The War of the Worlds

While the Martians are seemingly monstrous, irredeemable villains, the narrator also provides many reasons to identify with or even to pity them. Compose a thoughtful, multifaceted defense of the Martians.

If part of Wells’s goal in writing The War of the Worlds was to confront those who had benefited from colonialism with its evils, how successful is he in this endeavor? To what degree does the introduction of aliens benefit or undermine this goal?

While The War of the Worlds is in many ways impressively prescient from a scientific point of view, its errors are at least as prominent. How do the scientific inaccuracies on which its plot hinges impact the experience of reading the novel in the modern day?

In reflecting on his role in the curate’s death, the narrator views it “simply as a thing done, a memory infinitely disagreeable but quite without the quality of remorse” (164). Especially considering his biased perspective, is he letting himself off too easily? Critique the narrator’s role in the failure of their relationship and the curate’s demise.

The War of the Worlds seems like a great title for this novel, and yet there are many ways in which it can be said to be inaccurate. Analyze its pros and cons.

To what degree is Wells’s criticism of Victorian gender roles undermined by the scarcity of female characters in the novel and the ways in which he presents those few he does include?

In the final chapter, the narrator asserts that the Martian invasion “has done much to promote the conception of the commonweal of mankind” (196), a claim that is at odds with many of the events of the novel. To what degree does the invasion promote or prevent harmony among humans?

As a character, the narrator is tailor-made to tell this story and in many ways is secondary to the events of the novel. Given his comparative unimportance, why might Wells have chosen his perspective over a third-person point of view?