Tension and Suspense in War of the Worlds by H G Wells.
The novel is set in Woking, London, this brings a sense of reality to the reader as they can imagine it, and this is enhanced by the use of specific road names. The story kicks off on Horsell Common where the first capsule lands, all of the locals treat it as almost a festival, dancing, having picnics etc. Everyone is happy and doesn't think that the Martians will be hostile. When it emerges from the capsule the Martian kills all of the people on Horsell Common. Once this happens and people here the army is being sent in they feel happy that they are safe. Once the army is also destroyed there is an air of panic as everyone tries to escape. The novel describes what H G Wells believed life would be like in the next century. The novel is a long way ahead of its time in predicting space travel and or exploration, he also predicted that civilisation would make a 'heat ray', what we now call a laser. Wells also introduces fighting machines, robots. He did still believe that we would use a horse and cart. The main theme of 'The War of the Worlds' is complacency, humans thinking they are a superior race - nothing can challenge them. I will focus on chapter 4 book 2, 'The Death of the Curate'. In this the chapter the Curate goes mad and is murdered. The narrator is left alone, trying to escape from the Martians. H G Wells uses a range of effects to achieve dramatic tension.
The novel The Time Machine is centred on the events which take place when a man of science-whose name is not given- journeys forward into the future
The novel The Time Machine is centred on the events which take place when a man of science-whose name is not given- journeys forward into the future, to the year 802,701. While there, the Time Traveller is able to make connection with his own time, and makes assumptions about how thing have changed, to more extreme forms of life. The comparisons that the Time Traveller makes are to do with the social systems he encounters. The political and social structures of the Time Traveller's own time, were strictly based upon classes. The upper classes ran everything, and had total control over the working classes. The times themselves were driven by capitalist ideology, with little thought given by the upper classes for which they abused to gain higher profits and lower cost. The poor lived in some of the most abject squalor imaginable. Indeed, the reports of the time struggled to express these conditions. The Victorians viewed people by their class; this meant that it was very hard to enter a social class above ones own, as very few people higher up the chain would want anything to do with those below themselves, feeling that to associate with them would lower their own social standing. However, new ideology was emerging at this time, thanks to revolutionary new ideas, from people such as Karl Marx-who found the Marxism school of thinking. This was based upon the idea that the lower
The War of the Worlds Is a Masterpiece of Suspense and Thrilling
David McKay War of the Worlds essay 17/9/01 THE WAR OF THE WORLDS IS A MASTERPIECE OF SUSPENSE AND THRILLING WRITING During the book, "The War of the Worlds", H.G. Wells does manage to create an atmosphere of suspense and tension, with some thrills to accompany them. His amazing knowledge of space and the unknown, combined with a wild imagination, given incentive by the creatures around him, gives the threat of a space invasion more plausible then it would without the knowledge and creativity. Since he is a scientist, his factual evidence backing up his imagination gives it a more realistic outcome, as more intense. We know that what he is saying is true, that it does have meaning and that makes us more into the story than a totally fictional story, involving aliens. HG Wells also spends a lot of time describing the Martians in depth. He probably does this to make the whole thing more plausible. To improve the plausibility that an attack from Mars could happen, he adds in a motive for the Martians to attack Mars. He tells us that the Martians have gone on in time now, explaining the superior knowledge, but this also means that their planet is soon doomed and they will be looking for a nice new place to stay. Since the Martians are basically the same as humans in that they come from a planet similar to ours, Earth
How does the author suggest the increasing threat of the Morlocks in 'Time Machine'? H.G Wells wrote the 'Time Machine' in the year 1895. This was the period of the Industrial Revolution
'The Time Machine' How does the author suggest the increasing threat of the Morlocks in 'Time Machine'? H.G Wells wrote the 'Time Machine' in the year 1895. This was the period of the Industrial Revolution, where numerous machines were being invented in order to replace manual labour. But wealth was unevenly distributed among the society of the working classes, because the people who operated the machines were paid extremely low wages, whereas the people who owed the machinery were incredibly rich. The novel is about an incredible inventor who builds a Time Machine and eventually travels into the future. When he arrives there he believes that he's discovered a Utopia but soon realises that he's arrived at an unpleasant dystopia, where the human specie has evolved into two very distinct races as a result of evolution. The first specie that the Time Traveller comes across is race called Elois who live above ground. He describes them to be identical to each other, when he says they have the "same form of costumes, the same soft hairless visage" and also acknowledges that they are very good looking as he addresses them as " pretty little people" who "speak a gentle liquid language". The Time Traveller also realises that these species were "frugivorous" which means that they live on a diet of fruit. The second specie that the Time Traveller discovers later on in the future is
Dead End Train 'Platform four', this was written in yellow, bold writing, on the screen, for the train to Scarborough.
Dead End Train 'Platform four', this was written in yellow, bold writing, on the screen, for the train to Scarborough. The steep secluded stairs were ageing over the years. I descended down the steps which were black and slimy. As I approached the platform I noticed there was queer silence - there wasn't a soul in sight. I waited patiently for the seven fifteen. The shadows stirred restlessly as though someone had disturbed them. Discarded crisp packets were among many items littered carelessly by ignorant passengers. The wind howled now and then and the air became cooler as the nights were becoming longer. It was now exactly seven fifteen, and that moment the train rushed by until it finally came to a halt. The doors opened with a slight creak. I entered the cabin nearest to the driver and took a seat. The train moved off again as the doors closed behind me. The atmosphere was very hot and humid; this made me take off my pullover. There was one passenger in the cabin. He had a funny-shaped nose, was pretty tall but his face was hidden behind an old fashioned hat. He was dressed formally: with a black suit; a red striped tie which stood out like a sore thumb and black leather shoes which looked striking. We approached the next station - Green Hill. The passenger looked like he was getting off; he stood up and advanced towards the doors nearest to him. As the doors opened
Examining nineteenth century short stories - "A Vendetta" by Guy De Maupassant and "The Red Room" by H.G. Wells.
9th Centaury Short Stories Examine the form of the nineteenth centaury mystery story giving examples from any you have read. Story telling was a very popular form of entertainment in the nineteenth centaury since there wasn't the technology for televisions, radios and cinemas etc. like there is today, so people had to look for different sorts of entertainment. This entertainment came in the form of story telling and became very popular in the nineteenth centaury. Fiction was a very popular genre in the nineteenth centaury and stories were mainly concerned with mystery and the supernatural (since these were extremely popular), for example Sherlock Holmes. Their popularity maybe explained by the common interest in the afterlife (death) and the supernatural as the grip religion had on society at the time was very strong. To fulfil the objective of this piece of work, I have read two nineteenth centaury mystery stories: - "A Vendetta" by Guy De Maupassant and "The Red Room" by H.G. Wells. The themes in the story "A Vendetta" are mainly revenge and murder since the story talks of a widow whose son is murdered and how she had achieved her promised vengeance through unusual means (by using the dog Frisky as a weapon). The main theme of the story "The Red Room" is the supernatural with reference to ghosts haunting the so-called "Red Room". Their popularity can be explained by
How does H.G.Wells create a sense of fear in The Red Room?
TheRedRoom How does H.G.Wells create a sense of fear in The Red Room? H.G.Wells uses a variety of techniques to make the reader feel scared. The narrative voice, the character, setting and the language of the story all add to the fear. The story itself does not have a plot. We do not know how this man got there, or why. We do no know his name or the names of the three old people. Just like the reader does not know what the man is afraid of. The title of the story alone gives the reader the impression that this is not a funny story, but a dangerous, scary one. Red suggests danger and urgency. By saying "The Red Room" instead of "A Red Room" tells the reader that it is not a story about just any room, it is the story of the dangerous room. 'The Red Room' is a descendant of the gothic horror stories of the late 18th and 19th century. An early example of this kind of story is "Frankenstein'. In Frankenstein, the same story is told through by three different characters. This intensifies the impact of the narrative voice. When a story is told by the person who is actually experiencing it, the reader immediately shares their feelings. In 'The Red Room' A twenty eight year old man who claims that "it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten" him is telling the story. He sees himself as an "abbreviated and broadened" man with "an impossible sturdiness", he thinks he is big and
"Show how H.G Wells and Robert Bloch Create fear in 'The Red room' and 'Hobo'. What techniques do they use? How effective are they?"
GCSE English coursework Wide Reading "Show how H.G Wells and Robert Bloch Create fear in 'The Red room' and 'Hobo'. What techniques do they use? How effective are they?" During this coursework, I will be studying and comparing two short stories in order to see how fear is created in the writing of different authors. The two short stories I will be using for this essay are 'Hobo' and 'The Red room'. Robert Bloch wrote 'Hobo' at the start of the 20th century and its setting is in America. During this time, the country was in the grips of a depression and many people were unemployed, living as tramps (or in American terms Hobos). 'The Red room' is also a Non-modern story but H.G Wells wrote it earlier on, at the end of the 19th century. Both stories build up fear using descriptive writing and characterisation but use these techniques in varying ways. The setting of a story can be one of the most important ways in which an author can start to create and express fear. 'Hobo's setting is on a freight train, which is moving away from an American town. It is set in the half darkness of evening and throughout the story, it gets darker. This darkness sets the readers mind on the unknown and since the unknown is scary for everyone, this is a crucial element in creating fear within the setting. Robert Bloch describes the fact it is getting darker as a 'deepening twilight'. The boxcar
The Contrast Between ‘the Darkness Out There’ and, ‘the Red Room’.
THE CONTRAST BETWEEN 'THE DARKNESS OUT THERE' AND, 'THE RED ROOM'. In this particular piece of coursework I am to complete the task of completing the task of comparing two stories, - 'The Red Room' and 'The Darkness Out There'. The former was written at the end of the 19th century and the latter towards the last quarter of the 20th century. The dates at which these two pieces were written may conclude as to way they are fundamentally different and yet seemingly similar in a number of ways......... Similarities between the two could be such as the ways that in both, the initial main characters (potential heroes) are of a young age. They are just visiting, this allows a sense of uncertainty as they have not necessarily stayed there before and do not know the dangers that could then arise. These characters also discover some event in the past that could lead to some sort of haunting ahead. For example when the young children find out about the horrific plane crash in the 'Red room', in the 'Darkness out There' - he finds out about when someone fell down the winding spiral staircase and stumbled to their mysterious death. In both stories the writers have chosen to create a strange eerie quality with an older generation of characters in the stories. In the 'red room' there are three older people who seem to live in a haunted building; two of them are misshapen and deformed. In
The Long March: China 1934-1935
The Long March: China 1934-1935 Long March was a long retreat from Chinese Communism's first experiment. The party, founded in the early 1920s, had siezed power in 1927 Jianxi, encouraging peasants to drive out feudal landlords and sharing out the land. Soon they controlled an area of 50 million people and represented a major threat to the Nationalist. On October 16, 1934, one hundred thousand troops set out on a six thousand mile trek from the south to the north. Took one year and many troops perished. They had to leave Kiangsi or face annihilation. Morale was low among the one hundred thousand of troops. Twenty thousand troops were injured and had to be left behind in Kiangsi and which were later captured and killed. Nationalist forces surrounded Jianxi, a million people died in the fighting, starvation and disease brought on by the blockade. 87,000 soldiers started the retreat carrying such items as typewriters, furniture, printing presses etc. They also took with them 33,000 guns and nearly 2 million ammunition cartridges. It took the Red Army 40 days to get through the blockhouses surrounding Jiangxi but the Nationalist attacked them at Xiang. In the battle, the Red Army lost 45,000 men - over 50% of their fighting force. Many of the troops die of diseases. There were no medicines, hospitals or ammunition; a good number of the guns became useless. In 1934, Mao's