War of the Worlds
Plot Summary
The Story is set in an Unspecified time in the late 1800s where an Alien Race has observed Humanity with contempt to its existence.
As resources dwindle on their planet they see Earth as an opportunity and decide to conquer it and kill off the human race.
The narrator meets his friend who is an astronomer and they both observe Mars and that explosions are being reported from the planet. Seeing this they talk about whether or not there could be intelligent life on Mars.
Then Meteorites come out of the sky each turning out to be an Alien and they begin attacking the people as this attack takes place the Narrator’s friend is killed and he runs for his life.
When he returns to town he is in so much shock he can’t explain what happened except to his wife.
Continued
Still in shock he tries to convince himself and his wife that the Martians will probably stay where they are and that the Army would kill them if they started trouble.
The next day the Martians began to attack the Soldiers and then the town where the Narrator’s family lives. The Narrator and his wife run away after the Soldiers tell them to get out of the town. All after another Martian Cylinder had landed.
After they had arrived in Leatherhead to see his wifes cousins he leaves her there and returns to town to return the cart he borrowed
As he drives his cart a third cylinder crashes near him and he actually gets a good look at what is killing his race off.
Continued
A giant machine rose up with 3 legs or a tripod and he runs away again and the machine doesn’t notice him after the narrator crashes into a pool of water.
He manages to find a place to hide where he finds a soldier who explains that the Martians had completely killed everyone in his group.
As they head towards london to help the soldier rejoin his troop they come across other soldiers preparing for battle. The Troops temporarily beat the Martians but later they return to kill them off. The Narrator then finds a hiding place with a Clergyman or Curate. Who believes Judgement Day has arrived and all of mankind is being punished for their sins. During a moment where he bursts into histaria after seeing the Martians the Narrator knocks him out and later the aliens take his body. After the Martians had Gone the Narrator began to head towards London.
In London he finds the city completely abandoned and in ruins. He couldn’t find anyone anywhere.
Then he saw one of the Martian Tripods and it made an unnatural noise then stopped and fell. He Climbed it and found a pit with other martians and they mysteriously died.
The Narrator later reveals that the Martians in fact died after being exposed to bacteria and the Aliens had in fact doomed themselves the second they started to breath our air, drank our water, and ate our food.
He finds his wife and life returned to normal and man later aimed to go to the stars.
THE CHARACTERS
THE NARRATOR- He represents Morals and order in the face of death and destruction.
Throughout the story he does what he can to maintain his own sense of morality while the rest of the world is being torn apart by this invading force.
He even is reluctant to kill the clergyman while everyone else in panic is killing each other just to survive.
He tends to be scientific in the sense that he does what he needs to to survive.
Martians
They represent Imperialism
Their actions demonstrate they want to conquer and not compromise
They show no mercy what so ever to humans and seem to want to exterminate them.
They capture humans for food
Which shows the inhumanity of the imperialist.
ArtillaryMen
They of course are the military
They also show through the failure of the military to stop the martians that war is about fighting but also about mistakes commonly seen by military leaders which lead to loss of life and the only real safety is in being ready and avoid danger
Wells also depicts them as not taking war seriously enough when their Generals play cards to divide up London This is due to his views of World Peace.
Curate
The Curate of course represents Religion
Wells uses a negative idea of religion because Wells was both a Socialist and an Atheist. Socialists typically followed what Karl Marx saw in Religion which is that it wasn’t helping society. Wells shows this when the Curate loses him mind.
Think of a Curate as being an Assistant to a priest.
The Brother
The Brother represents the experiences of Human Civilization and how they regard such things
THEMES in the Story
Submission of Man- Wells uses the image of Aliens eliminating humans as a symbol of Men becoming dependent on machines this was a common fear duing the Industrial Revolution.
The Inhumanity of Imperialism- The Martians merciless killing is used as a criticism of the British Empire as it stretched to other lands all over the world.
The horrors of War- Throughout the story you have Soldiers thinking they can still win, people turning on each other for survival, and e