Jonathan Bell

5 May 2009

H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds

Are We Alone?

H.G. Wells gives us insight through The War of the Worlds of alien invasion,

extraterrestrial life, and the end of the world. In the immense universe, only one planet

has been proven to have life: Earth. H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds explores the

notion that we may not exist alone in our corner of the universe. Threat of alien invasion

is also a theme in The War of the Worlds. Wells wrote the book during British Expansion

in the Victorian Era. People were able to relate British Expansion to the fictional theme

of alien invasion. Adaptations of H.G. Wells’s literature in other media such as radio and

movies brought out the realism and fear of recent wars of the early 1900s. H.G. Wells

explores the end of the world and the extinction of the human race seen in the Theory of

Evolution (Bloom 2). H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds presents a vision of possible

life out side earth, fear of alien invasion, and the end of the world as we know it.

Throughout history, people have wondered if we are the only planet inhabited by

life or if there is life elsewhere in the universe. The first known theorist of possible life

was Merodurus, a Greek philosopher in the 4th century B.C. (Fishman). Merodurus could

not accept that “in an entire field of millet, only one grain will grow” (Fishman), which

means that of all matter that makes up the universe, only one planet has life: Earth.

During the 20th century, scientists, astronomers, and theorists made discoveries in space

with the help of new technologies and innovations. Communication is important in all

aspects of life, and is no different when it comes to trying to communicate with possible

life outside of Earth. From what scientists and astronomers have learned about our solar

system, many believe the odds of extraterrestrial life in our solar system are very low,

which is why many look past our solar system and into our galaxy and other parts of the

universe. The most common and fastest form of communication is called electromagnetic

radiation, or photons (Fishman). They can carry information and cannot be easily

detected or affected by magnetic fields in outer space (Fishman). Scientists fascinated

with extraterrestrial life started their own program: The Search for Extraterrestrial

Intelligence (SETI). Scientists of SETI concentrate on stars and planets outside the Solar

System (Fishman).

If there is extraterrestrial life, what are the odds of communicating with them?

Frank Drake, an American radio astronomer, came up with an equation in order to predict

the number of intelligent civilizations we may be able to communicate with (Fishman).

N = R*fpneflfifcL is the equation he made, which is called the Drake Equation. The letter N

represents the number of communicating civilizations. This equation is made up of

several factors, the first being R * which represents the rate of stars births within. Factor

fp represents the number of stars that may be orbited by planets; ne estimates the

percentage of Earth-like planets; fl is the number of habitable planets that could produce

life; fi represents chances of life forms evolving; fc is the number of civilizations that may

have the ability or desire to communicate; factor L is the life span of a civilization

(Fishman).

Technology has come a long way in terms of space exploration and discovery.

The question is how big is the universe and is it possible to see everything? In Arthur

Clark’s essay, “We’ll Never Conquer Space”, Clarke says that no matter how much

technology we create, we will never conquer the vast universe (Clarke 1314). Clarke

wrote this essay in 1960, three years after Sputnik, the first man made satellite, was

launched (Clarke 1314). Author H.G. Wells was fascinated with the idea that there may

be life outside Earth. In 1888, Wells spoke out at the Debating Society of the Royal

College of Science; he said it is likely that life exist on Mars (Moss Wilson 409; Wells in

Bergonzi 123). Ten years later, his science fiction novel, The War of the Worlds, was

published. One of the central themes of this science fiction thriller is alien invasion,

which brought out fear and could be related to the reality of world events going on at that

time.

Although The War of the Worlds is pure fiction, the new theme of alien invasion

caused fear, especially since the setting was current in 1898. The British Empire was the

largest empire in history, covering almost a fourth of the world's land at its peak. British

expansion between 1884 and 1902 led to 2.5 million miles of new territory in Canada,

Africa, Australia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East (Moss Wilson 406). H.G. Wells

made fictional prophecies in The War of the Worlds that were significant to the beginning

of World War I as there were new technologies and the threat of invasion from foreign

nations (Moss Wilson 406). The British expanded its empire throughout the 19th century,

which, like the Martians, people felt they were invading and taking control of countries

(Moss Wilson 406). The narrator compares the British conquest of Tasmania, and an

island near Austria:

The Martians, in spite of their human likeness, were entirely swept out of existence in a war of extermination wage by European immigrants…Are we such apostles of mercy as to complain if the Martians warred in the same spirit? ( Wells 52). The idea of alien invasion from The War of the Worlds began a new era of science

fiction not only in literature but also in media culture. One famous adaption of The War

of the Worlds is the radio-dramatized program by Orson Wells and “The Mercury Theater

on the Air.” People were terrified of this radio adaption as it was very believable and

made them feel like it was the end of the world (The War of the Worlds: 100 Years of

Terror). When Orson Wells brought The War of the Worlds to the United States he

randomly picked a state for these fictional events to begin, New Jersey. “The Mercury

Theater on the Air” presented The War of the Worlds on October 30, 1938; since it was

Halloween, Americans were probably even more scared. Although the First World War

had been over, the mindset and fear of invasion still stuck with many. At the very

beginning of the program Orson Wells had a formal introduction that the following news

events may seem believable but are in fact fiction. The problem was that not everyone

heard this introduction, which caused widespread panic. Orson Wells had to make a

formal apology over the air for scaring people, as it seemed very realistic. The critically

acclaimed feature film The War of the Worlds (1953) was a landmark in science fiction

filmography as it was the first movie about alien invasion (The War of the Worlds: 100

Years of Terror). Like the dramatized radio program, the movie also brought out realism

and fear of invasion related to war. The film takes place in the Atomic Age, during

which scientist sought out innovations and in the development of new technologies. In

fact an atomic bomb was dropped on one of the Martian’s ships, but unfortunately had no

effect on the ship. The Martians’ technology was far superior to anything man could use

to fight back. In the end, the germs that man has become immune to eventually killed the

Martians, as their immune systems had not yet adjusted to a new planet.

H.G. Wells’ theme of the end of the world is also a part of natural selection and

the theory of evolution. Young H.G. Wells was fascinated with the theory of evolution in

the 1880 and the future of Homo sapiens that gave him ideas for The War of the Worlds.

At a young age he went deeper into this theory and had visions of humanity struggling for

survival, extinction of humans, and the scary idea that like Martians we become more

advanced by emphasizing the brain and knowledge rather than the human heart (Bloom

2).

Part of the theory of evolution is natural selection in which the strong survive,

while others die out. This is similar to the Martians in that they are not evil, only more

advanced and had capability of destroying a more vulnerable species: humans (Bloom 3).

The Martians lack true heart and soul all humans are born with. They may have at one

time been more like humans but evolved. Wells thought that a time may come that we

would have to rely on scientists and engineers to prevent destruction of the human race

(Bloom 3). It is believed by many that a meteor crashed in the earth causing the end of

the dinosaurs. Perhaps a parallel can be drawn to the arrival of the Martian cylinders,

which brought the Martians and much destruction, which severely affected the human

race in this story?

The radio dramatized version of The War of the Worlds made people feel like it

was the end of the world. As humans have had to relocate to other parts of the world

when resources become scarce, the Martians came to Earth as Mars was apparently

running out of resources (Moos Wilson 405). An artillery man in The War of the Worlds

believed that in order for the human race to survive we must invest in scientific research

and discovery and that “the useless and cumbersome and mischievous have to die”

(Wells 169).

H.G. Wells’s theme of the end of the world with natural selection and the theory

of evolution is also seen in other media and adaptations. In the feature film The War of

the Worlds (1953) the Martian invasion caused mass panic and many believed there was

no hope for the human race. Their technology had no effect on the Martians’ far superior

technology. In The War of the Worlds Wells suggested that the human race may

“become a victim of technology that humans could not comprehend” (Moss Wilson 406).

This film brought the theme of not only alien invasion, but also the end of the world.

This inspired apocalyptic movies, and the theme of Doomsday. If Charles Darwin was

alive today, what would he say about the evolutionary and the end of the world themes in

The War of the World?

H.G. Wells’ ideas of alien invasion, extraterrestrial life, and the end of the world

are presented in The War of the World. He inspired many authors and directors to use

similar themes in their books and movies. His ideas were not random, but were related to

current events and foreshadowed many events of war, invasion, technology, and British

expansion.

Work Cited Page

Bloom, Harold H.G. Wells Bloom Modern Critical Views New York Chelsea House

Publishers 2005

Clarke, Arthur C. “We’ll Never Conquer Space” Literature: The British Tradition. ED

Knsella, Kate et al. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 2007 1314-1320.

Fishman, David J. "The Search for Extraterrestrial Life." New Book of Popular Science.

2009. Grolier Online. 27 Apr. 2009 <http://nbps.grolier.com/cgi- bin/article?

assettype=t&assetid=4004400>.

Moss, Joyce, George Wilson. Literature and Its Times. Detroit: Gale, 1997

The War of the Worlds: 100 Years of Terror Dir. Rob Pyle, Perf. Scott Forbes

Goldhil Entertainment 2005.

Wells, H.G. The War of the Worlds New York: Bentum, 1898