Essay FINISHED!!! :)

The War of the Worlds


The War between the humans and Martians create an unstable atmosphere for both, also leading the narrator to kill the curate, the artillery man who was a devoted and impressionistic soldier became an unrealistic dreamer, and finally during all the mass herding of people trying to escape, humans turn on each other for their own fight for survival.

Through the struggles and hard times the narrator ends up killing the curate, who he has just met a few days before. Now during this time that the narrator and curate are together, the curate has done nothing besides eat up all the food and thoughtlessly use all the scarce supplies for them to survive.

“In the end I planted myself between him and the food,
And told him of my determination to begin a discipline.
I divided the food in the pantry into rations to last us
Ten days. I would not let him eat anymore that day.
In the afternoon he made a feeble effort to get at the food”.
(pg.130, Wells)

This just goes to show how disrespectful and irresponsible the curate was and how he only put the two into more danger.

The curate also has this really bad habit of being very paranoid and almost alerts the Martians many times due to this ill-advised behavior. The narrator and curate run into a house and have to stay there because they are being barricaded by Martians who are building outside of the house and are unaware of this human presence. So the curator starts to yell and make noise because he’s paranoid and has gone insane which suddenly attracts the Martians attention to the house.

“I put out my hand and felt the meat-chopper hanging to the
Wall. In a flash I was after him. I was fierce with fear. Before
he was half-way across the kitchen I had overtaken him. With one last touch
of humanity I turned the blade back and struck him with the butt. I stumbled
Over him and stood panting. He lay still”
(p.132, Wells)

Just like that the curate was dead, the narrator had no other choice then to kill the curate because he believed that that was the only way to solve the problem, and the curate had been getting on his nerves for some time now.

Further on in his travels now the narrator comes across this strange man who is oddly familiar to him. It is the artillery man he had met at home during the invasion of his village (town). Now all of a sudden the artillery man has adopted his own beliefs about the aliens and his own goals to take them over. This is all really shady to the narrator because this was the man who was once a devoted soldier who was very respectable and now he is an unrealistic dreamer.

‘It’s all over, he said. They’ve lost one-just one.
And they’ve made their footing good and crippled
The greatest power in the world. They’ve walked
Over us. The death of that one at Weybridge was an
Accident. And these are only pioneers. They
Keep on coming. These green stars-I’ve seen
None theses five or six days, but I’ve no doubt
They’re falling somewhere every night. Nothing’s
To be done. We’re under! We’re beat!’
(p.146, Wells)

This just goes to show how the artillery man had given hope on the world and life itself, he is no longer willing to trust in his old beliefs and hopes and believes now that there are more powerful alien ships in the making and thinks its over for him and everyone else.

The artillery mans new plans now are to build underground tunnels under London and too eventually come and overtake the Martians. After this is said, the narrator realizes that the artillery man has indeed changed for the worse.

I’ve been thinking about the about the drains.
OF course, those who don’t know drains think horrible
Things; but under this London are miles and miles-hundreds
Of miles-and a few days’ rain and London empty will leave
Them sweet and clean. The main drains are bid enough
And airy enough for anyone. Then there’s cellars, vaults, stores,
From which bolting passages may be made to the drains. And
The railway tunnels and subways. Eh? You begin to see! And
We form a band-able-bodies, clean-minded men. We’re not going
To pick up any rubbish that drifts in. Weaklings go out again.
(p.143, Orwell)

The artillery man believes that all the inhabitants of London will partake in his wonderful plan which seems very odd and far fetched to the narrator.

During all the mass herding of people trying to escape, humans turn on each other for their own fight for survival. They start killing each other and performing acts of vigilance that they would not have committed before this catastrophe.

“All the railway lines north of the Thames and the South Eastern people
At cannon Street had been warned by midnight on Sunday, and trains
Were being filled. People were fighting savagely for standing-room in the
Carriages even at two o’clock. By three, people were being trampled and crushed
Even in Bishopsgate Street, a couple of hundred yards or more from Liverpool
Street Station; revolver were fired, people stabbed, and the policemen
Who had been sent to direct the traffic, exhausted and infuriated, were
Breaking the heads of the people they were called to protect”.
(p.85, Orwell)

Herds of London citizens were running wildly trying to catch trains or railways to escape the madness of the city as well as the aliens. While this is taking place it is only causing more struggles and the anticipation of death.

In conclusion the war between the Martians and humans is having a huge effect on both in many ways. This includes the narrator killing the curate, the artillery man changing from a devoted soldier to an unrealistic dreamer and also includes the mass herding of people trying to escape London which leads to killing and vigorous acts.