H G Wells

The War of the Worlds Annotated H G Wells

The War of the Worlds is a science fiction novel written by H. G. Wells in 1898. The story begins with the planet Mars having become uninhabitable for the Martians. Therefore, the Martians decide to travel to Earth and attempt to wipe out the entire human race so that they can make Earth their home. The Martians launch off their planet in cylinders and land on Earth. An astronomer named Oglivy, along with the narrator, sees a very strange shooting light in the sky. They go in the direction of the spot where the cylinder seems to have landed, hoping to find it. When they find the crash site, news of this odd event starts to spread like wildfire. As a result, a large crowd gathers around the large crater that the cylinder has made. The humans expect to see people who look much like them crawl out of the opening. Instead, when the Martians came out, their appearance is very different from that of humans. They are big and greyish with oily brown skin. Their size seems more like the size of a bear than that of a person. They have two large dark-colored eyes and lipless, V-shaped mouths that drip saliva. The narrator found them to be inhuman and monstrous. The Martians have a weapon that shoots heat rays and set flame to anything in their path. Many people are shot by the Martian heat-ray weapon, including the astronomer, while others, along with the narrator, flee for their lives. The narrator runs back home and the next day he and his wife pack up and head to Leatherhead, where his wife's cousins are. Shortly after they arrive, the narrator realizes he has to go back, to return a cart that he borrowed from an innkeeper and had promised to return. He leaves his wife in Leatherhead in order to return the cart.