War of the Worlds Pd. 3 Illuminator Paula Ferrara
“What ugly brutes!”he said. “Good God! what ugly brutes!” He repeated this over and over again.
“Did you see a man in the pit?” I said. But he made no answer to that. (pg 22)
This quote is a short conversation between the narrator and a neighbor of his that he meets at the crash sight of the the Martian’s cylinder. It is mentioned throughout most of the beginning that the people who lived in the town near the crash sight were arrogant; they saw, or at least heard of, the dangers the Martians posed on the humans. Yet they went on with their normal lives, thinking that they were the smarter beings. Adding to their arrogance was the military, who gave the people of the town a sense of false-protection with their presence.
This quote is a good example of that ignorance. The narrator’s neighbor, both of whoose names are not given, mocks the Martians’ appearance. However you can tell he’s afraid. The narrator says he repeats the same phrase over and over, not necessarily talking to anyone in particular. Also, when the narrator asks him the question of if someone had fallen into the pit, his neighbor doesn’t answer; he’s to engrossed with the sight of the Martians to worry about someone else.
This quote emphasizes the ignorance the humans have towards the Martians as well as their arrogance toward each other. If you were a human at the crash sight when the Martians came out, what would your reaction have been and why?
Category: Per 3 WotW Illum | Tags: Add new tag 4 comments »
February 14th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Its true that the people in the book are being foolish and ignorant to the presence of the Martians, but we must also remember that this book was written in an earlier time. The people then may not have been as prepared for something like this as we would be today. An example of this is how slow military or any authoritive figures took to take over the area. They may have also not understood the immensity of the situation. They were all very intrigued, but the excitement died down in a couple of days. I think that reason for this is that no one back then realized what it meant for them that there were beings of such higher intellect with the ability to crush them all right on their own planet.
Had i been there when the Martians emerged from their pod, i think that i would have had a similar reaction to the rest of the crowd; fear, but a fear that was totally overridden by my curiosity. I would have probably walked right up to the pit to observe them. Perhaps this is the trap that Martians expected everyone to fall in to. Until they started killing us, people would swarm with any sense of self-preservation to come see the aliens.
Shaun Ditzler
February 15th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
I agree when Shaun says how the book has been written in an earlier time. They don’t have all of the technology that we have. They don’t know what to do. They are up in arms when the Martians land. THey don’t know what to do so that is probably why they lose intereest in the Martians. The people don’t know the dangers of the Martians.
If i was there when the Martians arrived. I would have been freaked out. I would have run away and hid somewhere. Acually I would have gotten in my “dog cart” and driven far, far away. I am a big scardey cat. I would probably scream too. My reaction would probably be the worst reaction, rather than helping the situation.
February 15th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
I would have felt the same way about their appearence, but i also would have felt remorse for the man who had fallen into the pit and was killed. Yes the book was writen in an earlier time but they should still have the common sense to stay away from the Martians and study them from a distance before they tried to approach them.
I have to disagree with Shaun and Abby on the fact that they had a sense of false protection. I think the author just wants us to feel that they were naive. If this would have truely happened at the same time and place, the correct athoritties would have handled the situation differently
Kody Bell
February 23rd, 2009 at 9:00 am
Paula: A weak question.
Responses: Again, avoid repitition.