The War of the Worlds · Chapter
IV: The Cylinder Opens explained
The narrator returns to Horsell Common at sunset to find a large, excited crowd gathered around the pit where the cylinder landed.
What happens
The narrator returns to Horsell Common at sunset to find a large, excited crowd gathered around the pit where the cylinder landed. As the cylinder's lid unscrews from within, the crowd's curiosity turns to horror when a grotesque, tentacled Martian emerges. The narrator, overcome with disgust and dread, flees to a group of trees, watching as the terrified crowd disperses and the shopman who fell into the pit disappears.
Themes in this chapter
Alienation and Otherness
The Martians are depicted as utterly alien and inhuman, evoking horror and disgust in the human observers.
Human Vulnerability and Vanity
The crowd's initial curiosity and expectation of a human-like being give way to terror, highlighting human fragility and the shock of encountering the unknown.
Technology and Destruction
The cylinder itself is a technological artifact, and its opening heralds the destructive power of the Martians.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
Returns to the common, witnesses the cylinder opening and the first Martian emergence, then flees in terror.
- The Martians
First appearance: a greyish, tentacled creature emerges from the cylinder, described as inhuman and monstrous.
- Ogilvy
Present at the pit, calls for the crowd to keep back.
- Stent
Heard shouting 'Keep back!' and is seen running from the pit.
Key passages
“I think everyone expected to see a man emerge—possibly something a little unlike us terrestrial men, but in all essentials a man.”
The crowd anticipated a humanoid being, not the monstrous creature that appeared.
Highlights the contrast between human expectation and alien reality.
“Those who have never seen a living Martian can scarcely imagine the strange horror of its appearance.”
The Martian's appearance is indescribably horrifying to those who have not witnessed it.
Emphasizes the profound otherness of the Martians.
“I turned and, running madly, made for the first group of trees, perhaps a hundred yards away; but I ran slantingly and stumbling, for I could not avert my face from these things.”
The narrator fled in panic but could not stop staring at the Martians.
Illustrates the narrator's terror and fascination.