"The War of the Worlds" Still Guides Readers on Science v. Religion, Post-2010 (the Year It Is Set)

“[what’s needed] is not bravery, but circumspection.”

— the protagonist (never named by H.G. Wells)

The place is Earth. The year is 2010. Pious men use technology to terrorize and destroy their global neighbors.

Scientific evolutionists declare war on God — then, in turn, people of faith condemn scientific teachings. Such is the setting of H.G. Wells’ world-changing science fiction horror novel, The War of the Worlds.

The book is a poignant reflection of modern readers’ real life and gives readers today a relevant message. Its characters are:

• the atheistic artilleryman
• the clerical curate
• and the protagonist, an anonymous well-educated layman

Through them, the novel displays a parallel conflict to our real one between science and religion. The novel’s ultimate message rings relevant and true today.

Character 1: The Curate

“Be a man!” the protagonist says to the curate. “You are scared out of your wits! What good is religion if it collapses under calamity?”

— H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds

The curate is a man well-schooled in religious tenets. He knows the most important values of religion: selflessness, self-sacrifice, courage, love, hope, and diligence, to name a few.

But in fact, he’s only ever made a career out of his knowledge, never actually applied these things.

“…the curate was lethargic, unreasonable.”

Then, when catastrophe — the Martians — strikes, this curate becomes worse than useless. Misery and do-nothing repentance consume him. He endangers and antagonizes the protagonist, his only comrade in the desolate world!

In the end, the curate dies as a result of his self-absorbed, intellectual piety. Through the curate, The War of the Worlds demonstrates that intrapersonal, loveless, religious passions are a dead-end.

The artilleryman certainly recognizes this.

Character 2: The Artilleryman

“Now whenever things are so that a lot of people feel they ought to be doing something, the weak, and those who go weak with a lot of complicated thinking, always make for a sort of do-nothing religion, very pious and superior, and submit to persecution and the will of the Lord. … It’s energy in a gale of funk, and turned clean inside out.”

– the artilleryman, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds

Our protagonist likes this artilleryman a good deal better than the disagreeable curate, needless to say. He is inspired by the good sense in artilleryman’s worldview…

…until he realizes this great thinker is also a big nothing in an entirely different way. Even though he says cool stuff like this.

“But I’m not so fond of squealing. I’ve been in sight of death once or twice; I’m not an ornamental soldier, and at the best and worst, death — it’s just death. And it’s the man that keeps on thinking comes through.”

— the artilleryman

Character 3: The Anonymous Protagonist

To think the artilleryman is just another big nothing is saying something for the protagonist. The protagonist adheres to intelligent thought, pragmatism, and realism. He believes in evolution.

Yet, the protagonist:

“resolved to leave this strange undisciplined dreamer of great things [the artilleryman] to his drink and gluttony, and go on into London.”

For the protagonist saw that, even with a plan and days of work invested, the artilleryman achieved next to nothing. He saw that the artilleryman is void of diligence for all his grand plans, and — worse, to the protagonist — also void of religious values: derisive of society and faiths, a drunkard, a sluggard, and a glutton.

H.G. Wells shows that our protagonist is a man of faith despite allegiance to scientific findings and pragmatic reasoning. Despite how he has recently — if distastefully, unrepentantly — killed the curate.

The man’s faith isn’t negated by the killing. And his faith is more than how he prays “copiously” in distress; he also prays with intellectual integrity, during sane moments.

More important than faith expressed through prayer, the man loves. He hopes. His belief is such that he acts on it. For example, he:

• makes rations when buried under the Martian pit
• presses on when he is alone in a deathly London
• returns to his home even when there is every reason to believe his wife is gone and dead

“It is no use… the house is deserted. No one has been here these ten days. Do not stay here to torment yourself. No one escaped but you.”

You could argue that what brought the protagonist through the Martian invasion was realism. But undeniably, what reunited him with his wife was acting on faith, hope, and love.

Going Deeper

While the curate has great religious belief, he has no uncorrupted action in them. Ultimately, he neither lives nor dies happy.

With his clear and militant thought, the artilleryman lives to fight another day — yet because of his vices, he achieves nothing.

But then there is Wells’ protagonist. The protagonist has both scientific thought and religious values, values like hope, faith, and love. Even more, he puts both into action. He not only survives the Martian attack, he also survives to be wiser and get a happy ending.

Independent of each other and of application, scientific thought and moral (in the book’s case, religious) values are futile. A person attains total success when these are put together into action. When on does this, one does not die unhappy — one survives; one does not merely survive, one finds happiness and wisdom. This is the message of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds.

The Takeaways from ‘The War of the Worlds’ by H.G. Wells

1. Technological, pragmatic thought is not enough.
2. Religious, devout thought is not enough, either.
3. They must be applied in tandem into action.

The person who puts both scientific thought and moral virtues into action ‘wins’.

Go in Peace

These are just one reader’s conclusions from her read of this great science fiction horror classic.

What’s your take? Comments welcome!

(If in doubt, comment whether you would side with the martians or the humans…).

~

Savanna Rain Uland writes dark fantasy, including paranormal realism. She also writes about travel and reading. Check out her videos and stories at:

www.savannarainuland.com