H. G. Wells’ classic novel War of the Worlds is one of the most profound prophetic novels ever written, comparable to other works such as A Brave New World and 1984 in that they predict events leading to the decline of mankind in times of social unrest. In this case, Wells has written a book in the time of a decline in British imperialism, and the events that take place in the tale critique both the actions and beliefs of the British supremacy in several ways.
Wells also touches on the conflicts between religion and scientific evolution by writing in the science fiction genre, and his descriptions of the animal-like behavior of mankind in the shadow of impending extinction or enslavement are as historically founded as they are prophetic. We are introduced to this idea of the belief of supremacy in the opening of the novel.
The fact that “no one would have believed in the last years of the 19th century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligence greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own” enforces this indestructibility of European culture. The beginning of Mars’ assault on Earth is watched with little wonder other than a displaced curiosity. No concern or worry enters the minds of the locals, even after they discover that the sphere that has landed is extraterrestrial. Indeed, even after the sphere opens and the horrific Martians emerge and kill several people, this idea of supremacy does not fade.
Gravity seems to act on the Martians “like a cope of lead” (perhaps this is an allusion to the punishment of the hypocrites in Dante’s Inferno, where they were forced to wear beautiful robes that were of lead), and our narrator believes that, if worst comes to worst, “a shell in the pit will kill them all. ” Our narrator even denounces the Martians’ “short sighted timidity. ” As the book progresses into the stages of death and destruction, Wells begins to address the behavior of mankind in the face of impending disaster. The framework of current society diminishes as quickly as the daily routine of the people.
Mass retreat and social disintegration begin to lay the foundation of animal-like behavior that is alluded to several times in the text. The ideology that seemed so firmly imbedded in the British culture dissolves, and its futile attempts at defense only serve to diminish the remaining hope of its citizens. In these pages we find both history and prophecy. The massing of the people into types echoes the fates of the native Tasmanians and native Americans, while the use of deadly gas by the Martians was to become a reality in WWI.
Religion begins to take center stage when our narrator becomes entombed with the curate. The clergyman’s ideas are clearly that of divine justice, for he refers to Genesis 18:20-28 in his ejaculations about Sodom and Gomorrah and also quotes Revelations 14:11. Wells uses this clergyman to introduce his own opinions of religion and divine justice. The curate is effeminate, weak, despised, described as “a silly woman” (indeed this may be a reference to the narrators wife who has all but disappeared form the text), and is eventually murdered.
It is hard to avoid feeling sorry for the curate during these times, but his apparent confusion and lack of action is exactly what image Wells tries to convey about religion. A much more non-apocalyptic interpretation of the events is then proposed by an artillaryman, who our narrator encounters in the ruins. The artillaryman is the exact opposite of the curate, and his attitudes toward the future of humanity address perhaps the most profound theme in the novel.
“This isn’t a war…it never was a war, anymore than there’s been war between man and ants. The artillaryman’s account of mankind’s fate as a non-thinking mass intrigues the narrator, and again we see echoes of British colonization and its effects on the masses. This part of the text is seemingly much more logical; the narrator begins to agree that the Martians are superior and that man has little hope of defeating them. In complete contrast to the curate’s ideas, the artillaryman is convinced that extinction is not what the Martians have in mind for man; it seems obvious that they mean to use the men to live on.
The artillaryman’s anecdote about the pet boy who grew up and had to be killed is yet another animal reference which reinforces the idea of Martian superiority. This superiority has hints of Darwinian evolution as well, and this nicely conflicts with the curate’s religious beliefs. We see a detailed account of the evolved anatomy of the Martians, and we also are told of Mars as being an “old, used up planet,” perhaps suggesting that the Martians have had more time to evolve.
In the end of the text we also see that the Martians have no bacteria, perhaps because they have evolved past microbial infection on Mars. The mechanism of Martian death also has its historic roots in European history. When England colonized lands in Australia and America hundreds of diseases were introduced to the native people as well as to the Europeans, and plagues like the bubonic plague and the influenza epidemic years earlier resulted in millions of deaths at the hands of greedy invaders.
This is again a critique of British colonization and perhaps is a warning not to be too “short sighted and timid. ” War of the Worlds is more of a scientific romance than a science fiction novel, and it is greatly influenced by the current ideas of Britain at the time. The prophetic nature of the novel is somewhat eerie considering that WWI took place only a few decades later, and scientific advances made after the Martian war seem similar to advances in weaponry and medicine following WWI.
The outcome of the conflict seems to suggest that neither party was ready for what they were up against; man was not scientifically evolved enough (just as the native Tasmanians and Americans were not as scientifically evolved as the British) to deal with the Martians; and the Martians pursued their prize with little thought of its consequences (again a reference to British colonization). Wells proposes no solution to mass destruction, and was forced to watch his predictions of mankind’s actions and behavior during WWI and the birth of the atomic age in WWII. I doubt he took any satisfaction from his foresight.
