HG Wells and The War of the Worlds - Essay Example

H.G. Wells and The War of the Worlds Herbert George Wells is more popularly known as H.G. Wells and he has been made famous by his novella about an alien invasion of earth titled The War of the Worlds. He also wrote other novels and stories such as The Time Machine, The Invisible Man and The First Men on the Moon which are the founding stones of the modern science fiction genre of English literature. Even though he is known as a science fiction writer, he also wrote in other genres but science fiction remains the primary reason for his popularity. Wells was the youngest of four children and his father, Joseph Wells was a gardener, shopkeeper and sportsman. His mother was a domestic servant when he was born in Kent in the United Kingdom. He came from the social segment of society which many would consider the lower middle class since his father had inherited a china shop. His father made a meagre income from selling sports goods after the matches and from selling china in his shop. As a child, Wells’ suffered a broken leg which put him in bed for weeks with no entertainment but a few books. This led him to develop a love for books which was to last him throughout his life and give him a career as well. Wells contemplated the ideas of strength and weakness as well as nature vs. nurture and questions the strength of humanity in books such as The War of the World. Despite writing science fiction, Wells makes interesting social comments which can be seen from the themes which are carried in his books. For example, there is a strong theme of higher powers conquering lower forms of life even to the point of annihilation. However, that theme is also balanced by the higher power being unable to adapt to certain elements in a new environment. In a manner, the book can be understood as Wells’ social commentary about what was going on in the age of colonisation. For example, the Europeans certainly had better technology than that which was available to the colonials and the Europeans were able to establish their control over the colonies through the effective use of the technology available to them. The Martians also had access to weapons and devices which were unknown to humans and thus the Martians were easily able to break down the human defences. In effect, superior technology leads one civilisation to conquer and rule another to establish a new social order. Of course the ideas and view of the future presented by Wells was dependent upon the scientific knowledge of the time which supposed that there were canals on Mars and thus added to the belief that there was some sort of intelligent life there. Similarly, the book reports that the Martians had used some sort of a gun to fire the pods and send their landing party to earth. Interstellar travel was thought to be possible at the time with the use of such techniques and Wells uses that idea to explain how the Martians came to earth. Similarly, the machines of the time and the industrial revolution had placed a greater focus on mechanical solutions to military problems and thinkers of the time were contemplating the creation of large land based fighting machines comparable to sea going capital ships. Wells seems to have used the same concept to create his Martian tripods which move quickly, are heavily armoured and are equipped with deadly weapons which can cut through anything their masters wish them to. Interestingly, the book explicitly suggests that the anatomy of the aliens may reflect the future evolution of human beings as they become more dependent on their machines and tools. As per Wells ideas, as less and less of muscle is needed, the body can be discarded completely which would leave just the presence of a brain that controls other machines. Just as humans wear the clothes and necessary outer fittings that are appropriate to a particular weather or type of work, the Martian brain places itself within other machines to perform any task that it wishes to. The description of the Martians also makes it clear that the Martians have given up their stomachs as well as their digestive systems and they live by introducing the blood of other creatures directly into their veins. This can be criticized scientifically on a biological basis since Wells had the mistaken belief that the function of digestion was to convert the food we consume into blood. We know today that the function of digestion is to introduce nutrients into the blood rather than convert food into blood. The book also presents a view of the universe at which the earth is no longer safe as a whole. While countries and individuals might have had to fear for their safety in those times, as a collective race, human beings had little to be afraid of in terms of their survival. However, with the popularity of the book, a question of extinction of the human species is also raised. For example, it can be asked how the human race could continue in case there is a disastrous event such as a meteor strike or super earthquake which shifts the orbit of the earth. Even more importantly, as asked by Wells, what would be the likely scenario and the response of the world governments in case we are attacked by super powerful extraterrestrial beings? Clearly, the author believes that the earth is not as safe as we might think it is. More broadly, this book illustrates the potential disaster that civilizations can face when faced with a problem that is thrust upon them from the outside. For example, a British problem at the time could have been the threat from the rise of Germany which led to the First World War. An Indian problem at the time could have been the strong colonisation forces that had conquered India and were the de facto rulers of the country. For the human civilisation, the problem is more complex since it deals with the presence of powerful and strong aliens who have come to conquer all of earth. Perhaps the most horrifying element of the story comes from the idea that human beings could be ‘farmed’ for food and simply used as cattle for the needs of others. In a way, this can be seen as Wells’ commentary on our own action as carnivores where we farm animals to use their meat and skin for our own purposes. While it may not be horrifying for some to consider the action of eating beef for lunch, the idea of human beings being killed for food is certainly a horrible one. Certainly, the Martians are higher up in the food chain, but that does not mean that they can use humans as food. In that manner, the book can be read as a statement against the cruelty to animals which humans propagate as they farm various animals for their own needs. It must be noted that Wells did not consider the actions of the Martians to be wrong since he compares their actions to our own. For example, he says that the Martians had come to conquer earth much in the same way that human beings had conquered other areas of the planet. The death and destruction caused by the Martians to human life is compared directly to the death and destructions humans have caused to other species on the planet. However, just as the European colonists found a hostile environment in some colonies and had to battle with unknown tropical diseases at the time. The Martians also had to battle with earth’s bacteria and it was a battle which they could not win since they were not prepared to handle the environment. The victory for the humans was not won by the humans but the organisms which humans have adapted to and learnt to live with. In these terms, the overall context of the book can be placed with other stories of invasion where one army or country invades another and commits aggression for valid or invalid reasons. However, since the subject matter deals with an invasion coming from a different planet, the title i.e. The War of the Worlds becomes more fitting. Clearly, as a narrator from the human side of affairs, the sympathies of the writer remain with the human beings. However it does not look like he blames the invading Martians for any wrong doing since they seem to be only doing what humans have done historically. Just as militarily weaker humans have been subjugated and conquered by invading armies from stronger groups, so did the humans face terrible suffering at the hands of the invading Martians. In fact, the human ‘victory’ did not come through anything that the humans created but rather that which had been created by nature. I feel that there is a message contained within the pages of the book and that is a message for the human race to remain on friendly terms with all other creatures, big and small. While the likelihood of a Martian invasion on earth seems to be minimal at best right now, the likelihood of human beings destroying their own planet remains quite high if we continue to exterminate the species that share the planet with us. Works Cited Wikipedia. 2007, ‘H. G. Wells’ [Online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.G._Wells Word Count: 1,587 Read More