The War of the Worlds

“Nor was it generally understood that since Mars is older than our earth, with scarcely a quarter of the superficial area and remoter from the sun, it necessarily follows that it is not only more distant from life’s beginning but nearer its end.”

In the extensive background the narrator provides before getting into the events of the actual invasion, he supplies a solid rationale for the Martians’ aggression, even providing reason to pity them. By the end of the book, it becomes clear that the narrator believes they are simply farther along the same path on which we find ourselves. Logically, then, we should hesitate to judge them as we likely would act similarly in their position.

“It seemed such a little thing, so bright and small and still, faintly marked with transverse stripes, and slightly flattened from the perfect round. But so little it was, so silvery warm—a pin’s-head of light! It was as if it quivered a little, but really this was the telescope vibrating with the activity of the clockwork that kept the planet in view.”

This description of the planet Mars is highly suggestive and symbolic. On one hand, the planet’s tiny, almost fragile appearance emphasizes humanity’s total unpreparedness for the Martian invasion, as well as the lack of thought most humans committed to Mars. Also, the narrator’s observation that the telescope’s movements make the planet appear to quiver foreshadows the misguided confidence that the narrator and his compatriots will have in the power of human technology to control and vanquish the creatures of that planet.

“You may imagine the young people brushed up after the labors of the day, and making this novelty, as they would make any novelty, the excuse for walking together and enjoying a trivial flirtation. You may figure to yourself the hum of voices along the road in the gloaming.…”

Given the scope of the tragedy that unfolds, it is astounding how frivolously people regarded it, even after many had seen clear evidence of the Martians’ devastating power. Nowhere is this clearer than in this observation, where