The War of the Worlds door H.G. Wells

Title: The War of the Worlds Writer: Herbert Goerge Wells Year of Publication: 1898 Setting: England; Woking, Shepperton and London Genre: Science-Fiction, War

Tell what the book is about: The Coming of the Martians When the Narrator, whose name is not mentioned, visits his friend Ogilvy, an astronomer, he witnesses an eruption on Mars. A green flash spurts out of the reddish disc up in the sky. Ogilvy assures the Narrator that the chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one. The eruptions on Mars continue for each twenty four hours for ten nights. The next day a huge meteorite has crashed on Horsell Common near Woking, where the Narrator lives. Ogilvy who’s very curious discovers that this is not just a meteorite but an artificial cylinder. The cylinder starts to unscrew, the crowd starts to grow and the Narrator himself decides to take a look. The day after the head of the cylinder falls off and a huge rounded bulk larger than a bear appears, snake-like tentacles rise as the clumsy body comes out of the cylinder slowly and painfully. Then an odd funnel comes up taking aim at the astonished people on the Common. An invisible ray of heat flashes from out the funnel turning people into human torches. The Narrator escapes but Ogilvy is among the dead. The next days are marked by the slaughter of the army at Woking and the Narrator encounters a Martian Fighting Machine. A walking engine of glittering metal with a few iron tentacles, a head like hood in which the Martian sit, walking with a rolling motion on their three mechanic stilt-like legs. They were larger than a house even larger than a church tower. After this he meets an Artillery Man. They travel together and at Weybridge they witness a battle in which one of the Martians is killed, so there’s still some hope left. The Narrator and Artillery Man get separated, but The Narrator gets a new fellow traveller, the Curate. Then the story goes to his brother in London. Who tries to escape England via the North-Sea, he spends his last money on a small steamer that will take him to France. The warship Thunderchild is Earth’s last defence however after a long courageous battle the Martians manage to destroy the Thunderchild. It seems like all hope for mankind is lost. The Earth under the Martians Now The Narrator starts again; he and the Curate flee into a house. In the same street another house gets crushed by a Martian Cylinder. The house in which they have hidden is turned into debris. The Curate’s grip on sanity is slipping away, they discover a window slit, when the Narrator peers through the window he can see how the Martians prepare for battle. He gets introduced to another Martian Machine, the Handling Machine, a crab-like sophisticated contraption with huge articulating claws and a huge basket upon its back. The function of this basket is to capture human beings for ‘food’. For the Martian do not have entrails, like we do, they only have brains, a heart, longs and veins. They use Human blood as food to stay alive. By this the Curate becomes mad and he’s captured by the Martians. The Narrator is able to escape and meets by accident and great surprise the Artillery Man. The Artillery Man has a great idea in which humans have to adapt to their new situation. But the Narrator soon realises the Artillery Man’s dreams can not be done. After leaving him the Narrator dwells through London and he too is slipping into insanity. He hears a strange and ghostly call: \'\'Ullaaaaa!!!\'\' He sees the Fighting Machine from which the howling came. And again it yelled: \'\'Ullaaaaaaaa!!!\'\' But abruptly it stops. Then the Narrator’s last grip on sanity snaps. He’s determined to give his live to the Martians, he runs towards the Machine. Out of the hood hang red shreds at which the hungry birds now pecked and tore. The Martians were dead. Slain after all man’s devices had failed by the humblest things upon the Earth; Bacteria. The war was over, live could begin again.

Who are the main characters? The Narrator and his brother, the Martians, the Curate and the Artillery Man.

How are they like? The Narrator: He’s courageous, optimistic at first, frightened and calm. His Brother: He’s the most courageous, nice and frightened. The Curate: He’s moody, uncertain, frightened, a bit mean, naïve and he becomes mad. The Artillery Man: He’s certain, very optimistic, nice, spontaneous and enthusiastic. The Martians: Intellects vast, cool and unsympathetic.

What is their role in the book? The Narrator is essential to the story he tells the story from his view. His Brother is inspired on H.G. Wells his own brother who first came up with the idea of Martian landing on Earth. The Curate is a synonym for the collapse of religion in times of war and fear. The Artillery Man his an impersonation of Wells himself who had these ideas of an Utopia. And finally the Martians. In the times of Wells England still had colonies Wells was against colonisation and wanted to write a book about how it would be like if England got colonized. But in those times England was the greatest power in the world so he couldn’t use another country to invade. Inspired by his brother’s idea he went and wrote about Martians.

Explain the book’s title: The book is about a War between two different species, both from other Worlds.

-Are you satisfied with the end of the story? Explain. If you are dissatisfied how would you end the story?: I’m very satisfied with the ending. It’s an unexpected ending, the Martians are not defeated by Humans but by things they didn’t foresee like diseases that are totally normal to Human standards.

Give your opinion on the book: It was interesting, exciting, fantasy and very realistic. The style in which it was written was so real as if it all really happened.

Do you think that the writer wanted to teach you something, or make something clear to you? Or did he just want to amuse you? I think he did want to do both things he wanted to amuse and learn the reader something. He wanted to learn that men and their empire were too arrogant for their own good. That we were to busy with our own businesses that we did not care enough about what was going on outside of our day-to-day world.