WotW- Abbey Stefanides- POST 4!!
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And its in color!
“With overwhelming force came the thought of myself, of my wife, and the old life of hope and tender helpfulness that had ceased forever.” (198)
The narrator says this to himself at the end of Chapter 9, when he is wandering London and realizes that the Martians are dead. This to me is memorable because it shows how the wife truly means to him. I mean he wasn’t surviving to try to stay alive he was trying to survive to stay alive for her. That my friends is true love right there.
The other thing I would like to point out in this passage is the fact that he says that he couldn’t wait to go back to their normal life, or as he says it “the old life of hope and tender helpfulness that had ceased forever.” To me this means that he had this great and happy life and then it was stopped for a long time because of the Martians. The narrator is longing for this life to come back. I kind of feel like he wishes that none of this ever happened.
“It’s no use… The house is deserted. No one has been here these ten days. Do not stay here to torment yourself. No one escaped, but you.” (204)
This quote is said when the narrator goes back to his house and he is looking for his wife. When he gets there he doesn’t see his wife or his cousin. Then the narrator hears this quote and at first he thinks that he is the one that said this. He thinks that he spoke out loud. Then he walks over to the doors and sees his wife and cousin. I believe that the cousin said this to the narrators wife, because if the narrator thought it was himself saying this then it must have been a man’s voice.
I think that this quote is both memorable and funny. I think it is funny because both the narrator and his wife think that they are the only survivors when they come back to this house. They think that they are the only survivors of this town, and then when they find each other that has obviously changed. I also believe that this quote is memorable because if the narrator hadn’t heard this they wouldn’t be reunited. These were the words that brought the two love birds back together. Another reason why i think that this quote is memorable is because they both came here against other people’s request to look for each other. They put themselves in danger to find each other among the wreckage and all of the hullabuloo.
My Final Question to YOU:
How would the ending have changed if the narrator and his wife weren’t reunited? How would the narrator handle this?
Abbey StefanidesP.S. lets try to have a conversation with our comments. Comment as much as you can and start some discussion! 
Category: Illuminator, Per 3 WotW Illum 7 comments »
March 8th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Had the narrator and his wife showed up at their old house even an hour sooner or later, they would not have seen each other. They were very lucky to have showed up at the same time on the same day.
If the story would have ended with the narrator still alone, who knows what would have happened to him. Maybe he would have given up his search for her and given in to his despair and loneliness. Perhaps he would have kept on looking, though. After all, if we’ve learned anything about this man it’s that he is remarkably determined.
This is another hard question to answer because it is a ‘what if’ one. As the readers, we can not properly answer this question because all we have to base our answers on are what the author has already included in the book. Do you think that the author and his wife will be happy together again, even after everything they went through?
Ditz
March 8th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
I’m sorry. I like ‘what if’ questions cause they make ME think… I don’t know about you guys. Haha.
I do believe that they were really lucky to have found each other. And if they didn’t find each other I don’t quite know what would have happened. This kind of relates to Kody’s question of the sanity. We can see that one of the only things that kept the narrator sane was knowing that he had to find his wife. If he showed up to that house and his wife wasn’t there I think that he would have just exploded. Here he is all by himself and seperated from his wife who is dead. I would explode.
And for Shaun’s question:
I think that this catastrophe will bring the two closer. This might be a little off topic but it connects in a way. I have a cousin who is a Sophmore at Philadelphia University (or Phila U), her name is Megan. When Megan was really little (really really little) she had a blod clot in her forehead. She was really close to dying. Then a surgeon said that he could preform a surgery to remove the clot, but that no one has come out of the surgery “normal”. There was a huge risk of her not being able to walk, talk, and a lot of things that all of us can do. And the biggest risk of all was her chance of survival. My aunt and uncle took the risk cause they wanted to keep her alive. Megan is one of the most normal people. You wouldn’t even know if you just look at her. Everything went perfect. My point for this story, though, is that my uncle sees everything differently. Ever since that happened if their is an opportunity to do something (anything) he will do it. And will do anything for anyone. I love my uncle. He does a lot for me.
This shows that sometime bad things bring people come together. I mean a horrible thing, but a good example is when people are diagnosed with cancer. Everyone that is near and dear to them comes together to support that person.
Abbey :’)
March 8th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
I have to agree with Shaun that this is a hard question to answer. I know I am going to sound like a broken record but I don’t think that the narrator would have been able to handle the loss. He loved his wife more than anything in the world. Although I have to say that the narrator and wlhis wife probably would have known that the other one would have gone back to their house. I truely believe that the narrator would have tried to kill himself or something. He had tried when he came out from hiding, he thought that the fighting machine had an alien in control it and he ran at it hoping it would shoot the Heat-Ray at him.
As for Shaun’s question:
I believe that yes they would be happy together. If their reactions when they saw each other meant anything they would as Abbey said would be even closer.
Kody
March 8th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
I think the entire meaning of the story would have changed if the narrator hadn’t found his wife again. One of the reasons H.G. Wells wrote this story is to show that when you persevere for something you believe in you will reach your goal. The narrator has only stayed alive to find his wife. If they weren’t reunited, he would’ve worked so hard for nothing.
On top of that, I think if the narrator hadn’t found his wife, then he would’ve gone the way of the curate and the artilleryman and lost his mind. He’s only worked so hard to stay alive because he wants, no needs, to find his wife. Without the existence of his wife, the narrator’s life would seem meaningless; his own existence would become questionable. Forget losing his mind. Instead, he’d probably kill himself.
March 8th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Okay who ever just wrote the last comment, I am going to guess Paula, in the end the narrator did give up. When he came out of his shelter he saw one of the Martians’ fighting machines and ran straight at it hoping it would kill him.
Kody
March 8th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
ughh. KODY!
March 27th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Stop whining about the “what if” questions. They force you to extend beyond the story and work your own imagination, which is a postive and useful exercise. And Kody, stop being so sharp and abrasive in your comments.