The Call for Social and Ideological Reforms in The War of the Worlds Sid Ali Kercenna College

In the course of making a name for himself and securing the fame of a scientific and social prophet, Herbert George Wells had aimed through his writing to attain goals that transcended comic realism and science fiction. Being himself a disciple of the celebrated biologist T.H. Huxley and a member of the Fabian society, his scientific romances had for an object the advocacy of human rights and worldwide peace. His 1898 novel The War of the Worlds is accordingly much more than a mere terrifying fable about the arrival of ruthless Martians with nothing but chaos and destruction in store for Mankind. Under the layers of its future-oriented techno-scientific speculations, this novel dwells upon some of the most important issues and essential questions in Victorian England by the turn of the century; namely the decadence of religion, the rise of science and rational thinking, and the importance of education.

In The War of the Worlds, the development of the plot can be arranged into two parallel spheres. The first is the one recording the progress of the Martians ever since their first cylinder had touched ground in Horsell Common. It is gradual and more or less constant in its organization of events, for it makes the conquest of the...