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Marcela Herrera
Professor Batty
English 113 B
7, May 2015
The Martians are coming! : Fear of technology & Natural Selection
The War of the Worlds is a fictional novel written by English author Herbert George
Wells, published in 1889 where Martians begin to invade London in search of human blood for
sustenance but in the end only a product of nature; the common cold defeated them leaving red
weed on earth soon after the world recuperates and life goes on. Wells shows that humanity was
doomed from the start and useless throughout the novel, but if it had not been for Mother Nature
we would have been pooled away from existence. Some say that the strength of technology is the
theme for this novel because it is a war between two unknown technologies. War of the
Worlds introduces the fear of the unknown and technology since man labels himself king of all
living organisms and so it seems that the Martians are the winners of this war.
When it comes to the topic of fear of unknown War of the Worlds greatly represents
this since humanity thinks highly of himself but forgets that natural selection is more powerful
than any human. George Wells shows that humans are doomed and useless throughout the novel
because without the virus, a product of nature humans would easily be extinct. Therefore it is
evident that humans were fated to die from the start. Furthermore the novel shows an
overwhelming birds eye view in which humanity nor outside species can compete with Nature.
In addition fear of nature coincides with fear of the unknown because if you think about it both
Martians and Humanity derived from nature and know facing the unknown is what rises the

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statement that humanity needs to know his place in the animal kingdom. A clear example of fear
of the unknown is when the narrator constantly reminds us that something bad is about to
happen, see how he in a way controls our emotions and creates a sense of foreshadowing. So the
fear of the unknown is evident since the Martians represent the unknown and overall fear of
nature. / Natural selection. Incredibly distance, drawing nearer every minute by so many
thousands of miles, came the thing they were sending us, Thing that was to bring so much
struggle and calamity and death to the earth (1.1.13). Not only does the narrator makes us feel
afraid but the overall novel rises the universal fear of the unknown which reminds us that we
indeed are not kings of earth.
Since the Martians are taking over the world and decreasing men for personal
sustenance, this symbolizes the possible fear of submission of men. In other words War of the
Worlds focuses on the everyday scenery of earth life and processes a circumstance where in fact
a product of nature dominates all other living organisms (Woodward). In the article The War of
the Worlds author F. Ian Woodward and Holly Slater states that the novel the world of the
Worlds expresses a scenery where everyday plants and their interactions with alien invasion. In
other words the science fictional novel expresses the fear of natural selection because even the
Martians artifacts are killed by pathogenic bacteria because they have no immunity. So natural
selection plays a major role in the novel since fear of submission of men is bound to happen,
raising up the fear of technology. Moreover the protagonist description of describing fear of
aliens, like a falling upon me from without, came fear (1.5.21) further asserts that the narrator
comments of the fear of the aliens themselves. In other word fear of the unknown is evoked by
meeting the aliens and seeing their technology highlights well the fear of technology.

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The War of the Worlds also strongly evokes the fear of technology referring to war
because this conflict strictly depends on technology, since machinery such as the railway station,
telegraph, newspaper, military weapons, and the intense heat ray project who might win the war
of the worlds. The novel spends a great amount expressing scenes with dead bodies and blood.
For example the opening scene in chapter 5 titled The Heat-Ray begins to show that the
Martians have surfaced from their spacecraft. In other words aliens are shooting and this is the
first contact with technology we see throughout the novel. Furthermore author Ingo Cornils
writer of The Martians Are Coming! War, Peace, Love and Scientific Progress in H. G wellss
and Kurd LaBwitz two Planets; states that The War of the Worlds is a perfect nineteenth
representation of an imaginary war because Cornils goes on to say that technology is an
iconography of war. Therefore the conflicting war strongly represented how survival of the
fittest ties into fear of technology (Cornils) (26). Furthermore in the novel the Martians
explode any stores of powder they come upon, cut every telegraph, and wrecked the railways
here and there. They were hamstringing mankind (1.17.3) The Martians, trying to stop people
from fighting, thus they mainly succeeded to destroy the equipment. So Prior to losing most of
mankinds high technology fear of technology becomes a second universal fear that can be
argued within the novel because not having technology creates darkness and vulnerability and
overall asserts that technology is what empowers the Martians and humans to think highly of
themselves and forget that nature is the one with all the weapons; thus provoking the theme of
survival of the fittest.
Natural selection and Technology both have something in common by being universal
fears within the novel since they express the power of a realistic scenario of a Martian Invasion
on Earth. Orson Welles creates a nationwide panic with his broadcast of War of the Worlds

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where he makes a dramatization of a Martian Invasion thus causing a worldwide panic. In this
article posted in the official site of History Welles scares nation the main point derives form
portraying the Martian invasion and broadcasting during Halloween. The article states that the
broadcast was not planned as a radio hoax though well new little to nothing how it would
create chaos. Furthermore the article goes on to state the show began Sunday, October 30, at 8
p.m. which started with a voice that introduced the broadcast with saying that it was an excerpt
from War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells. Though the broadcast had a startling introduction with
a weather report then and interruption which informed that a large meteor had crashed into a
farmers field Grovers Mills, New Jersey. This goes on to show that the dramatization began to
scare mankind and awaken the fear of the unknown, natural selection, and fear of technology. As
the article goes on to say that an announcer was at the crash site, beginning Martians
emerging from a large metallic cylinder Good heavens, he declared, somethings wriggling
out of the shadow like a gray snakethey look like tentacles, its large, large as a bear. So this
description further asserts that technology can be powerful because a broadcast created
worldwide panic, and on the other hand as Orsen Welles explains the novels main idea the fear of
conflict arises within humankind but even with great technology it seemed as if the Martians
where the winners of the war.

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Work Cited
Cornils, Ingo. The Martians Are Coming! War, Peace, Love, and Scientific Progression in H. G.
Wells The War of the Worlds and Kurd LaBwitz Two Planets California
State University, Northridge. Duke University Press, 1 Mar. 2003. Web. May
2015.
Herbert, G. Wells The World of the Worlds1889.
History.com. A&E Television Networks "Welles Scares Nation.", n.d.
Web. May 2015.

Woodward, F. Ian, and Holly Slatter. "War of the Worlds." Information Technology California
State University, Northridge. N.p., 3 May 2010. Web. May. 2015.