the Worlds has been adapted into films and other media quite frequently. The most famous is likely the radio broadcast, which was narrated by actor Orson Welles. It is so famous because it inspired mass panic and hysteria. Another well-known adaptation is the film, which stars Tom Cruise. The Question and Answer section for The War of the Worlds is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. Which sentence s best explains how Ogilvy knew the cylinder was from Mars?
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Wells plus historical and literary context for The War of the Worlds. In-depth summary and analysis of every chapter of The War of the Worlds. Visual theme-tracking, too. Explanations, analysis, and visualizations of The War of the Worlds 's themes. The War of the Worlds 's important quotes, sortable by theme, character, or chapter.
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