H.G.Wells Novel "The War of the Worlds" Successfully Creates a Climate of Terror Which Often Reflects Late Victorian Insecurities Discuss this Statement With Reference to the Purpose and Craft of the Author.

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Greg Bartlett

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H.G.Wells Novel “The War of the Worlds” Successfully Creates a Climate of Terror Which Often Reflects Late Victorian Insecurities Discuss this Statement With Reference to the Purpose and Craft of the Author

In this book we see many peaks and troughs of excitement and tension, however there are also many points of sheer interest through philosophical reflection on the fact that the book is a microcosm of the real world, or at least the real world through Wells’s eyes.  Within the book certain points seem to be reiterated throughout, along with many recurring themes, most of which are quite misanthropic and ergo quite controversial for a book released in the Victorian age keeping in mind the arrogance of man at that time. Some could also argue the quite primitive idea that man was the highest form of living that could possibly exist, or at least that’s what they thought.

Wells plays on this feeling that lived inside most of Britain at that time, he provoked this emotion by coming out with quite controversial comments and opinions.  And even though the reader may not agree with what he says they are still compelled to read further by his constant hinting of storylines and emerging plots, its quite delusive. Then just as you begin to really dislike him, he starts to bring out these quite touching and moving thoughts that the human race maybe isn’t that bad, and there is hope for us after all. All in all it is a very well organised piece of literature that keeps you on the edge of your seat all the way through.

Wells uses various different themes throughout the book to encapsulate the reader in Wells special world of mysticism.  One of the main methods he uses, is tension, he is forever building tension in the book.  He does this in many different ways, however one of the best ones is where he gives the reader little bits of information here and there, but not quite enough for the reader to build a complete mental image of what’s going on.  He will then keep giving the reader bits of information, which will charm them into yearning for more of the story.  In one of the most influential chapters in the book, (possibly not directly but definitely one of the turning points) Wells uses this very well, he doesn’t really tell us much, he only tells us what the narrator can venture a guess at what is taking place, it is aptly named “the stillness”. He is stuck in a house and a Martian has just killed the curate. “On the twelfth day my throat was so painful that, taking the chance of alarming the Martians, I attacked the creaking rain-water pump that stood by the sink, and got a couple of glassfuls of blackened and tainted rain-water”.  He is inside the house and waiting for the Martians to leave so that he can escape, he has no food or clean water and he gives a summary of each day but in around four or five lines, I felt this was a very unusual way of reciting the happenings, however it worked very well as it kept you on the edge of your seat trying to work out what is going to happen.  He starts off this chapter with short paragraphs each with quite long sentences.  He uses six paragraphs to describe the 11th to 15th day, this helps to build up tension as it slows the pace of the reading down and makes you think about it a lot more, thus leaving the occurrences open to speculation, it is also much easier to empathise with the narrator when the structure is like this.  On the fifteenth day he mentions that he sees a dog, this is where you really start to see the desperation of the narrator, he tries to outwit this dog into coming towards him so that he can “kill and eat him”.  This chapter really shows how you would be feeling at this point, complete and utter desperation, he drinks water that vaguely resembles nuclear waste, he tries to kill a dog and eat it.  It really is an eye opener of how desperate the times are and it makes the reader think about how close the narrator is to death.

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The tensest point in the book is where the narrator is hiding in the river from the Martians and has to escape. The narrator writes the detail of his escape from them. The atmosphere is full of tension and fear we know this as the fear brings the sense of the narrators physical pain agony, “painfully” and “rapidly getting hotter” makes us see the narrators pain. The tension in the atmosphere comes from the uncertainty of the Martians. “I saw them dimly” this suggests that the Martians are hidden and out of sight, this leads to confusion and disbelief in the ...

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