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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What happens to a few people when the crowd is escaping from the heat ray?

2. About how many people does the heat ray kill?

3. What is a Deputation?

4. What does the narrator tell his wife about the Martians in order to reassure her?

5. Why do the narrator and the curate decide to leave the riverbank?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does a group of people attempt to do just before the Heat-Ray? Why doesn't this work?

2. Describe what the Martians look like.

3. What are the citizens of Weybridge doing when the narrator and artilleryman arrive?

4. What weapon do the Martians use when the first cylinder opens, and how does this change the story?

5. How do people feel about the Martians when they first see them? When and why does this change?

6. Describe the object that the narrator refers to as "The Thing."

7. Who does the narrator find on Putney Hill, and what do they discuss?

8. When the narrator returns to town after the first heat-ray, how do people react to the news he brings?

9. Why does the narrator hit the curate with the meat chopper?

10. What happened to the narrator directly after discovering the invasion is over?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Do you think the ending of War of Worlds iseffective? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Examine the author's use of mythological and Biblical allusions in this novel, and explain what purpose they serve.

Essay Topic 3

In what ways is War of the Worlds a social commentary?

(see the answer keys)

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