The attitudes towards the different societies (20th and 21st century) are apparently going to be quite diverse since through century’s advancements this would cause the outlook onto life and perception of text to be appreciably different. For example, the start of the story with the evasive jargon-rich structure with the long and detailed sentences, intricate language and excellent use of punctuation would have proved to be the perfect writing style for the period 1898 since English literature was valued to an extraordinarily greater extent since it was done as a favourite past time instead of the present hobbies such as greater influences in sport, television and the greater advancement in technological devices. Therefore, the exceptionally detailed first sentence might have petrified the modern day reader since it would prove to not be their story since it might have been harder to understand due to the lower standards of vocabulary and lack of patience.
One of the major themes of the story is incorporated, which is curiosity that occurs during the alien invasion. H.G. Wells manages to clearly display human’s curiosity through the fact that upon arrival of the alien’s movements the human race is shown through the character movements as they instinctively form a huge crowd to surround and watch inquiringly. The quotes “I could not avert my face from these things” show the fact that the humans were extraordinarily interested in what was occurring with no regards to danger or how to explain it. They stood their gazing endlessly into a whirlpool trying to outline the aliens. Examples of this include the lead character in the story making a statement “I was at a battleground of fear and curiosity”, which shows that he has admitted to being curious and he feels he is at war coming from the term ‘battleground’. They also had to decide whether to run towards them, or run away. So they kept pausing every time they went to move and had to think about what to do. This can be proved by the line that says 'I had a momentary impulse to go back and help him that my fears overruled' shows the intensity of the feelings the people had because it is a natural thing to run towards someone who in trouble and help them. Although immense fear he had prevented him from doing this and shows again that they were so terrified they could not even help people in danger because they were so terrified. This could also be interpreted as the Martians tapping into the subconscious of the humans, because as evidence suggest from the start they have been studying humankind’s weaknesses very carefully. This would relate very well to modern day society since even nowadays these things occur such as confrontations between two people at school, whilst huge crowds run aimlessly towards the fight forming a circle or the events that took place on September 11th, 2001 in New York where vast amounts of people trying to gain a closer look at the first plane crash with no intention of further danger, which was the second crash.
Further justifying the point of curiosity, "I saw them dimly" this suggests that the Martians are hidden and out of sight, this leads to confusion and disbelief in the reader as they aren't sure what is going on and are forced to read on to find out. This is ultimately what starts the curiosity since they try to get a closer look upon what the Martians actually look like. The atmosphere of fear and tension gives way to a feeling of relief, "And then, very slowly, I realized that by a miracle I had escaped" this shows the tension has been relieved and a sense of relief is shown due to the narrator surviving the Martians. The writer HG Wells appeals to the senses in his description of the physical pain of the narrator, "breast high in almost boiling water" makes us see the narrator being scalded in water. The atmosphere builds more tension when the narrator is "scalded, half blinded, agonized I staggered" this makes a dramatic and horrific picture. However the anticipation and tension comes to a climax when "I expected nothing but death", this shows us the narrator thought he was going to die and then he continues to say "I realised by miracle I had escaped" the atmosphere of tension would now be relief and joy at surviving the Martians. These statements together help establishing the fear that was possessed within the characters in the book into the reader, which allows the ultimate sense of feeling as if you have been applied into the novel.
Another of the recurring themes throughout is the constant simile of humans being described as ants or other such insects. Whenever the Martians attack a large group of people, the Martians cause havoc and the people flee. Wells always refers to the scattering of people, as "Ants” which I believe is a powerful and effective method of trying to make humans seem inferior to the Martians yet again building Herbert George Wells’ idea of humans not thinking that they are superior to everyone and instead feeling as if they were the bottom of the world hence ants are lowest in the animal food chain.
Therefore, I believe curiosity was presented very effectively throughout the text, which was partly reasonable to the language used. At times, he shows humans to be incredibly brave but at the same time stupid, which relates very well to the New York terrorism incident. He has established the fact that most times humans are too curious and therefore don’t posses the ability to refrain from looking or staying within their limits but instead whilst there are no regulations against it humans are willingly ready to put themselves in danger to find out what has happened. This can be a message from Wells trying to state the fact that during the time countries were being very curious about what was happening during World War I therefore they start a war. Modern day audiences can also relate to this theory since currently the western civilizations are planning to overtake Middle Eastern Asia due to the thought that they might obtain nuclear weapons. Overall, I believe this is a theme that both the 20th and 21st century readers can relate too since every single living human being on this earth has had a moment where they are curious about what has happened and they want to know whether it’s a secret or something more drastic.
Throughout the alien invasion a major theme that is illustrated through the very selective use of language, happens to be claustrophobia (extreme or irrational fear in confined places), which is a result of the brutal alien attack that affected thousands of humans by engraving them with the never-ending fear of losing their lives. Justification behind this is the opening line of chapter five where in first person it states “I was at a battleground of fear and curiosity.” This statement proves the fact that people were obviously very interested in the aliens since there are quite detailed descriptions of the scene as well as stating the fact that everyone was the same. Additional to the fact that it is at the start of the chapter, which establishes the fear experienced by the victims it seems to be the exact opposite in attitudes within the people since they started out as very curiously trying to find out what type of thing it was but then they were desperate to run for their lives. This is powerful because the readers experience the feeling that the Martian attack was so powerful that even mankind that thought they were hierarchy of all life forms have now lost all power and are suddenly struggling for survival. This sends a warning message to 20th century society in relation to the wars, so average citizens would think about what affect wars can have on people. The same affect goes for modern citizens since wars in Iraq are currently circulating whilst Americans thinking they are the most dominant superpower in the world but from Wells view they could be in for a surprise awakening of reality. The overall message of the novel is: that there really isn’t anything at the top of the food chain since everything has immunity or takes their downfall even the invincible machines couldn’t withstand germs.
Additional examples of this fear is presented by the large abnormal three legged tripods, which are described as roaming the grounds of earth and destroying everything that challenges it, especially humans. Through the statement “circumference of the now almost complete circle of people” this signifies to the reader that the array of attacks undertaken by the Martians from Mars have been planned simultaneously done in order to get all the human beings in one place, which overall shows the amount of intelligence the Martians possess and the lack of intelligence from the humans to be able to unfold the plot. Although, Wells’ has represented the victims (that represent society of the time) as good team workers since they are able to work as a team to figure out where to go and how to find tranquility and sanity. The effect on the 20th century audience would have been devastating since they would have believed this to be true and never under estimated the power in which Martians posses. Nevertheless, us as a modern society would believe this as being untrue since most people have lost all faith in life elsewhere and since their have been a considerable amount of films applying this same theme, the trustworthiness of novels’ messages is unreliable.
To help establish this claustrophobia and confusion within the people, Wells had to be considerably selective on the type of language used to describe the brutality of the attack, in order to show the audience the sheer power of the Martians. Several references to war weapons were made, which is shown in “The ammunition blew up” that is a indication to a bombing, which ironically was first created in 1915 but the novel was written seventeen years before therefore yet again proving Wells’ talent of prophetic writing. Furthermore, bombing is a severely brutal attack since it does not simply wound the target but instead incinerates their flesh and leaves them to fight for their lives if they are not dead. This would have yet again made the audience experience what the human in the novel were facing, which is utmost fear. Supplementary the language used to describe the alien tripods such as “Vast spider-like machines, nearly a hundred feet high, capable of the speed of an express train, and able to shot out a beam of intense heat” shows the audience a very horrifying but comprehensive description of the machines used to slaughter and completely eradicate human life-forms by making references to its height, size, speed and attack power. Wells also uses contrasting pairs to describe the power of the machine monsters when he writes "and that they could move swiftly and smite with such power". This is a contrasting pair because he says "swiftly but smite", swiftly means quick, agile and nimble and smite meaning striking and powerful, which is constructed to make the Martians look strong and powerful Moreover, Wells’ Idea of making heat ray’s might have been from the invention of the x-ray in , , , a scientist, which is a result of him taking an extreme desire for development of science. This can also be an idea from Greek times, since Greek fire has was used in same context as a flamethrower during the period. This can say two things about wells: firstly that he has established his love for science fiction by using his abilities to endure readers of the particular genre and would overall attract the readers of the 21st century since it is a gory scene. Secondly, this would have been chilling since the menacing creatures would have been daunting to not only little children but adults since at the time there were not televisions or any methods of providing news about outside life to people therefore they wouldn’t know what to believe and as a result would take this to be true unlike modern audience.
Predictably, the reaction of the characters in the novel to these machines would have been terrifying, which is perfectly illustrated through the statement “ Death! I should. Death is coming! Death!” and by using the repetition of their death they have sent a message that there are inevitably doomed and without a trace of hope for any survival. Supporting this theory is the quote, “People were being trampled and crushed” that shows the readers that the people are suffering severely and the power of the machines is illustrated. Overall, the brutality of attack is displayed clearly and for both societies, the type of discouraging experience these people have practiced versus these indestructible machines. To aid this feeling, Wells’ has used very minimal descriptions for the most part to allow the reader to think about what has happened for themselves, which is a far more productively chilling way of applying fear through their minds. By making the story sound very surreal by making several descriptions of man just watching as their fellow mankind are being ripped to shreds, which overall makes the story seem very short and in almost slow motion. This allows the readers to realize what has happened to separate individuals that overall is a good method of creating drama to make what has been said seem very frightening. This grabs the reader because it is almost as if the events are happening to them as well as the characters in the book, which intrigues them and makes them want to read on. Finally, one of the most effective statements in applying fear is; “At the time there was a strong feeling in the streets that the authorities were to blame for their incapacity to dispose of the invaders.” This quotations shows that the normal crime fighters that are most realised upon are not able to save them therefore they have ran out of hope to save themselves and death viciously awaits.
One of the foremost language techniques is the use of personification that is shown when giving a non-human item as a human element. The quotation supporting this is “Flutter, flutter went the flag, first to the right, then to the left” which overall helps in drawing in the reader or repel the reader dependant upon the type of person. I feel this represents the status of the society such as the pole bearer and the supporters. Therefore, this symbolises a traditional military form of notifying surrendering by waving a white flag, which probably Wells’ received the idea from the unification and militarization of Germany, where the losing side surrendered. Hence, I believe this shows that the people have had enough and are not willing to fight any longer, which overall shows that the humans are no longer the dominate species and the tides have turned for man-kind.
Wells’s technique of not making the audiences feel what the characters in the novel feel is proved through the quotation, “The legendary hosts of Goths and Huns, the hugest armies Asia has ever seen, would have been but a drop in that current. And this was no disciplined march; it was a stampede--a stampede gigantic and terrible--without order and without a goal, six million people unarmed and unprovisioned, driving headlong. It was the beginning of the rout of civilisation, of the massacre of humanity.” Using this quote with historical elements such as the legend of Goths and Huns during the medieval times is used in the context to represent the hierarchy of those ages so he can compare it to the rout of the Martians to show its significance. This language technique involves using the most dominant armies of humankind then relating them to the Martians to show that they are truly of no significance in comparison. Wells has used his technique of connectives again in this sentence to help expand upon the prior sentence adding further detail. This detailed opening relates back to the start of the novel and Wells’ refers to the people as unarmed people walking towards their death, which basically in the story is them walking for their lives.
Another language technique is the use of colour to represent the moods and the attitudes during that particular time during the attack. We are first presented with this idea before the storm when the colour ‘white’ and ‘flame’ are presented, which both represent a very tranquil picture since both colours are very peaceful. As the novel progresses towards the attack more mysterious colours are introduced such as ‘deep blue and ‘black’, which is the perfect colour choice since the colour ‘deep blue’ is generally use in the context ‘he/she was staring into the deep blue sea’, which generally states the fact that she is lost in confusion and overall in a sense of curiosity that was presented throughout the chapters. The most important picture was the use of the colours towards the end when the colours “red” and green are used, which generally both have different meanings since the colour red symbolizes anger and hate and more or less death and destruction of the people. Ironically, vines from the tripods were chosen to be the colour red instead of anything else, which ultimately could have been to symbolize this theme. Subsequent to the alien invasion, the colour green was used that can either symbolize nature or jealousy but more towards the time the theme jealousy seemed to fit much better since it was the humans being jealous of how well the aliens acted and the amount of intelligence used in comparison to humans.
Alternate interpretation of the use of colour in the text could be the variety of colours to achieve a vivid picture planted into the reader’s imagination. “Black” is used to symbolise death before the attack, which will be used to show how a farsighted vision of how the attack will turn out before hand and generally scare the audience beforehand. “White” is used to symbolise peace, which was represented by the flag bearer and several attempts to surrender against the aliens. “Green” is used to symbolise fields and nature, which could have been how well the aliens worked together and also people escaping to the country side that is much more peace and tranquil and obviously green due to the grass.
Overall the tides had turned and this in my opinion was H.G. Wells trying to show the state of society at the time, which is the humans were jealous of the Martians tremendous cooperation and intelligence and how civil they were with each other since they did not try to manipulate or destroy each other. I believe Wells’ has put alternative interpretations for the use of colours to get the audience to think about it but generally the colours produce the same picture. The impact of this on the audience, both modern and 20th century, is quite something to think about since it makes people think to themselves how they could be with more cooperation and civil ways of incorporating themselves.
In general, the attitudes used towards war from both sides are relatively same since nowadays people still believe they are the hierarchy and have strong determination that their country is the chain of command of the World, which overall shows that over the past century the attitudes towards war and humanity hasn’t progressed and if anything has taken a step back since the amount of wars these days are exponentially different to those of back then.
This ties into the point of paranoia, since in Wells’ novel the humans are not the dominant species therefore not on the top of the food chain as they thought they were; however in the novel they are being picked off and killed maliciously by unknown Martians who are ruled to as the now dominant species in comparison to humans who are referred to as ‘ants’. The suspicion behind it all is that these “monstrous machines” are devouring humans for breakfast therefore the humans are left in the dark wondering what is going on. This is exemplified through the quote “Why are these things permitted? What sins have we done? Fire, earthquake, death! As if it were Sodom and Gomorrah! All our work undone, all the work…what are these Martians? What are we? I answered” this quotation helps establish the comparisons between the non-identical civilizations such as the highly advanced Martians to the humans. Although, this comparison is only for the humans in the novel, the real comparison is between the Aliens and the 20th century society, which proves to have an enticing resemblance since the British empire at the time showed the same amount of abhorrence hate just angled in a different direction. This allows us to see the society in its real light and generally put it into perspective that the society during the time was a very catastrophic system, just like what were viewed about the Martian world.
Religion ties into the same quotation through the sense that some of the people at the time would obviously be religious due to the lack of choice, which would have resulted in a different method of thinking that they have sinned and that it is God punishing them for their actions. Wells had a strong attitude towards war and survival, and did not believe in countries ruling others therefore the mentioning of God and religion would have had a person affect on the reader, back when it was written. It would have communicated with the audience more because, most people would have been quite religious and therefore, may have been shocked that awful things were happening to good and innocent people as well as sinners. In our time, however, it is not seen so much this way because people are more sceptical about religions due to the lack of influence and motivation.
Language used in the presentation of paranoia in the text has proven to be very scientific, definitely relating to the specified genre. The use of scientific fact such “Mars revolves around the sun at a mean distance of 140,000,000 miles” helps in enhancing the text to some users who enjoy this topic but at times might be discouraging to a select group of modern audience novel readers. Although, the way the text is set up Wells’ allows the reader to think whilst being able to pick up useless information about the earth around them but the best usage for these scientific knowledge is to allege the fact that Wells’ is a very scientific person to the reader therefore the idea of Martians is highly more believable in comparison to William Shakespeare making such a quote. The statement above stated by the Priest can be interpreted in many ways; firstly, the use of constant exclamation marks shows the tremendous amount of frustration and the lack of patience since he doesn’t know the answers. This shows that the humans are getting worried and starting to struggle. To help aid the frustration, the rhetorical questions are used to yet again ask questions that are unanswered. The ellipsis is used to show the lack of disgust since he is out of words and has to pause to think about his questions then raising the question ‘what are these Martians? These techniques help boost the paranoia of the people since they are constantly worried about what is happening and are getting intolerant with the aliens. Overall, this is the downfall of the humans since they cannot work out how to counter or rebound from such an act therefore these techniques have been applied by Wells’ to show the readers that they couldn’t coop. In my opinion, the use of the technical words is brilliant for the typical audience but yet again not as good for the modern day since it can be intimidating, although more believable, which wouldn’t make a dramatic impact because the thought of life on Mars is extinct due to the technology on pure scientific fact. Even though H.G. Wells was probably the best prophetic writers of all time, he is not physic therefore did not know the exact answer, neither did society therefore this theme worked well for the 20th century audience.
In view of the fact that Wells is a Humanitarian (committed to improving the lives of other people) his views are for piece and tranquility but if that’s the case why did he make a story about the abhorrence slaughtering of mankind? I believe this is for the pure fact that he is trying to send a message to society about his views on war and his opposition to the fact that life shouldn’t be a race for survival or survival of the fittest in terms of countries at war, but instead should focus on unity and harmony through people acting civilized and therefore improving lives by making considerable development. Wells’ inspiration was sparked from the event four years previous where Mars was positioned particularly close to the Earth, leading to a great deal of observation and discussion between people, which might have been why he chose Mars since it was most reliable.
The impact of the novel was exceptionally influential since throughout the years and even centuries that followed many attempts were made to improve his work but none came up to par. This tremendous influence was shown by the Orson Welles’ radio version, “Orson Welles' radio version caused mass panic when it was broadcast on CBC's Radio network in 1938. The New York Times the next day reported traffic jams, telephone network overloads, church services abandoned and Americans fleeing their homes, believing that an invasion from Mars had begun. In one of the best-known incidents, more than 20 Newark, New Jersey families ran from their houses with wet towels over their faces to protect themselves from Martian death rays. Well, those were innocent days, relatively speaking. Innocent about mass media, that is.” This shows that the amount of impact from Wells’ was absolutely beyond words since it was able to move more than a million people and influence all society to believe in his work. This is largely due to his technique of writing.
Wells’ technique of showing data and hindering peoples interpretations was very effective such as the powerful use of four themes; confusion, curiosity, paranoia and fear to help the audiences engage in the text and think for themselves since his technique of only providing minimal detail when portraying gore and horror. To induce fear, the reader is forced to engage their imagination and in doing so becomes more involved with the emotions and fear. This is shown to be case when the Martians feed on the humans, "He vanished behind the mound, and for a moment there was silence.” Wells parallels the safe areas and areas of destruction to make the scenes of carnage seem more dangerous and terrifying. Not far from where the heat ray had been used, people do not even know of the Martians, "What's it all abart?" The contrast between peace and mayhem increases the deadliness and horror of the Martians. The reader feels tension for the people that are so close to the Martians but are oblivious to their existence. Even though some pieces of text are scientifically rich, all the chapters start with action allowing the reader to stay alert, be curious, and not lose interest too early.
Whilst comparing the societies of the modern days in contrast to 20th century there is quite a lot of difference since the technological advances such as television allowed for people of our time to be more educated about other parts of the world and even other planets therefore believing and interpreting something like this very unlikely but still makes for interesting reading. This has obviously affected the societies throughout these periods as well since many adaptations were made to this 110-year-old classic including many films even a Steven Spielberg thriller. Wells became famous partly as a prophet. In various writings he predicted tanks, aerial bombing, nuclear war, and--in this novel--gas warfare, laser-like weapons, and industrial robots. It was his tragedy that his most successful predictions were of destructive technologies, and that he lived to experience the opening of the atomic age in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This type of writing was very appealing to both audiences.
Wells’ overall message is disputable, although I believe that his message was to relish life to the fullest meaning that appreciate what you have and work even harder to improve your community, advance society and the world in general. The fact that there are a total of nine planets in the Universe and we are the only ones with life forms should be a lesson learnt that we are the only possessing fragile life and our living duty is to cherish it and live it to the fullest instead of planning wars to invade other countries for surplus wealth, power or dignity just like the Martians did to the humans. A smaller message could be the fact that even the smallest things in life have a fighting chance and by working together, you can overcome anything including your fears. This is presented by the minute chance of life on Mars overcoming the odds and taking over the top of the food chain so to speak and surviving, or the girl who is meant to be the weakest of all the life forms in the battlefield, she suffers from claustrophobia but she ends up being the only one who is able to withstand the power of the Martians by standing up to them. To show that a little girl was able to endure the invasion, when thinking about it is outstanding since she was easily the weakest there both mentally and physically but she proves everyone wrong. This message has been copied, changed, but never reversed in many novels since the recurring ‘underdog’ theme enables self-esteem for lower status people to have a fighting chance.
