# IV: The Cylinder Opens explained — The War of the Worlds

> Chapter companion for The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells.

## 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.

## Character check-ins

### 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 lines

> 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._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_war_of_the_worlds_se/chapters/iv-the-cylinder-opens
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_war_of_the_worlds_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_war_of_the_worlds_se/chapters