THE MARTIANS AS THE REPRESENTATION OF
THE 19
thCENTURY BRITISH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION’S
DYNAMIC REVEALED IN H.G. WELLS’
THE WAR OF THE WORLDS
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
PUTU RIZKI SAPUTRA Student Number: 044214037
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
i
THE MARTIANS AS THE REPRESENTATION OF
THE 19
thCENTURY BRITISH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION’S
DYNAMIC REVEALED IN H.G. WELLS’
THE WAR OF THE WORLDS
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
PUTU RIZKI SAPUTRA Student Number: 044214037
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
iv
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN
PUBLIKASI ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:
Nama : PUTU RIZKI SAPUTRA
Nomor Mahasiswa : 044214037
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya berjudul:
THE MARTIANS AS THE REPRESENTATION OF THE 19TH CENTURY BRITISH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION’S DYNAMIC REVEALED IN H.G. WELLS’ THE WAR OF THE WORLDS
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal 10 Mei 2010
Yang menyatakan
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STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY
This Thesis entitled “The Martians as the Representation of the 19th Century British Industrial Revolution’s Dynamic Revealed in H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds” is purely made by the thesis writer. In other words, all ideas,
all phrases, and all sentences, unless otherwise stated, are ideas, phrases, and sentences of the thesis writer. The writer understands the full consequences including degree cancelation if he took somebody else’s ideas, phrases, or sentences without proper references.
Yogyakarta, May 10, 2010
vi
As We Beg, Steal, And Borrow
Life Is Hit And Miss
vii
For the Past who Supports Me
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I want to give my thanks and praise first for the Lord Jesus Christ who helped me made this thesis. This thesis is dedicated to my beloved parents, Mr. Gde Putu Waspada and Mrs. Sri Hardani who teach me parts of this life, give me love and support me fully so that I can be here. I also thank my sister Maria Ni Ayu Risma Novianti who always helps me doing some duties I do not want to do.
I realize that this thesis would not be done without the helps given by Ms. Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum. who became my advisor and her enlightenment helped me patiently in this thesis. I would also give my thanks to Ms. Elisa Dwi Wardani, S.S., M.Hum. who became my co-advisor for her support and suggestion. I know that I owe them much for their willingness to spare their time to completing this thesis.
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and Cinta; thanks to my friends: Meme, Milka, Jopi, and Reli; my friends in Puppet Show English Letters USD, Marsya Timoty futsal team, The Masque of the Red Death (2007), String Movie Maniacs, The Importance of Being Earnest (2008), Grease the Musical (2009), JAKSA 2006, and POTLUCK PARTY 2006. Without them all, I am sure there will not be ‘Putu’, ‘Rizki’, ‘Kiki’, or ‘Kuman’ like today.
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C. Review on the British Society in the 19th Century Industrial Revolution ………... 11
B. The Martians as the Representation of the 19th Century British Industrial Revolution’s Dynamic ….………... 35
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ………. 57
BIBLIOGRAPHY ………... 64
APPENDIX ……….. 66
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ABSTRACT
PUTU RIZKI SAPUTRA (2010). The Martians as the Representation of the 19th Century British Industrial Revolution’s Dynamic Revealed in H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
The War of the Worlds written by Herbert George Wells is a novel that represents the 19th century British industrial revolution. The author created the characters of the Martians to make a representation of what happened in Britain during the 19th century British industrial revolution. Through this novel, Wells criticized the conditions happened during that time.
This study is intended to analyze and answer two questions. The first question is about the description of the Martians through the setting, its physical and mental traits. The second question is about the representation of the Martians toward the dynamic that the 19th century British industrial revolution had.
This study was composed by using library research method that used the novel The War of the Worlds as the primary data and some books contains of criticism on the novel, literary theories, and historical reviews of the novel as the secondary data. This study used the theory of character and characterization, theory of setting, theory on society in the novel, and the relation between literature and society. The review of the 19th century British industrial revolution was used to help the understanding of the society at that time that became the background of this study. This study applied the sociocultural-historical approach that supported the writer to analyze the condition during the 19th century British industrial revolution deeper.
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ABSTRAK
PUTU RIZKI SAPUTRA (2010). The Martians as the Representation of the 19th Century British Industrial Revolution’s Dynamic Revealed in H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Novel The War of the Worlds yang ditulis oleh Herbert George Wells adalah sebuah novel yang merepresentasikan revolusi industri Inggris pada abad 19. Sang pengarang menciptakan karakter Martian untuk merepresentasikan apa yang terjadi di Inggris selama revolusi industri pada abad 19. Melalui novel ini, Wells mengkritik kondisi yang terjadi pada waktu itu.
Studi ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis dan menjawab dua pertanyaan. Pertanyaan pertama mengenai deskripsi Martian baik karakteristik fisik maupun mental. Pertanyaan kedua mengenai representasi melalui setting, deskripsi fisik dan mental Martian terhadap dinamika yang dimiliki oleh revolusi industri Inggris pada abad 19.
Dengan menggunakan studi pustaka, novel The War of the Worlds digunakan sebagai data primer dan beberapa buku yang mengandung teori-teori sastra, beberapa kritik dan ulasan mengenai novel tersebut digunakan sebagai data sekunder. Studi ini mengunakan teori karakter dan karakterisasi, teori setting, teori masyarakat dalam novel, dan hubungan antara karya sastra dengan masyarakat. Ulasan mengenai revolusi industri Inggris abad 19 digunakan untuk membantu penulis dalam memahami masyarakat pada masa itu yang menjadi latar belakang studi ini. Studi ini menerapkan pendekatan sosial budaya-sejarah yang membantu penulis menganalisa lebih dalam kondisi yang terjadi selama revolusi industri Inggris pada abad 19.
1 A. Background of the Study
Some people have different understanding about what literature is. Most of them argue that literature has a relationship to art. People say that they can make literature as the expression of their feeling, vision, and idea. They can write what
they have in the form of short story, novel, poetry, and drama. Of course, writing literature is a complex and creative process. The writer should make it best so that readers can understand what the writer wants to tell about. Literary works have some
intrinsic elements, such as theme, character, setting, plot, and point of view. Besides, literary works also have some extrinsic elements such as the historical background, the cultural, social and political aspects.
There are some writers write their literary works that represented the conditions happened in their environments. One of the writers was H.G. Wells, the popular British writer in the nineteen century. He had written many beautiful novels
that made him famous. Some of his novels areThe Time Machine(1895),The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), and The War of the Worlds (1898). H.G. Wells was the pioneer of ‘Science-Fiction’. Some of Wells’ novels
have ‘Science-Fiction’ genre such asThe Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The War of the Worlds.
In this study, I would like to use one of Wells’ novels, The War of the
men from Mars who are called as the Martians. The setting of the novel is England in
the period of the 19th century industrial revolution. Here, Wells made a first person point of view novel by using a middle class writer as the narrator. The novel started by the narrator’s thought that he was worried that someday Earth would be invaded
by creatures from Mars. Soon the story continued on the first coming of the Martians. Hours later, the Martian started attacking the people around him and destroyed everything around. Wells wrote his novel perfectly by using many devices
of literary and scientific so that the reader can be easily enter the world inside the novel. The resistances that people did against the Martian seemed useless. The technology gap between them was too far. This way, Wells gave a description about
the early time condition when the industrial revolution in England began.
The invasion was continued by the coming of the other Martians. The chaos led all people moving to saver places. Wells described the bad effects of industrial
revolution by using some characters, things, and events that were experienced by the narrator during his escape. The novel is very dramatic and thrilling where the narrator found some problems that could lead him to die and the way he could avoid
and solve the problems. The story ended by the death of the Martians by putrefactive and disease bacteria against which their system were unprepared. The narrator himself could finally find his wife who was separated during the invasion. The
The War of the Worlds becomes the object of this study because this novel is
one of the first scientific novels. The way how the writer wrote this novel is also interesting so that readers can enjoy reading every word inside. The reason why I take the topic for this study is because I want to know the dynamic that British
industrial revolution in 19th century had. By reading this novel, I am sure I can find the dynamic of British industrial revolution in 19thcentury.
B. Problem Formulation
Referring to the topic of the study, there are two questions that will be discussed in this study. The questions are:
1. How are the Martians’ characteristics described in the story through the setting,
physical and mental traits?
2. How are the Martians’ represented as the 19th century British industrial revolution’s dynamic?
C. Objectives of the Study
The objective of this study is trying to prove that the Martians’s characteristics and industrial revolution’s dynamic are the same. This objective can
be found by answering the two questions stated in the problem formulation. First, I will find out how the Martians’ characteristic is described in the story through the setting, physical, and mental traits. Second, I will identify how the Martians’
D. Definition of Terms
There is a definition of term to avoid misunderstanding in answering the problem formulation:
1. Industrial Revolution
H.L. Beales as quoted by M. W. Flinn in his Origins of the Industrial Revolution stated that the industrial revolution is a system that replace one social system or one civilization by another. In Britain, before it emerged, agriculture provided the
economic basis of English life: after it, the basis was industry, extractive and manufacturing. A small population became large: a narrow material equipment was expanded: low standards of consumption were made more lavish: the
working classes became articulate. During the industrial revolution, a civilization was based on the plough and the pasture perished – in its place stood a new order, resting, perhaps dangerously, on coal, iron and imported textile materials (1967:
3).
2. Representation
Stuart Hall in his Representation Cultural Representations and Signifying
Practices said that representation is the production of the meaning of the concepts in our minds through language. It is the link between concepts and language which enables us to refer to either ‘real’ world of objects, people or
5
A. Review of Related Studies
Herbert George Wells was one of the greatest novelists ever. Kathleen Kuiper
inMerriam Webster’s Encyclopaedia of Literaturestated that:
H. G. Wells was an English novelist journalist, sociolinguist, and historian, best known for his science-fiction novels….. His first attempt at fiction writing was merely imitative, but he eventually set himself up as a freelance writer. Almost immediately he became a successful journalist and short story writer, the possessor of a lively and humorous style and the exponent in fiction of the relatively new subject of science (1995: 1191).
Published in 1898, The War of the Worldstook setting in England in the last
years of the 19th century. H.G. Wells used his writing style that was similar to journalism. H.G. Wells analyzed his experiences when he involved in the society
included social problems and changed them into the society his novel. This is as what
Gascoigne stated in Encyclopedia of Britain that Wells wrote his early novels about
social matters as society changing and improving (Gascoigne, 1994: 684).
In writing this novel, H.G. Wells knew how to compose the materials he got
from his experiences became a unique style that there was never been before. He
composed the words into sentences that have deep meanings and contain messages
that the readers have to interpret. As the result, many of his works become a must
read book. As one of the greatest science-fictions novel ever,The War of the Worlds
Arthur C.Clarke inGreetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!said that The War of the
World is one of Wells’ writing that contain full of poetry and passages that catch
throat. Clarke also believes that this novel can surprise people who have never been
read it. More over, Clarke added that inThe War of the World, Wells tried to pretend
that he was not an artist. He also stated that the time when every work of art serve its
purpose and be benefit of its last rag of significance will come (1999).
Another opinion about Wells was given by Marian Powell. InThe Lost Book
Archieves, Powell stated that Wells wanted to make his reader to think and fell what
it means to be a conquered people who are conquered and destroyed not through lack
of courage or effort but simply because the enemy's technology is superior (2000).
This novel had also ever been discussed by Timothy A. Mitchell as his thesis
in the Faculty of the Graduated School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown
University. In his thesis, entitled It Came From Inner Space: Faith, Science,
Conquest And The War of the Worlds, he made a combination of historical and
discourse analysis about how ancient cultures used languages to articulate their
beliefs and to project them into the heavens and the world around them (2001: 4).
Being different from Mitchell, this thesis will analyze the similarity of the
characteristic that the Martians and industrial revolution in the 19th century have. The study of the Martians in the War of the Worlds as the representation of industrial
revolution has never been done yet as there is no any information shows that it had
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
The description about the theory of character and characterization that
Abrams said in his bookA Glossary of Literary Termsstated that character is divided
into two kinds, flat and round. Abrams stated that flat characters are a
one-dimensional in that they are relatively uncomplicated and do not change throughout
the course of work. This makes the flat characters are monotonous. On the other
hand, round characters according to Abrams are complex and undergo development,
sometimes the round characters sufficiently to surprise the reader (1981: 20).
Being different with the description that Abrams stated in his book, Holman
and Harmon in A Handbook of Literature stated that characterization is the creation
of imaginary person so that they exist for the reader as if the people in the real life
(1986: 81). While in order to understand the characteristic of a character, M.J.
Murphy in his Understanding Unseen: An Introduction to English Poetry and the
English Novel for Overseas Students stated nine important points that are needed to
understand. They are:
a. Personal Description
The author describes the character by his/her physical appearance. The
character can be thin, fat, handsome, or bad looking. The clothes can describe the
character’s economical condition. The rich character can be shown by the good
b. Character as Seen by Another
The author describes the character from the eyes and opinions of the other
characters’ opinion.
c. Speech
The author describes the character in the novel through hat the character says
in the novel. It includes how is the character speak, whenever the character is in the
conversation with another, and how the character puts forward an opinion.
d. Past Life
The author can describe the character by letting the reader know something
about the past life of the character. This way can be described by direct comment
from the author, the character’s thought, his/her conversation, or through the medium
of the another characters.
e. Conversation of Others
The author can describe the character through his/her conversation with other
character and the things they say about the character.
f. Reactions
The author can describe the character by letting the reader know how he/she
reacts to various situations or events.
g. Direct Comment
The author can describe the character directly.
h. Thought
The author can describe the character by letting the reader know what the
i. Mannerism
The author can describe the character’s manner and habits (1972: 161-171).
2. Theory of Setting
Abrams in his bookA glossary of Literary Terms stated that setting could be
in two senses, which are limited sense and a large sense. In a limited sense, setting
refers to the general place that is a particular physical location in which the story
takes place. It also refers to the historical time that shows when the story takes place.
In a large sense, setting refers to the social circumstances that are the situations or
conditions, and environments in which the character live (1981: 175).
Kennedy and Gioia in their book Literature: An Introduction to Fiction and
Dramaalso stated that setting of story can be divided into setting of place and setting
of time. The idea of setting includes physical environment of a story: a house, a city,
a landscape, a region and where the story takes place is sometimes called locale.
Besides the place, setting may crucially involve the time of the story-hour, year, or a
century (1999: 92).
Robert Stanton in his book An Introduction to Fiction also added that the
setting of the story is the environment of its events, the immediate world in which
they occur. He also added that although the setting does not include the principal
characters, it may include the people in the background (1965: 18).
According to M.J. Murphy, setting of the novel is the background where the
characters live out their lives. In some novels the setting is important, while in others
and also the time which they live. He also added that the setting has great effect upon
the personalities, actions, and way of thinking of the characters (1972: 141-146).
3. Theory on Society in the Novel
Elisabeth Langdand says that society, as do all other aspects of novels,
functions as an element in a structure that is, at least a part, self-referential. The
definitions of society that explicitly and implicitly see society always as an imitation
of an outside world have tended to obscure the formal variety of social presentation
in novels (Langland, 1984: 4). There are two kinds of society in the novel. The first
one is the society which is influenced by the outside world. Second is the society
which is not influenced by the outside world. However, it is rare to find the same
society between the society in the novel and in the outside world. If there is any of it,
it is not exactly the same.
Langdand also explains that society in the novel has possibilities in
commenting roles and possibilities of society in outside world. She says that society
in a wider sense, not merely people and their classes, but also customs, conventions,
beliefs and values, their institutions - legal, religious, and cultural – and their
physical environment. Briefly, society remains everything we have seen it to be –
norms, conventions, codes, backgrounds, places, people, institutions – but its role
within the work will determine its particular manifestation in the novel (1984: 6-7).
4. The Relation Between Literature and Society
Elisabeth Langdand states that the society is a kind of animation of outside
world which is obscured the formal variety of the novel’s social presentation (1984:
describes the society in his novel based on the real society where he lives in.
Langdand also states that the society in the novels does not depend on the society in
the real world as it is just a refection of any concrete. The way how an author
expresses his society in his novel can be as a house, city, country, institution, object,
or a group of relationship through characters, patterned interactions and their
common expectations of one another (1984: 5-6).
Warren and Wellek explain that as a member of the society, the author has
pronounced on questions of social and political importance which are reflected in his
work. Whether it is directly or not, the author has taken part in the issues of his time
(1956: 96-97). If an author presents a society based on the real world, he may reveal
something inside that reflection. A novel is a result of what an author thinks, feels,
and sees in the society he lives in.
C. Review on the British Society in 19thCentury Industrial Revolution
The British society in 19th century industrial revolution was remarkable as a
great peace time. The main concern of this period of time is about accumulation of
material wealth and power that the society achieved during the century. However,
the achievements reached by the society at that time required prices they had to pay
even it sacrificed the human life.
As we can see that the invention of new machines at that time became a key
that started the industrial revolution. The inventions made the works became faster
and more efficient. The factories gained more and more profit as the increasing of
goods distributions and the fulfillment of the market demands. This condition was
Looking up the achievements the society reached, there were, actually, side
effects that someway became ironies with the improvement of the society’s quality
of life. It was all started in the early of the eighteenth century when the population in
Britain increased massively. The population increased from eight millions people to
about thirteen millions in 1815 and doubled in 1871 (Thomson, 1951: 11). It is
natural that every person wants to have a better life. The 19th century industrial revolution at that time gave promises to the society in Britain have a better life. Thus,
there was huge urbanization in England. There were many people move to some
cities and countries that became the arteries of industrial revolution such as London,
Liverpool, Manchester, Lanarkshire, Durham, Lancashire, Essex, Middlesex, Kent.
This condition became a problem because most of the people lived in slum areas and
became unemployment. The condition at that time improved the crime rates in the
cities and countries where they live in. It was a contrast if we see that the industrial
revolution gave promises about a better life.
However, the working classes had their own problems. The industrial
revolution affected on the conditions of the labor and the working class. This
happened as the improvement of the machines the factories used. The great bodies of
manual workers, although for a long time they remained outside the new system of
industry, were nevertheless almost immediately affected by its all-pervading
influence (Mantoux, 1961: 399).
The working classes at that time suffered physically and mentally in order to
reach the dreams the industrial revolution offered to them. Most of it was because the
Industrial Revolution in The Eighteen Centurystated that the influence at first was an
object of fear. The struggle against machinery, and generally against all the technical
improvements, is the best known incident of this whole phase of history. The
workman’s sole capital being his labor and his technical skill, anything that
depreciates their value deprives him of part of his only property (1961: 399). It is
clear that in industrial revolution era, the working classes’ value was only on the
skills and abilities they have.
The one thing that struck the working classes was that they had to fight in an
overwhelming competition with machines. Hobsbawm in his book Industry and
Empire stated that Industry brought the tyranny of the clock, the pace-setting
machine, and complex and carefully-timed interaction of processes: the measurement
of life was not in seasons or even in weeks and days, but in minutes, and above all a
mechanized regularity of work which conflicted not only with tradition, but with all
the inclinations of a humanity as yet unconditioned into it. And since men did not
take spontaneously to these new ways, they had to be forced – by work discipline
and fines, by Master and Servant laws such as that of 1823 which threatened them
with jail for breach of contract (1969: 85-86). If they lost the fight, it was very
possible for them to lose their job or, in some cases, their wages would fall.
The other bad effect of the 19th century British industrial revolution was the
women and children exploitation. At that time, women and children were employed
in factories with lower wages than men earned. Women and children were only given
a trifling wage which varied between a third and a sixth of an adult wage, sometimes
by indentures of apprentice-ship for at least seven years and usually until they were
twenty-one (Mantoux, 1961: 410). Most children at that time under domestic system
worked at home their parents’ eyes (Taylor, 1958: 35). This condition was also
happened in the coal mines where there were many grief came from the depths. The
improvement of production automatically required the improvement of the raw
materials. Here, in the coal mines, there were many women and children worked
with minimum safety. They work for more than eight hours a day with minimum
wages. This happened because women and children were considered as weak
workers than workmen. The children here worked to get coal from the very deep as
their small body that could pass the small hole in the mines. This working condition
mainly happened in smaller coal mines placed in England and Wales (Ashton, 1960:
119-120). This was one of the ironies about sacrifice for triumph.
The rapid changes caused by industrial revolution also changed the society’s
view about religion. They somehow thought that working and studying were more
important than religious activity. The people, not all of them, thought that working
could give them a real hope to continue their life for at least a day. The working
condition that gave the people wages so low made them spending their time to work
more than the time to eat, sleep and pray on Sabbath (Hobsbawm, 1969: 86). It was
the same as studying. They thought that by studying they could invent a new
machine that could improve the production rates in factories. T.S. Ashton in his book
The Industrial Revolution 1760 – 1830 said that in the industries so far considered
the growth of production was associated with new forms of power, new machinery,
Another bad effect was seen in the environment they lived. The use of
machines everywhere meant that people needed for fuel to operate the machines. At
that time, the fuels they used were coals and woods. Before the mass used of coals,
the fuel that the factory used was wood. This situation led a perfect massacre of trees.
There were forests being cut down in order to get fuels for industry (Mantoux, 1961:
281). Besides, the machines the factories used also produced much pollution that all
of them fulfill the rivers and the sky. This was happened as the mass used of coal
substituting the used of woods. Homes and factories used coals as the fuel of the
machines and fireplaces in home.
The bad side effects produced by industrial revolution became the shadow in
the achievements the society reached. This was an irony as they made a disaster in
order to get a triumph. It was the same as Mantoux said that imperfection of social
system in which an increase in production may be followed by an increase in the
misery of the producers (1961: 400).
D. Theoretical Framework
As the focus of this thesis is on the revelation of the Martians as the
representation of industrial revolution’s dynamic, I use the some theories in order to
get the information lead to the answers of this study. I use the theory of character and
characteristic and theory of setting to find the characteristic descriptions the Martians
have. The theory of character and characteristic is used to find the physical and
mental traits that the character has. The theory of setting is also used to help finding
the character’s traits by looking up the setting of the novel. Everything that the
character has. This is the reason of why looking up the setting of the story is also
important in this study.
In order to reveal the representation about industrial revolution, I use the
theory on society in the novel. By using this theory, the writer can see the novel’s
society description presented by H.G. Wells as the result of his expression towards
outside world. The theory of the relation between literature and society is also used
to due to the sociocultural-historical approach applied in the novel. This theory is
applied to be guidance in finding the society in the novel. As the author is a part of
the society, he has reflected what happened in his society to his novel whether it is
directly or not (Warren and Wellek, 1956: 96-97). Thus, we can link the
characteristic between the character in the novel and 19th British industrial
17
A. Object of the Study
The War of the Worldsis a novel written by H.G. Wells. As one of the very
first science-fiction genre novels in its era, the first edition ofThe War of the Worlds
was published by William Heinemann in 1898. The book I used in writing this study is the first edition by Pocket Books, Inc. published in 1953.
This novel had ever been performed in radio as a radio play for the first time in 1938. At that time, the play was produced by Orson Welles, the son of H. G. Wells, and the Mercury Theatre on the Air over station WABC and the Columbia Broadcasting System’s coast-to-coast network. This play made some chaos that people fear and many of them fled home to avoid ‘gas raid from Mars’. The novel had also been filmed for two times in 1953 and 2005. Those two films have the same titles with the novel. The first film, directed by Byron Haskin, starred by Gene Barry, Ann Robinson, Les Tremayne, and Robert Cornthwaite. This film was lavishly, and visually stunning at that time. The second film is combination of the novel and the first film. The film was starred by Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, and Tim Robbins. The second film had Steven Spielberg as the special effects director that made it has wonderful special effects.
The War of the Worlds contains dramatic stories of the invasion done by the
Martians was too far, there was nothing people could do to beat them. The people could only run for their lives. However, the things that could kill the Martians were the Earth bacteria. Here, the reader can see how the characteristic of British industrial revolution in 19th century is described in the novel. The whole story itself is a reflection of what Wells saw in his society at his time.
B. Approach of the Study
Rohrberger and Woods stated that the society will influence the author in making literary works. They also stated two important things that literature is not created in vacuum and literature embodies ideas significant to the culture that produced it (1971: 9). It means that the environment affects the author in making his works and the works itself can give something to the environment. The society makes their culture and history, and the literature itself comes from the society. Here, there are the connections between society, culture, history, and literature.
Sociocultural-historical approach will be suitable in analyzing this novel as this study investigates a civilization, which is defined as the attitudes and actions of a specific group of people and the social background (Rohrberger and Woods, 1971: 9). Thomas Warton in Theory of Literature by Wellek and Warren also stated that literature preserved the most picturesque and expressive representation of manners; literature was primarily a treasure of costumes and customs, and also a source book for history civilization (1956: 102-103).
relationship between society and literature. Therefore, this approach helps me much in analyzing the study.
C. Method of the Study
In order to get the answer formulated in the problem formulation, the method that writer uses is library research. There are two kinds of data as the sources in library research, the primary data and the secondary data. For the primary data, the writer read H.G. Wells’The War of the Worlds.
While for the secondary data, the writer of this study read some books related to the topic such as books, and encyclopedias. To get information about H.G. Wells and the previous work about The War of the Worlds, the writer of this study read
Encyclopedia of Britain (Gascoigne, 1994), Merriam Webster’s Encyclopaedia of
Literature(Kuiper, 1995), and It Came From Inner Space: Faith, Science, Conquest
And The War of the Worlds(Mitchell, 2001). While in getting the information about
the character and characterization, the writer of this study read Understanding Unseen: An Introduction to English Poetry and the English Novel for Overseas
Students (Murphy, 1972), A Glossary of Literary Terms (Abrams, 1981), and A
Handbook of Literature(Holman, 1986). In getting the information about society and
its relation with literature, the writer of this study readTheory of Literature (Warren and Wellek, 1956), and Society in the Novel (Langdand, 1984). Furthermore, to get the information of the definition of industrial revolution and the review on the British society in industrial revolution, the writer read England in the Nineteenth Century
(1815-1914) (Thomson, 1951), The Industrial Revolution In Triumph or Disaster
Industrial Revolution In The Eighteenth Century (Mantoux, 1961), Origins of the
Industrial Revolution (Flinn, 1967), and Industry and Empire (Hobsbawm, 1969).
The writer of this study also readReading and Writing about Literature(Rohrberger and Woods, 1971) to get definition about sociocultural-historical approach.
21
This chapter is intended to answer the questions stated in the problem
formulation. This chapter four consists of two parts. The first part is answering the
question about how the Martians’ characteristics are described in the novelThe War
of the Worlds. In this part, the writer of this study will discuss the personal
description of the Martians. The second part is talking about the Martians inThe War
of the Worlds as the representation of the 19th century British industrial revolution. This part will talk about how the Martians’ personal description becomes the
representation of the 19thcentury British industrial revolution.
A. The Description of the Martians
Before the discussion in this part is started, the writer of this study will
explain that the Martians inThe War of the Worlds here invaded the Earth by using
fighting machines as their weapons. Here, the writer of this study will start the
discussion by giving the description of the Martians’ through the setting first. The
second, the description of the Martians’ physical appearances will be discussed. In
the last, the writer of this study will tell the mental traits the Martians had.
M.J. Murphy in his Understanding Unseen: An Introduction to English
Poetry and the English Novel for Overseasstated that the characteristic of a character
can be seen by using nine important points (1972: 161-171). Here, inThe War of the
can only analyze them by using three points stated by M. J. Murphy. The three points
are: personal description, character as seen by another, and reactions.
The discussion will be started by analyzing the Martians’ description through
the setting. The Martians came to the Earth by using cylinders as their transportation.
The cylinders were shot from the Mars directly to the Earth. The human saw them
just like falling-stars.
Then came the night of the first falling-star. It was seen early in the morning rushing over Winchester eastward, a line of flame high in the atmosphere. Hundreds must have seen it, and taken it for an ordinary falling-star.(p. 7)
It is clear that at that time, people were not aware that the thing they saw was
the Martians’ cylinder. The people just knew that it was the Martians’ cylinder after
it crushed the Earth. The cylinder had a huge size compare to the people’s machine.
The thing itself lay almost entirely buried in the sand…. The uncovered part had the appearance of a huge cylinder, caked over and its outline softened by a thick scaly dun-colored incrustation. It had a diameter of about thirty yards.(p. 8)
These huge cylinders brought the creatures and their fighting machines that
would be the weapons against the people. The fighting machines had huge size and
in the form like octopus. These machines’ form and size were strange for the people.
“Octopuses.” said he. “that’s what I call ‘em.(p. 34)
And this Thing I saw! How can I describe it? A monstrous tripod, higher than many houses….a walking engine of glittering metal.(p. 41)
The fighting machines were also equipped with some equipments and
weapons to fight against the people’s resistance. As they came not in a group but one
by one, these equipments were needed to survive until they found their other friends.
In the back of the machine, there was a thing like a basket. This thing was used by
the Martians to store whatever they took from the Earth such as humans, animals and
metals.
Behind the main body was a huge mass of white metal like a gigantic fisherman’s basket.(p. 42)
Besides the basket, each of the fighting machines brought a black tube and a
box that could shoot ray that was capable to destroy thing in one hit. This
heat-ray is the most destructive and scariest weapon that the Martians had. We can see the
fact about the fighting machines’ horrible weapons within the quotations below.
“You’ll see, sir. They carry a kind of box, sir, that shoots fire and strikes you dead.”(p. 53)
Whatever is combustible flashes into flame as its touch, lead runs like water, it soften iron, crack and melts glass, and when it falls upon water, incontinently that explodes into steam.(p. 23)
It was a few minutes past nine that night when these three sentinels were joined by four other Martians, each carrying a thick black tube. A similar tube was handed to each of the three.(p. 81)
Of all the equipments the Martians had, there was also a mass weapon that
could kill the living things around the Martians. The fighting machines could
produce poisonous gas that successfully killed many people and other living things
during the Martians’ invasion.
upward in a huge and ebony cumulus cloud...And the touch of that vapour, the inhaling of its pungent wisps, was death to all breathes.(p. 84)
With all of the equipments attached in the fighting machines, they still had a
capability to move fast and swift. They could even avoid the canon shot by the
people. All of the fighting machines’ equipments and abilities made them became
perfect weapons that almost unbeatable for the people.
Its motion was so swift, complex, and perfect that at first I did not see it as a machine, in spite of its metallic glitter. The fighting-machines were co-ordinated and animated to an extraordinary pitch, but nothing to compare with this.(p. 120)
By looking at the description of the fighting machines that the Martians had,
it is clear that the technology they had was far beyond the technology the people had.
This technology gap was the reason of why the Martians could invade and beat the
earth easily. However, there were still resistances done by the people to defend the
earth even most of them were almost nothing for the Martians.
After the description about the Martians’ characteristic through the setting
above, the next subject the writer of this study wants to discuss in this part is the
description of the Martians’ physical appearances. The physical form of the creature
was different compared to the human. For the human, the creature seemed strange as
their body did not develop like the way the human in common. However, it might be
possible for the Martians thought that the human body was also strange because of
the same reason. Here, in the novel, Wells told the description of the Martians’
description by using the main character’s point of view when he saw the creature.
The creatures’ first appearance that also made them different from human
protect their body from heat, cold, and pressure as the effects of the temperature
change outside. It seemed that their skins were already good enough to protect them
from many harmful things in their environment. We can see this fact in the quotation
below.
The Martians wore no clothing. Their conceptions of ornaments and decorum were necessary different from ours; and not only were they much less sensible of the changes of temperature than we are, but changes of pressure do not seem to have affected their health at all seriously.(p.126)
As what the writer of this study has stated before, the creature’s body
development was different compared to the human’s boy development. The
quotation below shows that creature developed their body mainly in their head and
body. They had a big head and some long hands in the form of tentacles. Overall, the
creature’s body seemed almost like their fighting machine.
Now I saw, the most unearthly creatures it is possible to conceive. They were huge round bodies -or, rather, heads- about four feet in diameter, each body having in front of it a face. This face had no nostrils-indeed. The Martians do not seem to have had any sense of smell, but it had a pair of very large dark-colored eyes and just beneath this a kind of fleshy beak (p.121)
The peculiar V-shaped mouth with its pointed upper lip, the absence of brow ridges, the absence of a chin beneath the wedge-like lower lip, the incessant quivering of this mouth, the gorgon groups of tentacles.(p. 16)
Besides the different body form compared to human body, the creature were
also different in sex. None of the Martians have sex like human. In order to breed
their species, the creature did not need having a sexual intercourse with another
creature. The young Martians were already attached in the parents’ bodies. They
could be bred anytime in the way of separating their body. The quotation below
The Martians were absolutely without sex….a young Martians, there can now be no dispute, was really born upon earth during the war, and it was found attached to its parents, partially budded off, just as young lily-bulbs bud off, or like the young animals in the fresh-water polyp.(p. 124)
The internal body parts of the creature were simpler than the human. It was
different from the human that have a complex system within their body, the creature
in the other hand only had a some important organs like brain, nerves, lungs, heart,
and vessels. These internal parts of the creature’s body show us that the Martians
were born with thinking as the main priority and they were depended on the
machines to do their works. The fact about the Martians’ internal body parts can be
seen within the quotation below.
like color blind. Some colors for them could be interpreted as one same color. The
way how they communicated each others was also different. Apparently, the
Martians did not need to make any sound or gesture in communicating with others.
They seemed to have communication without any physical mediation. We can find
these facts in the quotation below.
The simple organs the creature had did not show any part that functioned to
digest. This was because the Martians did not need to eat to support their life. What
they needed as their energy source was only blood. They just needed to inject
themselves with any human or animal blood. What they did was just to minimize the
time and energy used for eating and digestive process.
They did not eat, much less digest. Instead they took the fresh, living blood of other creatures, and injected it into their own veins….blood obtained from a living animal, in most cases from a human being, was run directly by means of a little pipette into the recipient canal.(p. 122)
There were other things that shown the Martians’ superiority to human. They
were that they did not need to sleep and did not have fatigue. These were different
compared to human. For human, working about six hours a day could be tired.
Human who force themselves working beyond their capability and stamina will get
fatigue. While the Martians, who did not eat anything, were able to work for
twenty-four hours without stopping. They did not have fatigue for the work they have done.
Their organisms did not sleep, any more than the heart of man sleeps. Since they had no extensive muscular mechanism to recuperate, that periodical extinction was unknown to them. They had a little or no sense of fatigue, it would seem.(p. 123)
The Martians were weak creatures without the help of the fighting-machines
they rode. The writer of this study has stated before that their body only advanced in
the brain and tentacles (arms). Thus, in order to be strong, they created the
fighting-machines. With the help of their fighting-machines, they could be very strong so that
These fighting-machines successfully made them changed from weak creatures to
strong creatures.
....they were minds swaying vast mechanical bodies; and that they could move swiftly and smite with such power that even the mightiest guns could not stand against them.(p. 73)
Besides the fighting machines and the creatures, there was actually a kind of
red colored-plant that was brought by the Martians within their invasion. This plant
crept the buildings and growth well in water. The quotation below shows us the fact
about the red colored-plant.
Apparently the vegetable kingdom in Mars, instead of having green for a dominant colour, is a vivid blood-red tint. At any rate, the seeds which the Martians (intentionally or accidentally) brought with them gave rise in all cases to red-coloured growths….It spread up the sides of the pit by third or forth day of our imprisonment, and its cactus-like branches formed a carmine fringe to the edges of our triangular window. And afterwards I found it broadcast throughout the country, and especially wherever there was a stream of water.(p. 125)
Above all of the strange physical appearance of the creature, the Martians in
the end were killed by the bacteria found on Earth. It was strange because the
Martians did not have any defensive system like antibody to prevent them from
being ill. This was because in Mars, there was not a single bacterium or
micro-organism alive. We can find this fact in the quotation below.
But there are no bacteria on the Mars.(p. 168)
Because the Martians’ bodies had never been infected by bacteria, they did
not have immunity against the bacteria. These bacteria became the source of the
diseases that led the Martians to die after they came to invade the earth. The
Micro-organism, which cause so much disease and pain on earth, have either never appeared upon Mars or Martians sanitary science eliminate them ages ago. A hundred diseases, all the fevers and contagious of human life, consumption, cancer, tumors and such morbidities never enter the scheme of their life.(p. 125)
The Martians-dead! – slain by the putrefactive and disease bacteria against which their systems were unprepared.(p. 167)
The analysis that was given above clearly explained that even the Martians
(the creature) had a weak body. They had some advantages that were gotten from
their body form and the fighting machines that help them won the war against
human. However, their invasion toward the Earth was failed as their lost against
bacteria that killed them.
Now that the writer of this study has given the analysis of the characteristics
of the Martians, from both the settings and physical appearances, the analysis in this
part will be continued by analyze the mental traits the Martians had. This analysis
will be done by using the theory of character and characterization by M. J. Murphy.
Here, the writer of this study will use two points. They are character as seen by
another and reactions. The theory of setting is also used to find the mental traits that
the Martians had by looking up the setting of places in the novel. The Martians’
mental trait can be seen by looking up the environment because what the Martians
did toward the environment will also show their mental trait. The positive mental
traits will be analyzed first and then followed by the negative mental traits.
The first mental trait that the writer of this study will discuss about the
that they always worked. The way of life they did shown that the Martians were
workaholic creatures. These statements can be seen within the quotation below.
In twenty-four hours they did twenty-four hours of work, as even on earth is perhaps the case with the ants.(p. 123)
The Martians were also highly productive creatures. As the writer of this
study has stated before, the blood injection for the Martians was enough to replace
the need of eating and resting. For them, this kind of way could help them in making
time efficiency. The time efficiency provided much time for the Martians to do their
job on mining. This way, the Martians became high-productive creatures. This
positive mental trait was in line with their physical strength and workaholic mental
trait.
Between sunset and starlight this dexterous machine must have made more than a hundred such bars out of the crude clay, and mound of bluish dust rose steadily until it topped the side of the pit.(p. 130)
The thing that the people learned about the Martians was that the people
knew that the Martians were far more intelligent than them. The Martians had
calculated everything well before they invaded the earth. The quotation below shows
us the fact that the Martians carefully.
The Martians seem to have calculated their descent with amazing subtletly-their mathematical learning is evidently far in excess of ours-and to have carried out their preparations with a well-high perfect unanimity.(p. 3)
Their intelligence really helped them in advancing the technology they had.
The technology gap between the Martians and the people was too far so that it made
…one of the great fighting machines…the mechanism it certainly was that held my attention first. it was one of those complicated fabrics that have since been called handling machines…metallic spider with five jointed levers, agile legs, and with an extraordinary number of jointed levers, bars, and reaching and clutching tentacles about its body.(p. 120)
Their intelligence was also shown in the way they made a war strategy during
the invasion. Rather than destroyed all of the buildings and killed people as many as
they could, they destroyed the main facilities and infrastructures so that the people’s
resistances could be minimized. This strategy seemed brilliant and successfully be
done with the helped of the technology they used.
They do not seem to have aimed at extermination so much as at complete demoralization and the destruction of any opposition. They exploded any stores of powder they came upon, cut every telegraph, and wrecked the railways here and there.(p. 102)
The Martians were kind of disciplined creatures. Their coming to the earth
was not only to destroy, they also took some resources such as metals. However, the
novel does not even mention that there was a leader between the Martians. The novel
only mentions that the Martians did their job well in group an individual, whether it
was attacking the people or excavating the resources. This was different from the
human who sometimes did not do their work properly without any supervisor. The
quotation below shows us the fact that the Martians could do their works on mining
properly without any supervisor between them.
With their intelligence and discipline, the Martians were well in organizing.
This could be seen by the formation they used in the war. In order to gain a win in
the battle, army should organize their formation well so that they could win the battle
and minimize their loss. The Martians seemed doing the formation well during the
war that led them achieved their victory.
These Martians did not advance in a body, but in a line, each perhaps a mile and a half from his nearest fellow. They communicated with one another by means of siren-like howls, running up and down the scale from one note to another.(p. 80)
With the positive traits they had, and if we ignore their body structure, we can
say that the Martians were almost perfect creatures. They could do many things the
human could not. However, there were also some negative traits that made them fail
to be perfect creatures. Through the novel, we can find that the Martians were brutal
and evil creatures. These traits were always been shown since the first time they took
an action on the earth. They killed people and animals they met in every step they
moved. They did not hesitate to raze the buildings and killed the people inside. We
can see these traits through the quotations below.
Then the monster had risen, and had begun to walk leisurely to and fro across the common among few fugitives…. A kind of arm carried a complicated metallic case, about which green flashes scintillated, and out of the funnel of this there smote the Heat-Ray.in a few minutes there was as far as the soldier could see, not a living thing left….and the town became a heap of fiery ruins.(p. 48-49)
Except the lodge at the Orphanage, which was still on fire, none of the house had suffered very greatly here….there did not seem to be a living soul on Maybury Hill.(p. 52)
Another negative mental trait that the Martians had was that they were
Martians destructed buildings and environments surrounded them. We can find the
fact that the Martians were destructive creature within the quotations below.
Oriental College burst into smoky red flame, and the tower of the little church beside it slide down into ruin. The pinnacle of the mosque had vanished, and the roof-line of the college itself looked as if a hundred-ton gun ha been work on it.(p. 35)
Between these three main centres of light, the houses, the train, and the burning country towards Chobbam stretched irregular patches of a dark country, broken here and there by interval of dimly glowing and smoking ground. It was the strangest spectacle, that black expanse set with fire.(p. 46)
The woods across the line were but scarred and blackened ruins of woods; for the most part the tree had fallen, but a certain proportion still stood, dismal grey stems, with dark brown foliage instead of green.(p. 52)
With all the bad things the Martians had done, the Martians became frightful
creature toward human. The people who could survive from the annihilation done by
the Martians managed to run to another town. Every time they heard or saw the “Death!” I shouted. “Death is coming! Death!” and leaving him to digest that if he could….(p. 55)
Together with the images of brutal, evil and frightful, other traits that the
Martians had were no mood and emotion. Without the existence of mood and
emotion, the Martians were just like robots and could do their mission without any
hesitation of what would be or if what they did were moral or immoral. The
even bore with the same ‘food’ they always consumed. The quotation below will
show us that the Martians were creatures without mood and emotion.
Men go happy or miserable as they have healthy or unhealthy livers, or sound gastric glands. But the Martians were lifted above all these organic fluctuations of mood and emotion.(p. 123)
Another thing that became the negative traits of the Martians was greedy. We
can call them greedy because one of their aims toward the invasion to the Earth was
taking foods (blood) and exploited the resources such as metals. This was possible
because in order to create huge machines, they needed much energy and resources
such as metals which were possibly already exhausted in Mars. They looked for
energy and new metal sources on Earth and after completely took all the resource in
one place, the moved to another place and so on. We can find the statement that they
were greed within the quotation below.
The Martians, I thought, had gone on and left the country desolated, seeking food elsewhere. Perhaps even now they were destroying Berlin or Paris, or it might be they had gone northward.(p. 145)
Above all the positive and negative traits the Martians had, it is found that the
Martians were just like other living things. When the Martians were dying because of
starving and ill, they could cry just like the human do. They produced monotonous
sound like “Ulla, ulla, ulla” that shown their cry. We can find this fact within the
quotation below.
B. The Martians as the Representation of the 19th Century British Industrial
Revolution’s Dynamic
This objective of this study is trying to find the representation of the
Martian’s characteristics toward the 19th century British industrial revolution’s
dynamic. Here, in the second part of this chapter, I will make the analysis by sorting
it from the positive dynamics first followed by the negative dynamics and ended by
the physical dynamics of the 19thcentury British industrial revolution.
The first positive dynamic that will be discussed is discipline. In the previous
part of this chapter we can find that the Martians were discipline creatures. They did
their works properly without any supervisor between them (p. 128). This discipline
was one of the factors that supported the Martians’ success during their invasion
toward earth. This positive mental trait represented the positive dynamic that the 19th
century British industrial revolution had. In the book Origin of the Industrial
Revolution by Flinn we can find the fact about the discipline. It is said that to
reinforce the industrialization process on a wider front, the industrial activity has to
strengthen its foundations by some factors. One of the factors is a discipline working
force organized around the hierarchies decreed by technique (1967: 9). From this
book we can find that one of the factors that made the 19th century British industrial
revolution reached its success was the discipline that they implemented into their
industrial activities. By looking at the discipline that both the Martians and the 19th
century British industrial revolution had, it is clear that the Martians’ discipline
The next positive dynamic that the 19th century British industrial revolution had was intelligent. This mental trait was represented by the Martians who were far
more intelligent than human. This positive mental trait was shown by the Martians
when they calculated their descent with amazing mathematical learning (p. 3). Other
fact about intelligent trait was also shown by the Martians in the way they made their
war strategy during the invasion. This was shown when the Martians successfully
defeated human by optimizing their technology and destroying the human’s
infrastructures and facilities (p. 102). Having the same facts with the Martians,
intelligence also became one of the main factors that made the 19th century British
industrial revolution reached its success. We can find a fact in the book Origins of
the Industrial Revolution by Flinn that Britain at that time made a brand new
curriculum for their education system. They replaced their traditional curriculum that
concentrated on aristocracy into a new curriculum that far more relevant to
commerce an industry. They were also made a broader education objects by not only
taught the aristocratic and middleclass elite but also the working class (1967: 98).
Another fact is shown by Thomson where in hisEngland in the 19th Century
(1815-1914) also said that there were better education for women, adult schools, and
working men’s colleges to help the improvement of the society to face their social
and material problems (1960: 109). The facts about intelligence that the Martians and
the 19th century British industrial revolution above show us that the intelligence the
Martians had in how they observed the earth represented the intelligence that the 19th
they faced the social and material problems by applying what they had learned in
school so that the problems would be solved.
We have also discussed that the Martians applied their intelligence in the
technology they made. Their intelligence supported them advanced their technology
so that they could make great machines that the human had never made before (p.
120). By using their technology applications, the Martians could successfully invade
the earth. The same situation was happened during the 19thcentury British industrial
revolution. An intelligent society was also needed in order to run the industrial
system at that time. Taylor in his The Industrial Revolution in Britain Triumph or
Disaster stated that the factory system was not like war or revolution a deliberate
attack on society but its was the effort of men to use their will, energy, organization
and intelligent for the service of men’s needs (1958: 34). The intelligent society in
the 19th century British industrial revolution gave the industrial revolution at that
time much helps by making many innovations that were applied into the industrial
activities. We can find this fact in Hobsbawm’sIndustry and Empirethat said at that
time scientists combined ‘pure’ and ‘applied’ thought into their innovations, while
the industrialist absorbed these innovations with great speed, where necessary or
advantageous, and applied a rigorous rationalism to their methods of productions
(1969: 60). The technology applications used in the industrial sectors had made the
industry reached its success. These identical conditions shown by the Martians and
the 19th century British industrial revolution have shown us another fact that the
