Dec 19, 2009

The War of the Worlds | Themes

The principal theme of The War of the Worlds is evolution. The Martians are what humanity could become. They are superintellects with bodies that have shrunken with disuse. Inside their terrible war-machines, they are fearsome masters of technology. They blast whole towns out of existence; indeed, they destroy and kill sometimes without purpose — just for the joy of exercising nearly invincible power. Outside of their machines, they are pathetic and nearly helpless.

The destruction of the Martians by microbes has seemed too easy to some readers. The Martians were "scattered...