In the opening chapter H.G wells is forging a link between the Martians and the Humans. He tries to show that what the Martians are doing now is exactly what Humankind has been doing for years; killing so called lesser races in order to gain more living space and wealth. The Tasmanians are a perfect example of mans brutality. ‘The Tasmanians, in spite of their human likeness were entirely swept out of existence in a war of extermination waged by European immigrants, in the space of fifty years.’ It was recorded that these people were even hunted as sport. H.G Wells then goes on to say, ‘Are we apostles of mercy as to complain if the Martians warred in the same spirit?’ This means that if we complain about what the Martians are doing to us then it shows just how hypocritical Mankind truly is.
It is clear that H.G Wells uses his science fiction novels to criticise how the country is run in his day and age, with the class systems and the governing classes ruling England. He also uses his novel The War of the Worlds to imply that man has become complacent, arrogant and most of all greedy. A prime example of the complacency of man is when the pod lands in Horsell Common, people cluster round the pod and then assume whatever it is it could not possibly harm humankind. So they go home and have some tea instead of doing anything about it ‘I went home and had some tea.’
Later on in the novel H.G Wells suggest that in the society of his time people care about money more than the safety or well being of others of others this is shown when a man spills his mass of money on the road, ‘a bearded, eagle-faced man lugging a small hand bag which split even as my brother’s eyes rested on it and disgorged a mass of sovereigns.’ This man then tries retrieving his lost money and in the confusion a cart runs over him breaking his back, ‘he heard a scream under the wheels, and saw through the dust the rim passing over the poor retches back.’ This implies that humankind is selfish and only cares for his own well being. ‘A brewer’s dray rumbled by with its two near wheels splashed with fresh blood.’ This furthers my point as the man in the brewer’s dray seems to only care for himself as shown by the fresh blood on his wheels.
The main characters brother bares witness to all these atrocities and tries to help the man who has been run over in an attempt to rescue his money. ‘And clutching the man’s collar with his free hand, my brother lugged him sideways.’ This implies that not all humans are selfish and that some are noble in their acts for others. Another act of outstanding nobility is by the state of the art Ironclad ‘Dreadnought’ The Thunder Child; when it steams straight towards the Martians to protect the boats of people who are fleeing, ‘It was the torpedo-ram, Thunder Child, steaming headlong, coming to the rescue of the threatened shipping.’ The irony in this is The Thunder Child is protecting people who have been profiting through greed from this disaster by selling people passage on their boats for extortionate prices.
The Thunder Child puts up a valiant fight, destroying one Martian; through luck more than anything. Then as it turns to face the next Martian a heat ray is brought to bear and destroys The Thunder Child, ‘Then with a violent thud, a blinding flash, her decks, her funnels, leaped upwards.’ This suggests that not even our best fighting machine can begin to compare to the Martians fighting machines. The destruction of The Thunder Child shows that we rely on our technology, thinking that we are superior and that no one else could possibly have anything better, but this shows that our technology will not always win as did the battle of Jutland in the Second World war when both Britain’s and Germanys Ironclads were all wiped out in one battle.
H.G Wells also criticises the government. He suggests that the Governing classes are inefficient and ineffectual by making the resistance to the Martians in his novel weak and scattered. Also he implies in his novel that the government don’t care very much for the people and take too long over important decisions and when they do make decisions they are often disastrous, ‘The whole of the second volley flew wide of the Martian on the ground, and, simultaneously, both his companions brought their heat rays to bear on the battery. The ammunition blew up, the pine trees all about the guns flashed into fire, and only one or two of the men who were already running over the crest of the hill escaped.’
The way in which H.G Wells presents his Martians throughout the book has affected the sci-fi genre in a huge way. How the Martians are presented by Wells has almost lain out a set of rules for all other science fiction novels and films to follow; when creating their Aliens and how their aliens react to human kind, ‘In nearly all films and books the aliens have been hostile.’ For example in Independence Day the aliens are going round the world blowing up cities not trying to make peace with us. Also H.G Wells shows the Martians to be superior technological and physically this seems to be reflected in all alien stories.
H.G Wells was from a working class background but at a young age took an interest in sneaking out and reading scientific books. Later on in his life he studied science and became a scientist. He was the first science fiction novel writer because he was the first writer who had been taught science. H.G Wells could use his scientific knowledge to make you believe almost anything. He did this by bombarding the reader with often false detailed and specific scientific knowledge to make you believe the impossible, like time travel from the book Time Machine or life on another planet as is the case here ‘The planet Mars, I scarcely need remind the reader, revolves about the sun at a mean distance of 140000000miles, and the light and heat it receives from the sun is barley half of that received by this world.’
H.G Wells was a head of his time. In his novel he uses ideas such as planes, lasers, and gas, but how can he know about these things that no-one else has even heard of yet or even perceived. Could he see into the future? Did he invent these things? No, with his scientific understanding he combined this with the, what if writing style. He questioned his self what if things could fly, what if there was a beam of light so powerful it could cut through steel and kill in an instant, ‘ an almost noiseless and blinding flash of light, and a man fell headlong and lay still.’. The scary thing is though that he was not far off. ‘Poured over the ground in a manner rather liquid than gaseous,’ here he describes almost exactly how the gas used in the FWW moves; and then he goes on to say, ‘inhaling of its pungent wisps, was death to all that breaths.’ This is also how the gas used in FWW but The War of the Worlds was written more than twenty years before the FWW.
Even though he can perceive all this he still could not perceive space travel so he was confined to the technology of his time in the way in which the aliens travelled to earth by being shot out of a huge gun, ‘as flaming gases rushing out of a gun.’
The effectiveness of H.G Wells novel The War of the Worlds is increased by the way in which it is written ‘the structure’ First of all it is written in the first person narrative, this draws you in because you are getting a first hand account of the story. The novel is written as a retrieved history this adds to the effect that draws you in and makes you believe anything is possible. It is written in a way that is sympathetic to the central character showing him as the model human. H.G Wells also uses pace to entice the reader to read on, he uses interesting changes of pace. ‘Scattered dead bodies of men, burned horribly about the heads and trunks,’ this is an image of a battlefield but in the next paragraph there is a description of what is in the pantry of a house they stumble across, ‘Bottled beer stood under a shelf, and there were two bags of haricot beans and some limp lettuces.’ This is a classic example of the way in which H.G Wells changes the pace in the War of the Worlds.
Amongst the many things that H.G Wells criticises in the War of the Worlds is the church. He represents the church in the War of the Worlds by creating the character the Curate. The Curate is shown to be a weak man plagued by fear and greed. In the War of the Worlds the Curate is portrayed almost as a Neanderthal ‘primitive’ person he is described as having a low forehead suggesting a lack of intelligence. He is also said to have a retreated chin, ‘His face was a fair weakness, his chin retreated,’ this was a way to show that he was a weak person because in H.G Wells time a strong chin and jaw line depicted class and strength of character; so this is a slur towards the church suggesting that the church is meant to represent something but its character and what it represents crumbles under the first sign of danger or pressure.
The destruction of the church has turned him into a hysteric wreck, he can’t see what he has done wrong to deserve the church to be destroyed, ‘another pause, and he broke out again like one demented.’ He immediately assumes that this is the end of the world, ‘This must be the begging of the end.’ This shows his understanding of what is going on around him is only skin deep, suggesting that he cannot see the corruption around him. When the main character and the Curate are trapped in the house the greed of the Curate shows its true colours, when there are only limited rations left the Curate sneaks off to the scullery to drink and eat, ‘ In the darkness I heard the Curate drinking, I snatched in the darkness and caught a bottle of burgundy.’ This greed and selfishness eventually means that the Curate is killed. He is killed by the main character who has no choice as insanity had gripped the curate who was shouting to the Martians because the main character was stopping him from eating all the food and rationing it sensibly this was risking both of there lives so there was no other choice but to kill him.
H.G wells, war of The World is not only effective in that it was the first science fiction novel, the effectiveness was brought through the daring way in which it was written, criticising major constitutions such as the church and the government. He brought his writing to life drawing people into the story using his scientific knowledge, making people believe that this could possibly happen. For this the War of the Worlds will live on as a legacy of his genre, and will almost definitely influence many great writers of the future, in more ways than one this book will live with us forever.
