H. G. Wells’s novel The War of the Worlds expands international conflict into interplanetary scale. Together, Earth’s people must try to repel the Martians who have invaded the planet. The story is told by an unnamed first-person narrator, who is a married man and a scientist who lives in England. His frequent use of first-person plural implies his affinity and loyalty to certain segments of the earthly population as well as his hope that globally united efforts will succeed. This unity is not among equals, however. The narrator identifies with white, European, imperialist nations that were dedicated to expanding their control over countries occupied by people of other races. In one particular passage about ruthlessness and destruction, the narrator dehumanizes conquered peoples as he apparently equates non-white races with animals. This attitude is shown in his grouping “the dodo” with “inferior races.”

Throughout the first part of the novel, as the narrator reflects on events that began six years earlier, he expresses admiration for the Martians, with their “intelligences greater than man’s,” as well as surprise that humans failed to predict their existence. The narrator expresses some sympathy for the invaders—not because of shared goodness, but because they exhibited some of the same complex characteristics that humans have.

The narrator apparently accepts war as an intrinsic component of modern society, and believes that drastic measures were often justified. He critiques the excesses that arise in conflict, as he asks rhetorically if humans have spread “mercy.” With the implicit answer being no, he also seems to praise the warrior “spirit” that underlies conquest.