Wed 1 Mar (Science Fiction)

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Finish reading The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells and write/post a journal: Identify and explain a theme of the novel. (A theme is: what the work is about, an underlying idea of a work, a conception of human experience suggested by the concrete details.)

-- Anonymous, March 01, 2005

Answers

I think a theme of the novel is that the most humble things are powerful. This is not just represented in the diseases that kill of the Martians and their plants. This is also shown by us knocking down a few of the warbots. Also the concept that the Artilleryman brings up of going underground and inflitrating the Martians by pretending to be a pet or breeding stock and then take one of their machines also contributes to this theme. Man's intial assement of the Martians shows this theme because we think they are weak and cannot escape the pits, but they come out in large machines.

-- Anonymous, March 01, 2005

I think a theme of the novel is that people who have someone to live for will generally be the ones to survive. In The War of the Worlds, when the hero is trapped with the unfortunate idiot in the collapsed house with the Martians all around, the one who went insane was the one who seemed to have nothing left to live for. Meanwhile, the hero had his wife to think of and concentrated mostly on surviving so that he could find her and that they could be together again. I think that people who have family or others that they love lead happier and oftentimes longer lives, because the will to live is that much stronger for them.

-- Anonymous, March 01, 2005

Yay! I have an internet connection again!

I saw several statements about human nature going on, and how even though we're the victims, we're not exactly the most sympathetic creatures (*pretty* sympathetic, but still). I mean, when the first ship landed, those boys were standing around and pelting it with rocks. And no one helped the man who fell into the pit. Also, in times of crisis, we were still just pathetic and cynical and possessive--like the preacher the narrator is with, or the man who won't leave behind his bloody orchids. Even when death is facing us, we're still not heroic or damsels-in-distress. We don't grasp our situation quickly enough or acknowledge the danger or assist each other. I thought human negativity was theme.

-- Anonymous, March 01, 2005


I think one theme of the novel is that (similar to in The Island of Dr. Moreau) humans will revert to an animalistic state when they are truly in the face of danger. They rely solely on instinct and do not really worry about the well-being of others (except maybe those they are related to, whom they may defend fiercely). This sort of connects with the cynical view of man in the novel, showing that the separation between man and beast is really only superificial. Case in point: the crowding and violence that the narrator's brother sees on the road leading away from London and on the banks of the ocean, where people desperately tried to climb into boats and escape England. You sure can get a bad outlook on life by reading Wells' books.

-- Anonymous, March 01, 2005

I think a theme of the novel is to always keep things in perspective. The artillery man has his long speech about how the martians view us as we might view ants- irritating, but not threatening. Killing an ant means nothing, just as to the Martians, invading Earth means nothing. I think Wells wants to point out how everything is relative, and we might to good to remeber that.

-- Anonymous, March 01, 2005


Perhaps a theme of this story is the idea that humans are sure of their superiority but, in the big scheme of things, humans are merely animals. Civilization lasts only as long as it takes for a disaster to strike. Humans have only begun their evolutionary development and so they react as animals do. Wells also takes this opportunity to present the irony that men, who are like ants to the Martians, are killed by something even smaller. Perhaps in their granduer, the Martians forget to look at the details and are also surprised by the unexpected and new experience, just as the humans are surprised by the Martians.

-- Anonymous, March 01, 2005

I saw the theme that stress will reveal a person's true mettle: while some people were cruelly inconsiderate while saving their own hides(like some of the coach drivers), others retained human decency in the face of danger (like the narrator's brother.) While the negative was shown in many people, it wasn't the only type of nature revealed in this book, which I appreciated.

-- Anonymous, March 01, 2005

I think a theme of this novel is that all different cultures you encounter deserve to be respected. At this time in history the British truly viewed themselves as the best in the world, as seen by that essay he said he wrote at the end. But in this story they see how easy it was for another more advanced civilization to disregard them and consider them animals.

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2005

One theme I picked up was that, no matter how much we observe a culture we could never truly integrate with it. We have certain ideas already imprinted within our observations of other people. The Martians could observe and spy on us from their distant planet; however, the could not pick up on the intricasies of our environment: the bacteria, the flowing water, the ideas within our heads. Their observations of us were based off of the assumption that our planet is like theirs; they had no bacteria, thus they could not expect it from our planet.

There also appeared to be the suggestion of a circle in the end of the story. The Martians moved to Venus because they're planet was too cold. Wells suggests that our planet will cool as well, in which case we would want to inhabit, perhaps, the next planet. In the new stage, we will be the invaders.

I don't want to live on Mercury.

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2005


ALERT! ALERT! CLICHE!

Things are not always what they seem. Obviously the Martians seemed weak and easy to kill at first, stuck in their little holes, but once they came out, they kill 30-40 people at a time, plus houses as well.

Insurance will have a field day

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2005



Well I saw a theme as Arrogance is a person's downfall. Let's look at it shall we? Mankind is all like "HAHA, we're the top of the food chain and we ROCK! We dominate this planet and nobody is as cool as us!" And the Martians are like "Dude! We are the strongest, I mean, we ruled a red rock, I thinkw e can rule these pathetic earthlings!" And the humans lose to things that can't withstand our gravity and the martians lose to bacteria. That's life, this is Walgreens.

Ror

-- Anonymous, March 03, 2005


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