The War of the Worlds: Writer's Methods & Techniques (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE English Literature)

Writer's Methods and Techniques

“Method” is a term used for anything the writer does on purpose to create meaning. Using the writer’s name in your response will help you to think about the text as a conscious construct and will keep reminding you that H.G. Wells purposely put the text together. It is important to consider the writer’s decisions and what impact Wells intended to have on the reader.

Examiners expect you to comment on the language, structure and form of the text. Here are some of the interesting literary techniques that H.G. Wells uses in his novel: 

• Narrative perspective, structure and language

• Scientific and sensory language 

• Light and dark and colour symbolism

Narrative perspective and structure 

• The novel is told in a first-person narrative, recounting events that took place six years earlier, over a period of about one month, by a narrator who is himself a writer:

  • The narration feels quite factual and journalistic in style (also known as reportage) and readers do not learn that much about the narrator’s true feelings

  • The narrator’s viewpoint and observations are paramount: “It was the first time I realised that the Martians might have any other purpose than destruction”

  • Wells offers readers an immersive but perhaps not always totally reliable viewpoint

  • Wells also uses the first-person plural “we” when the narrator is writing collectively, on behalf of himself and others, but the reader is unsure as to whether his view of events is consistent with others’ views

• The novel is largely chronological and linear, from the arrival of the cylinder on Horsell Common to the death of the Martians at the end

• The novel is split into two books: 

  • Book One is titled The Coming of the Martians and Book Two is called The Earth Under the Martian

  • Each book is quite distinct in terms of what takes place, with Book One focusing on the build-up to the invasion (with a greater number of chapters) and Book Two concentrating on the key changes they cause and the outcome of the Martians’ invasion

• Wells uses foreshadowing to hint at future events:

  • For example, the first dramatic line of the novel states, ”No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's”

  • Wells repeats his use of the word “scrutinised” in the opening paragraph to add to the reader’s sense of intrigue 

Scientific and sensory language 

• Wells, a former science teacher, intersperses scientific vocabulary throughout the narrative, firmly establishing this novel as one of the greatest works of science fiction: 

  • The first chapter sets the scientific tone, with a simile of the Martians looking at humanity from afar, “as a man with a microscope might” 

  • He also uses precise, technical language, describing “handling-machines” and “fighting-machines”, making “oscillatory motions” to add detail and realism to his descriptions

• Throughout the novel, Wells also uses sensory language and references, often focusing on visual and auditory details:

  • In Book One, Chapter Three, the narrator says, “It was glaringly hot, not a cloud in the sky nor a breath of wind…”: 

  • Heatwaves are a commonly used technique by writers to create an ominous or brooding feeling

  • The weather immerses the reader into the story by reinforcing the uncomfortable atmosphere of the setting

Dark and light and colour symbolism 

• Wells frequently makes use of contrasting diction: 

  • Descriptions of “twilight”, “half-light”, “lightened”, “white intensity” and ominous “streamers of smoke” are compared with “darkness” and “blackened” landscapes

• Through colour symbolism, Wells also adds to the horror of the narrative: 

  • He exploits the dangerous, blood-like connotations of the colour red, repeatedly describing “red flesh”, “red weed” and “red meat” to add to the menacing quality of the narrative

  • Red is also associated with fire, with a ”red glow” and “red reflections” foreshadowing the threat the Martians (from the red planet) pose

  • White, usually associated with more positive connotations, is also a threatening colour in the novel, with characters described as “white and pale”, “deadly white” or having “whitened bones”  

  • In Book Two, Chapter Eight, the narrator describes how a black powder dominates the city scene, frequently repeating the words “black” and “death” to reinforce the sense of desolation and destruction in the story

Sources

Wells, H. G. (2005). The War of the Worlds. Penguin Classics.