The War Of The Worlds By H.G. Wells: Martians, Technology, And You

The theory of the existence of life on planets other than Earth has been debated for thousands of years. The fifth century BCE atomists Leucippus and Democritus are credited as two of the earliest advocates of the theory of extraterrestrial life. The theory of Martians, or aliens specifically originating from the planet Mars, grew in popularity in the late 19th century and early 20th century. This was a result of the discovery of what looked to be canals on the surface of Mars by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli. He is credited with first writing about these “canals” in 1877, eleven years before Percival Lowell published his book, Mars as the Abode of Life, in 1908. However, Schiaparelli took these formations as naturally-occurring as opposed to intelligently-designed. The Italian word “canali, ” which Schiaparelli used to describe the crisscrossing lines he observed on Mars’ surface, can be translated in English as either “channel” or “canal. ” As a result of this ambiguous translation, and the subsequent popularization of assumptions about the origins of these formations, the people of the 1890s were no strangers to the idea of life on Mars. This surge in interest surrounding extraterrestrial life occurred during a crucial period for science fiction as a whole.

Life was constantly changing thanks to the advancement of technology that occurred in the 19th century. Transportation, agriculture, work, and home-life were all transformed during this period of dramatic technological change. This was the first century in which this constant flux occurred, and dime novels were the most popular form of literature at this time, at least in the United States. The modern science fiction began to take shape during this century as well, and the influences of new technology and new theories surrounding extraterrestrial life would meet in H. G. Wells’ novel The War of the Worlds.

Wells’ The War of the Worlds was published in 1897, and there are many things to take into consideration when trying to understand the historical context of the time. The novel incorporates many influences of the time, including the fears of German invasion, theories around life on Mars and evolution, end of century fears, and British colonization. Military fiction, especially invasion literature, became extremely popular in Victorian Britain. One of the most notable of these pieces of literature was George Tomkyns Chesney’s The Battle of Dorking, which describes a German invasion and the ensuing downfall of the British empire. The influence of the popularity of military fiction can be seen in Wells’ depiction of the British military throughout the novel. The novel itself is a version of invasion literature, as it literally depicts an invasion of Britain. This invasion, however, is not by the Germans, but by Martians.

The end-of-century uncertainty and fears of apocalypse can also be seen through the Curate character, who believes the Martian invasion is God punishing those on Earth by wiping them out. H. G. Wells studied under a Darwinian biologist, and was a democratic socialist and strong advocate for human rights. His attitude towards British colonization makes its way into his novel through his depiction of the Martian’s abrupt invasion and merciless treatment of mankind. His Darwinian influences show in the survival-of-the-fittest twist of an ending, in which the technologically-superior Martians are defeated not by human intelligence, but by germs. The alien trope in science fiction has been used in a variety of ways. It is often used to create an opposing force, like in The War of the Worlds, or a subjugated group, such as in Ursula Le Guin’s The Word for World is Forest.

In The War of the Worlds, Wells uses aliens to both depict an opposing other, while also creating a reflection of our “selves. ” He does this by taking on one of the most challenging tasks in science fiction writing – by creating an unfamiliar alien out of the familiar. In doing so, he creates creatures that are simultaneously unrelatable and relatable. In his first description of the Martians, the narrator of the novel is horrified and disgusted by what he sees, and what he does not see, as he notes the absences of human characteristics.

The peculiar V-shaped mouth with its pointed upper lip, the absence of brow ridges, the absence of a chin beneath the wedgelike lower lip, the incessant quivering of its mouth, the Gorgon groups of tentacles… above all, the extraordinary intensity of the immense eyes – were at once vital, intense, inhuman, crippled, and monstrous. There was something fungoid in the oily brown skin, something in the clumsy deliberation of tedious movements unspeakably nasty. This othering is a common practice in colonialism. What the narrator is going in the passage – identifying all the ways that the Martian is different from humans, and why it therefore disgusts him – is the same thing that colonizers do to the groups of people they enslave. The way Wells chooses to describe the Martians is particularly striking because of the phrase, “oily brown skin. ” Between 1884 and 1914, the “Scramble for Africa” took place, during which, European powers and the United States competed for control of territory in Africa, and The War of the Worlds is published in the middle of this competition. While Europeans considered unindustrialized countries to be “uncivilized, ” and therefore fair-game to be colonized, many European powers, as well as the United States, justified colonization on the basis of skin color. In the same way that white colonizers established territories and enslaved native populations in Africa in order to take control of their natural resources, the Martians came to Earth in order to do just that. It is therefore easy to recognize Wells’ strong opposition of British imperialism through the rhetoric and imagery he uses in this passage. He uses the tactic of othering that European powers have used to subjugate colonized groups of people in order to create a terrifying distance between the Martians and the British people about to be colonized by them.

In contrast to the othering he does in the beginning of the novel, H. G. Wells draws similarities between the Martians and humans by the end of book two. The narrator says, “To me it is quite credible that the Martians may be descended from beings not unlike ourselves, by a gradual development of brain and hands (the latter giving rise to the two bunches of delicate tentacles at least) at the expense of the rest of the body. Without the body the brain would, of course, become a mere selfish intelligence, without any of the emotional substratum of the human being”. Wells’ Darwinian influences are clearly at work in this passage, as he is describing the evolution of physical traits that arise from a long process of adaptation. In addition to alluding to his beliefs about evolution, he is also making the Martians a relatable group – the opposite of what he his goal was in the original description of the Martians. This can also be explained by his attitude towards British imperialism. Humans may differ greatly in physical characteristics based on our geographical location on the same planet. However, as the human race, we are far more similar than we are different. Wells makes this point by drawing similarities between vastly different species of intelligent life that are from entirely different planets, but based in the same solar system. By showing that aliens and humans can be similar without looking the same, he makes a broader statement about humanity.

The trope of extraterrestrial life plays many different roles throughout the genre of science fiction, and Wells puts them to use in multiple ways in The War of the Worlds as well. First, he uses the alien trope as a representation of an other – specifically of a colonizing group. This colonizing group is a reflection of the British empire, and by extension European colonizers as a whole. He creates a gap between the Martians and the locals that encounter them using the same tactics colonizers use to create a gap between themselves and those they colonize. However, by the end of the novel, Wells closes that gap by pointing out the similarities between the fictional Martians and humans. By doing so, he is making a commentary on the similarities between real humans. Additionally, the ultimate demise of the Martians – their lack of resistance to earthly bacteria and disease – is also indicative of Wells’ Darwinian influences. These conclusions make sense in the context of British imperialism and the scientific theories surrounding evolution at the time.

The War of the Worlds is a great example of H. G. Wells’ skill in using the alien trope in science fiction to make important commentary on the human condition. Aliens are incredibly common throughout science fiction, and are not always constructed or used as adeptly as Wells’ does in this novel. As Oldman writes, “There is a somewhat paradoxical quality about science fiction’s success in highlighting aspects of humanity by contrasting them with those of aliens, when, at the same time, the aliens are such uninspiring creatures”. Although Wells’ describes, essentially, brown, large-eyed, horrifying jellyfish, he manages to use his aliens to make significant statements about imperialism, science, and technology in the late 19th century.