Period 1 War of the Worlds Sum/WW Post 4
Colin Easter
Book 2, Chapter 1: The narrator and the curate decide to move on after a martian clears away the black smoke. They see the destruction the martians have caused as they continue on and see some other people. They have a close encounter with a martian who picked up its victims and put them in a metallic basket. They continue on and rest in a house that has food. While they are in the house the fifth cylinder lands, and a tripod arrives.
Chapter 2: The narrator and the curate take turns looking at the martians through a hole in the wall. The narrator describes another of the martian’s machines. This one is unpacking the cylinder. We also learn about the anatomy of the martians. They have large heads and don’t have any digestive organs. Instead of eating food, they inject the blood of other creatures into their veins. They don’t sleep as well.
Chapter 3: Even though the narrator and the curate are in danger, they can’t resist the urge to watch the martians. The narrator doesn’t like the curate because of his exclamations, constant talking, and weeping. The narrator resorts to threats and blows to stop the curate’s carelessness. The narrator sees a man taken for feeding. At the end, the narrator hears guns in the distance. All of the martians except for a tripod and a handling-machine desert the pit.
Chapter 4: The narrator tries to ration the food they have left, but the curate doesn’t want to. They result to fighting, and the curate starts to become insane. The curate starts talking loudly and goes out of the kitchen. The narrator strikes him with the butt of a meat chopper out of fear. A martian hears the disturbance and investigates. The narrator hides in the cellar, but the martian figures out how to unlatch the door. However, the narrator remains hidden from the martian.
Chapter 5: The narrator becomes so thirsty that he took a chance by using the creaking rain-water pump. He does this for several days until he sees a dog. He then looks out and sees that the martians have abandoned the pit. He looks around and sees that the martians are nowhere in sight, and the town has been destroyed.
Chapter 6: The area around the pit is covered with the red weed. The narrator relates this to a rabbit whose home is being dug up by people. Rivers are choked with the weed. The narrator moves on and sees less of the weed. He finds food from a garden and thinks he is the only person left in this part of the world.
Chapter 7: The narrator stays the night at an inn, finds food, thinks about the curate, and prays. The narrator moves on and stumbles upon the artilleryman. They talk about surviving and life when the martians take over. They go to the artilleryman’s cellar where he is staying and make it larger. They take a break, look out from the roof of a house, and then eat. After playing cards and drinking, the narrator goes to the roof alone. He decides to part ways with the artilleryman because he is an “undisciplined dreamer of great dreams” and a drinker and a glutton.
Chapter 8: The narrator walks through London and only encounters dead bodies and black powder. As he walks through the streets he hears a loud howling that continues for a while. He keeps going and sees the martian that is making the noise. It is still and he moves to get a closer look. While moving, he sees a dead martian in a handling-machine and a still tripod. The howling stops and the narrator moves toward the pit the martians created. In the pit, the narrator sees dead martians and their machines. The martians were killed by disease.
Chapter 9: The narrator tells about how people all over the world received the news by telegraph. The narrator stayed with some people for 4 days and then went to see the now destroyed town of Leatherhead. He learned through a paper that they are learning much through the study of the martian machines. The narrator goes to his house by way of train and finds his wife and cousin there.
Chapter 10: The narrator tells more about the study of the martians. He also talks about how the invasion will effect men in the future and his flashbacks when he goes near the places in his story.
Words to know:
curate-a clergyman in charge of or as an assistant of a parish
efficacious-having the power to produce a desired effect The narrator said that the curate thought that his tears are efficacious.
timorous-fearful The curate was described as timorous.
anaemic-lack of vitality The curate was also described as this.
gesticulating-communicating through bodily motions This is what the curate and the narrator did when they were trapped in the house.
Questions:
1. Do you think that H.G. Wells provided a good ending by having the martians killed by disease?
2. How long do you think it will take to rebuild the damage caused by the martians?
3. Will the narrator suffer any long lasting emotional effects from the invasion?
Category: Per 1 WotW Sum/WW, per 1 wotw s/ww 4 comments »
March 7th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
What happened to the last chapters?
chapter 8: Dead London
The narrorator leaves the artillary man and heads torward london. He sees a martain dead from the bacteria of Earth. The torment is over.
Chapter 9:Wreckage
The narrorator does not remember the next few days. The narrorator is called the last man left alive. He sets out for home. The war is over.
Chapter 10:The Epilogue
This chapter is about the research of the martians after ward. The preperation for another possible invasion. A lot of knowledge will come from this.
So what did you think of teh book?
March 7th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
No I do not think that was a good ending to this book. THere was so much action in this book it was a let down for them to just die. I am not going to go into much detail casue this is one of my questions also.
I think it will take a ver very long time to rebuild things. If you look at hurricane Katrina’s damage, it doesn’t even compare to this damage and we are STILL rebuilding in the south. So this would tell you it is going to take forever to rebuild everything that was lost.
I think maybe for a little bit he will have some minor effects from this expierience, but the way he carried himselfthrough the war with such dignaty and maturity I do not believe he will have any post tramatic stress disorder or anything like it.
March 7th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
1. I was definitely not the biggest fan of the ending. Though I was very happy the aliens were dead and that the narrator was reunited with his wife, I think there could have been a better way to do this. I guess I was just expecting an ending with more action in it, since the title is the “War of the Worlds”.
2. I am expecting the rebuilding of everything will take a very, very long time. Possibly even years. The environment especially. The forest was completely burnt down and trees, and all the other plants take a while to recuperate and grow again.
3. I believe that the narrator will not have long lasting traumatic problems. I believe that he will move on with life, but that certain things may bring back the memories of this low period in his life. For instance he might have a new fear of spiders. Ha ha.
Overall I did enjoy this book, even though I thought there could have been a better ending. What I enjoyed most was the amazing descriptions the author gave. The imagery made you feel like you were really there experiencing the things the narrator did.
~Erin C. =]
March 8th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Sonam Sherpa
1. Well, at first glance the ending seems very bland and a little bit of a let down from the rest of the happenings in the book, but when looked at it deeper I think that the ending was actually really well written. The reason why I think the ending was well written is because by H.G.Wells reasoning it was interesting that the same thing that killed many legions of humans had ended up being the thing that had retrieved the race of mankind from the gutters. To disagree with Erin I don’t think that the ending required any more action because there was already enough suffering that had happened because of the martians and with such a peaceful let down it showed that we as humans have a chance at living through most hardships.
2. Well I think that the rebuilding will not take quite as long as Erin thinks. The reason why is because it seems that it hasn’t really been that long since these events happened because the main character seems to remember everything pretty clearly, and also all of the news about the martians seems like pretty recent news. I can acknowledge that it will take a long time, but I think due to humans innate ability to bounce back after disaster strikes it will take less time because everyone will pitch in somehow.
3. No, I do not believe that the narrator will leave this experience with lasting emotional or psychological problems. The reason why I think this is because he seems sane enough that he would know to get help even if he were to have some minor issues. I’m not saying that the narrator will leave this experience unharmed mentally, but I think that he will remain sane for a while still.
Well personally I did happen to like this book very much. The way that H.G.Wells told the story as a giant flashback was very interesting, and also I liked the fact that H.G.Wells shrouded the main character in mystery to make the reader focus on the actual plot. BUT, I’m not trying to offend anyone in particular, but I personally think that all of these blogs that Mr. Shank is making us do is making us understand the book better, but it is also draining the fun out of reading the good books he assigns us (Sorry just thought I should share that).