What Is The Passage In The War Of The Worlds
Homework 3
1. Find a passage in The War of the Worlds that was not discussed at all in class, or not discussed enough, and show how it conveys a major theme of the novel. Relate it to other passages relevant to the theme. [5]
A major theme through out The War of the Worlds is the need to change the status quo of society. Wells used the Martian invasion as a catalyst to change how England’s society operated. When the Martians easily rendered England’s defenses useless, the country gave up. In the epilogue, the narrator said, “whether we expect another invasion or not, our views of the human future must be greatly modified by these events. We have learned now that we cannot regard this planet as being fenced in and a secure abiding place for …show more content…
Man; we can never anticipate the unseen good or evil that may come upon us suddenly.” Wells was attempting to make the people in England during this time recognize their naïve complacency and false sense of security. The society of Wells’ time was in need of change. The people needed to recognize that the world they were living in was not perfect, that problems existed though they may not have recognized them.
Part of the problem I think Wells was hinting at was the treatment of women.
Though it is not a major theme throughout the novel, in the narrator’s brother’s experience with his two female traveling companions and in the artilleryman’s idea for society’s future, it is obvious that women of the time did not have much power or respect. In the narrator’s brother’s experience with Mrs. Elphinstone and her sister-in-law, it was obvious he found Mrs. Elphinstone to be aggravating. While he admired the sister-in-law’s quietness and deliberateness. The sister-in-law was clearly the sanest of the two for she took charge of the reins of the carriage and obeyed the brother. Despite being the favorite of the two women, she was never given a name. It is clear that her coyness and obedience were the traits most admired proving that the role of women during the time was merely as a follower to men. Mrs. Elphinstone was bashed because of her outward emotional state. The artilleryman, when giving his proposal to the narrator, said the only women allowed in his new society were, “able-bodied, clean-minded women… mothers and teachers. No lackadaisical ladies – no blasted rolling eyes.” A female who was defiant to men was looked down upon. She had to be willingly obedient to …show more content…
men.
2.
Point to a specific passage of "The Machine Stops" that you find especially ironic. How does the irony convey the satire of the story? [3]
In the end of Part I, when Vashti was on the plane going to visit Kuno, she periodically looked out the window.
“At Midday she took a second glance at the earth. The air-ship was crossing another range of mountains, but she could see little, owing to clouds. Masses of black rock hovered below her, and merged indistinctly into grey. Their shapes were fantastic; one of the resembled a prostate man.
“‘No ideas here,’ murmured Vashti, and hid the Caucasus behind a metal blind.
“In the evening she looked again. They were crossing a golden sea, in which lay many small islands and one peninsular. She repeated, ‘No ideas here,’ and hid Greece behind a metal blind”
(61).
Ironically, Vashti found no ideas in two places full of history and human civilization. The Caucasus mountains have contained human life since the Stone Age and Greece was the epicenter and origin of math, science, and philosophy. Great human innovations have come from both regions that have influenced the way human civilization advanced.
This irony conveys the satire of the story because Vashti and the other humans living through the Machine thought that the Machine and their society led to great advancements for human life while the Machine was actually doing the opposite. The passengers on the plane repeated, “How we have advanced, thanks to the Machine” (60) as they ignorantly fail to recognize great geographical structures like the Himalayas and even snow. They were too dependent on the Machine to recognize their own absurdity.
3. Why do you think the machine stops? Does Forster imply that there is hope for the future? [2]
I think the machine stops because the original makers and up keepers of the Machine had innovative thoughts, but the society that was promoted from the Machine through time created a generation of people without creative or new thoughts. There was no one with the intelligence to fix the Machine because the people were so used to the Machine fixing everything else. The Machine stops because society was reverting back to the unadvanced societies humans began with.
1. Find a passage in The War of the Worlds that was not discussed at all in class, or not discussed enough, and show how it conveys a major theme of the novel. Relate it to other passages relevant to the theme. [5]
A major theme through out The War of the Worlds is the need to change the status quo of society. Wells used the Martian invasion as a catalyst to change how England’s society operated. When the Martians easily rendered England’s defenses useless, the country gave up. In the epilogue, the narrator said, “whether we expect another invasion or not, our views of the human future must be greatly modified by these events. We have learned now that we cannot regard this planet as being fenced in and a secure abiding place for …show more content…
Man; we can never anticipate the unseen good or evil that may come upon us suddenly.” Wells was attempting to make the people in England during this time recognize their naïve complacency and false sense of security. The society of Wells’ time was in need of change. The people needed to recognize that the world they were living in was not perfect, that problems existed though they may not have recognized them.
Part of the problem I think Wells was hinting at was the treatment of women.
Though it is not a major theme throughout the novel, in the narrator’s brother’s experience with his two female traveling companions and in the artilleryman’s idea for society’s future, it is obvious that women of the time did not have much power or respect. In the narrator’s brother’s experience with Mrs. Elphinstone and her sister-in-law, it was obvious he found Mrs. Elphinstone to be aggravating. While he admired the sister-in-law’s quietness and deliberateness. The sister-in-law was clearly the sanest of the two for she took charge of the reins of the carriage and obeyed the brother. Despite being the favorite of the two women, she was never given a name. It is clear that her coyness and obedience were the traits most admired proving that the role of women during the time was merely as a follower to men. Mrs. Elphinstone was bashed because of her outward emotional state. The artilleryman, when giving his proposal to the narrator, said the only women allowed in his new society were, “able-bodied, clean-minded women… mothers and teachers. No lackadaisical ladies – no blasted rolling eyes.” A female who was defiant to men was looked down upon. She had to be willingly obedient to …show more content…
men.
2.
Point to a specific passage of "The Machine Stops" that you find especially ironic. How does the irony convey the satire of the story? [3]
In the end of Part I, when Vashti was on the plane going to visit Kuno, she periodically looked out the window.
“At Midday she took a second glance at the earth. The air-ship was crossing another range of mountains, but she could see little, owing to clouds. Masses of black rock hovered below her, and merged indistinctly into grey. Their shapes were fantastic; one of the resembled a prostate man.
“‘No ideas here,’ murmured Vashti, and hid the Caucasus behind a metal blind.
“In the evening she looked again. They were crossing a golden sea, in which lay many small islands and one peninsular. She repeated, ‘No ideas here,’ and hid Greece behind a metal blind”
(61).
Ironically, Vashti found no ideas in two places full of history and human civilization. The Caucasus mountains have contained human life since the Stone Age and Greece was the epicenter and origin of math, science, and philosophy. Great human innovations have come from both regions that have influenced the way human civilization advanced.
This irony conveys the satire of the story because Vashti and the other humans living through the Machine thought that the Machine and their society led to great advancements for human life while the Machine was actually doing the opposite. The passengers on the plane repeated, “How we have advanced, thanks to the Machine” (60) as they ignorantly fail to recognize great geographical structures like the Himalayas and even snow. They were too dependent on the Machine to recognize their own absurdity.
3. Why do you think the machine stops? Does Forster imply that there is hope for the future? [2]
I think the machine stops because the original makers and up keepers of the Machine had innovative thoughts, but the society that was promoted from the Machine through time created a generation of people without creative or new thoughts. There was no one with the intelligence to fix the Machine because the people were so used to the Machine fixing everything else. The Machine stops because society was reverting back to the unadvanced societies humans began with.