H.G.WellsZachary Keller

Biography

Born on Sept. 21st 1866 in England

After trying apprenticeship with a draper, decided not for him and became “a pupil-teacher at Midhurst Grammar School.”(Hebert).

Things went wrong, but while working there he won a scholarship to a school of science, later losing it for not meeting the requirements

Moved in with his aunt and uncle, ended up marrying his cousin (only lasted four years).

Bio cont.

After that marriage, he went on to commit to one of his students, they had two kids together.

Wells has always been writing stories but most of his was published the year of 1895

Wells died in 1946, after the medical condition; diabetes slowly destroyed and weakened his body

The War of the Worlds

Tripods land in England, narrator goes and checks it out

They are alive and attacking, hitting people with their heat rays

Narrator meets artilleryman, and they wonder with each other for a little

Transitions to brother who is in London, shows how they are reacting and struggling to flee.

WOW Cont.

Narrator also meets a curate, stuck in a house with him, and is deeply annoyed

The curate is killed, after attack the narrator finds artilleryman again but things do not work out

Narrator goes and finds his wife, learns the Martians are killed by the bacteria on our planet.

Transition to The Food of the Gods

Opens up with two main characters; Mr. Bensington and Prof. Redwood, create the Food of the Gods

Experiment on chicken, let in the hands of famers, lets the serum get into the food chain and giants animals are crazy everywhere

Creates a race of giants

Giants are being suppressed by the normal people because they are annoyed by them

FOTG Cont.

Caterham, a person that is trying to get rid of the giants

Caddles escapes the chalk pit where they work, sees the world, refuses to go back

Killed

Battle is started between the two races, end with truce

Ask giants not to reproduce, they refuse saying it is their right

Literary Devices

A literary device “refers to the typical structures used by writers in their works to convey his or her message(s) in a simple manner to his or her readers.  When employed properly, the different literary devices help readers to appreciate, interpret and analyze a literary work”(Lavota).

Theme

Theme is “the main idea being discussed in the book ” (Theme)

A theme in The War of the Worlds is evolution and the affects it has on one.

The alien race has been able to gain so much from the transformation into the super race, being able to take the humans on so easily. Being supreme with the evolution of their technology came with a trade-off of their bodies being disfigured and described as weak and deformed “octopuses”(The War of the Worlds, 26).

Theme Cont.

An example of Theme in the novel, The Food of the Gods, is man vs. nature

The whole book is surrounded by this theme, with the scientist in the beginning of the novel wanting to change the growth rate, messing up the balance of this book. “The giant child was ugly” (The Food of the Gods, 118) is just one example where the changes that the scientist have affected the way of nature and made the breed of giants.

Symbolism

A Symbol is “a person, place, or object that has a concrete meaning in itself and also stands for something beyond itself, such as an idea or feeling” “Symbol”.

One example of symbolism in The War of the Worlds, is the use of describing the actions of people in terms of liquid.

Wells writes about the people panicking and the “running at last in that swift liquefaction of the social body (The War of the Worlds, 67), he was comparing the nonexistence of order of liquid and the way of the people.

Symbolism Cont.

An example of Symbolism in The Food of the Gods would be the farm where everything started.

Describes the place in the “fields of Hickleybrow” (The Food of the Gods, 36) which very close to Urshot which is found in Kent. This location cannot be a coincidence to be so close to where Wells grew up during his childhood. This location is symbolic to the Wells own childhood on being poor and unstable in his life

Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing is “[giving] a suggestion of something that has not yet happened”(Foreshadow).

An example of foreshadowing in The War of the Worlds is, The narrator talks about “under the microscope” (The War of the Worlds, 1) in the beginning of the novel. Normally someone uses a microscope to inspect cells and other things that cause illnesses, bacteria to be more specific. At the end of the novel the reader finds out that bacteria is the cause of death for the Martians. Wells is telling the reader how the story is going to end from the very beginning of the novel, which was the greatest use of foreshadowing

Foreshadowing Cont.

One example of Foreshadowing in The Food of the Gods, is in the very beginning of the book.

Bensington had a dream about the Food of the Gods and the effects it would have. “The Earth was swelling” (The Food of the Gods, 8) after he had poured tons and tons down a hole, and the countries were going past their boundaries. This dream foreshadowed the retaliation o the people that are against the serum and the trouble it would make. Like the Earth swelling, the anger of the uses to make things bigger grew as well

List of other works

Not all of his novels, but some well known books of his

The Time Machine (1895)

The Wonderful Visit (1895)

The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896)

The Invisible Man (1897)

Men Like Gods (1923)

Review of WOW

The War of the Worlds was an amazing book that I felt was a little repetitive with the Martians attacking, but came to an enjoyable ending. I learned to be more considerate about people and my surroundings’. I also liked that H. G. Wells was putting the idea of an alien attack from another planet, before anyone was even considering it. Wells made the novel favorable with the lessons he weaved in, and with the entertaining plot line. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys a science fiction tale that involves an adventure.

Review of FOTG

So for my review of the novel I was torn between hating the whole thing, and enjoying it. I did not like the way Wells jumped from place to place with the changes of the book. I did like savoring the idea and twisting in the book that almost made up for the switching. I would recommended this novel to anyone that liked an adventure in the science fiction realm, but if that aspect does not interest you, do not pick this book up.

Work Cited

"Foreshadow." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 23 Dec. 2013.

Lavota, C. "Literary Devices." Literary Devices. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Jan. 2014.

“Symbol” Holt McDougal Literature Grade 12. Orlando: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2012. Print. Glossary of Literature and Nonfiction Terms. Symbol. R122

"Theme." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2013