Book One, Chapters 1 to 6: the Martians arrive — Eduqas GCSE English Literature C720
Eduqas GCSE English Literature · C720
Book One, Chapters 1 to 6: the Martians arrive
The plot, part by part
What you need to know
The flashes on Mars seen through Ogilvy's telescope, the falling star on Horsell Common, the crowd at the pit, the cylinder opening and the first sight of a Martian,
the Deputation with its white flag destroyed by the Heat-Ray, and the crush on the Chobham road.
What the opening chapters establish about the narrator, the Martians and the novel's themes, with key quotations.
Key quotations: 'this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s', 'intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes', 'And early in the twentieth century came the great disillusionment', 'The chances against anything manlike on Mars are a million to one', 'It seemed so safe and tranquil', 'There’s a man in it—men in it!', 'I was overcome with disgust and dread', 'that we too were intelligent', 'It was as if each man were suddenly and momentarily turned to fire', 'by the light of their own destruction', 'Suddenly, like a thing falling upon me from without, came—fear', 'as blindly as a flock of sheep'.
Structure: a narrator writing 'six years ago now', who knows how the story ends, opens with the Martians' view of Earth before narrowing to one man on Horsell Common.
Context: the light seen on Mars in 1894, Schiaparelli's canali, and the newspapers, telegrams and railways that carry the news from Woking.
