← Read a Classic

Stage 6 · The Grand Tour

The War of the Worlds

H. G. Wells · 1898

Martians invade England, and the story watches how people act in fear and what civilization means.

1. 1Lesson 1FreeThe narrator says people were "serene in their assurance of their empire over matter." Why does he begin the story by mocking human confidence?Start
2. 2Lesson 2SubscriptionOgilvy runs to get help, but people think he is mad, and the crowd treats the cylinder like a show. How do people react when something truly new appears?Locked
3. 3Lesson 3SubscriptionThe people with the white flag wanted to show that "we too were intelligent." Why does their attempt at peace end in disaster, and what does it reveal about the meeting of two worlds?Locked
4. 4Lesson 4SubscriptionAfter seeing death on the common, the narrator sits at dinner and calls the Martians foolish. Why do people talk themselves into feeling safe, even when they have seen danger with their own eyes?Locked
5. 5Lesson 5SubscriptionWhile the Martians hammer in their pit, most people go on eating, gardening, and joking. Why does ordinary life keep going so calmly right next to a growing danger?Locked
6. 6Lesson 6SubscriptionThe narrator admits he "wanted to be in at the death" and was not sorry to return to Maybury. What does his "war fever" lead him into, and what does that night teach him?Locked
7. 7Lesson 7SubscriptionLooking at the fighting-machines, the narrator asks for the first time "how an ironclad or a steam engine would seem to an intelligent lower animal." How does this night change the way he sees humans and their machines?Locked
8. 8Lesson 8SubscriptionAn old man argues to save his orchids, crowds joke at the riverside, and a lieutenant calls the truth "nonsense." Why is it so hard for people to understand a danger they have not seen for themselves?Locked
9. 9Lesson 9SubscriptionThe curate cries, "Why are these things permitted? What sins have we done?" and the narrator answers, "What good is religion if it collapses under calamity?" How should a person hold on to faith and hope when disaster strikes?Locked
10. 10Lesson 10SubscriptionIn London, newspapers promise safety and people stroll in their Sunday clothes until the night of panic. How do the news and "the habit of personal security" shape what people believe about danger?Locked
11. 11Lesson 11SubscriptionThe narrator wonders "how much they understood of us" — did the Martians see humans as an organised people, or as a disturbed hive of bees? What does the Black Smoke reveal about how the invaders see humankind?Locked
12. 12Lesson 12SubscriptionAs London flees, police break the heads of the people they protect, robbers attack two women, and a stranger stops to help them. When order falls apart, what shows a person's true character?Locked
13. 13Lesson 13SubscriptionOn the great road north, a man dies clutching his gold, a lost girl finds her mother, and a crowd "had no character of its own." What happens to individual people when they become part of a panicking crowd?Locked
14. 14Lesson 14SubscriptionThe Thunder Child fires no gun and simply drives full speed at the Martians to save the fleeing ships. What makes someone willing to risk everything for strangers, and what does the narrator mean by "the rout of civilisation"?Locked
15. 15Lesson 15SubscriptionThe narrator begins by mocking humans "serene in their assurance of their empire over matter." After everything you have read, what has the Martian invasion revealed about human beings — their pride, their fear, and their goodness?Review · Final essayLocked

See progress →

When signed in, progress is saved to My library. Otherwise it stays on this device only.