War of the Worlds Reading Journal

Prethoughts:
As a younger reader not familiar with older literature, I do not know much about War of the
Worlds. I do have some preconceptions as to what the general story is about, a war between
humans and other extra terrestrial beings which the story will show the cause and effects of. I
believe something that will immediately divert me from the story is the writing and vocabulary as
I have struggled with 19th century literature in the past. As one that finds disinterest in the
faraway future, I do not think that this book will capture my attention, but if it explores humanity’s
cause and effect within the book I do believe I will find interest in this story.

Chapter 1:
After reading this first chapter, I can see that language will not be as much of an issue as I
initially hypothesised. My prediction about the story also changed, as now I believe the story will
be about Martians invading the Earth, holding the humans as prisoners in great facilities the
Martians have created; there is also doubt that humanity will be the solution, but a high chance
of humanity’s ways of the past to be addressed. The story is set in the past, and written in the
past tense, this makes it more of a recount of events rather than a theory, which makes me as a
reader more inclined to read. I feel the imagery in this story is quite detailed, yet more in a simile
metaphor way rather than describing whatever is being described as it is. I have noticed the
story uses much scientific vocabulary, which leads me to believe that this book is a method of
persuasion for scientists of the time.

Chapter 4:
Wells uses many cumulative sentences, and within these plenty of adjectives. This sentence
structure is particularly useful when describing something, as it provides a basic idea that is
easy to process, and then expands on it. Because of this, the reader is not instantly
dumbfounded by the writing or concepts within the story. When describing the aliens, he begins
by immediately stating what not to picture: a man. He then follows this by addressing the
features of the martians and how unnatural they seem. For example a quote from this chapter
used at the beginning of the book states, “those who have never seen a living Martian before
can scarcely imagine the strange horror of its appearance” which is followed by a list of features
the first emerging martian had. He uses similes, as I mentioned earlier, as a means of allowing
the reader to be able to understand and imagine this completely foreign concept.

Chapter 9:
I could assume from the beginning of the story there was going to be an attempt to flee, yet I
doubt that will work, from the hints the book provides, such as “but that was the last civilized
dinner I was to eat for very many strange and terrible days.” I believe fleeing will end up being
useless due to the advanced technology of the Martians, they surely can travel faster than the
humans, and perhaps fly as well. They are not safe from the Martians in a different town, but
perhaps in a faraway country, such as America. Instead of fleeing what will they do?

Chapter 12:
I am pleasantly surprised by the main character’s wits within these past chapters; for the whole
past of the book, all he has been doing is trying to see the Martians up close, which was
undoubtedly stupid. He finally made a decision to hide from the Martians, and flee. He even
made the realisation that the heat ray cannot hurt the humans if they are submerged in water,
something he might have thought of earlier if he wasn’t so naive to the dangers of the Martians
(blinded by his curiosity). His character seems to be growing at this part of the book, he started
off as an exuberant man with a childlike curiosity and is slowly evolving into a more smart
person that has to adapt to change for survival. It really shows how tragedy shapes a person.

Part II up to chapter 7:
I find it very strange that the narrator is analyzing the martians with awe, respect and curiosity
though they want to kill him and is clearly hating on the curate who he may find annoying, but at
least they are on the same side of this war. This reflects how self absorbed humans were at the
time, and still are. “Oh no the Martians are trying to kill me, why don’t I monologue about the
curate’s annoying monologues”. I understand he never said these things out loud, but honestly,
the hypocrisy he is displaying here. He is writing a recount of war not an annoying curate. I did
not realise he was eating all the food that may come back to bite them in the future so I
understand the anger, but respecting the Martians more than him? That’s just low.

In my opinion killing the curate was a terrible thing to do, even given the circumstances. The
curate was going insane, yes, but showing compassion and sympathy for him would have been
better. The narrator may be going through the same thing, but not everyone deals with issues
the same and not everyone has had the same prior experiences. The curate is clearly
traumatized and deserves a chance at life, killing him may have rid him of his pain and suffering
but it was not on his terms, it was murder. In chapter 7 I find out he had no remorse, simply “a
thing that had to be done”, it did not have to be done, murder isn’t going to solve your problems.
You cannot kill a man and then go praying to god, as god has not forgiven you (if god is real in
his mind).

I also noticed this quote “Surely, if we have learnt nothing else, this war has taught us pity - pity
for those witless souls that suffer our dominion.” Something I can take from here is that the
invasion is teaching the English to pity those of the other countries that have taken by force, or I
can focus on the fact he called them “witless”. He pities them, but does not respect them or see
them as equal, but given the current situation, he doesn’t need to, as he is feeling inferior and is
in their place. But then again, would it be better for him to feel empathy for their situation if he
sees them as equals, or does he need the social hierarchy in place to show who they are
below?

Chapter 8-end:
I found it quite surprising that the Martians overlooked possible bacteria growth, and what does
this mean for this book’s version of Mars? If Mars is a living planet it would surely have species
other than the invading Martians that could pass on diseases. Then again, in the entirety of
Earth the biggest plagues only stemmed from animals that could be domesticated, perhaps
Mars did not have any suitable animals or any other life forms. I feel the disease issue will only
be a one time thing, the Martians will be able to develop an antibacterial and soon continue their
conquest of Earth, but they are afraid due to their previous defeat. They don’t lack technology,
it’s fear that controls everything, which the book has been pushing since the start. I generally
feel the disease point was such a bad cop-out, it would have taken longer to spread, and the
Martians surely had a way to keep disease at bay if they were so technologically advanced. He
is also reunited with his wife, and is not greatly happy to see her. She is in tears and his opinion
on the whole ordeal is basically, “oh huh, she’s alive”.