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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 is the name of the Astronomer Royal?

2. How does the narrator say he feels on his way home from the heat ray incident?

3. Who owns the property on which the first cylinder crashes?

4. How far does the narrator have to drive his wife in the cart?

5. In what year did the Martian invasion begin?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why does the newspaper editor in London refuse to print a story about the Martians?

3. What kills the Martians and why is this significant?

4. Why are the milkman and the train reassuring to the narrator after the first heat-ray?

5. As the narrator walks from the ruined house toward London, what does he see, and how does this affect his attitude?

6. Describe what the Martians look like.

7. Why does the narrator start walking toward London when he leaves the ruined house?

8. How does the narrator get across the Thames? What does this show about his character?

9. Why do scientists think that Mars cannot support life?

10. Why is the narrator disappointed the second time in the story that he interacts with the artilleryman?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe the Martians in detail, and explain why they are so different from humans.

Essay Topic 2

When was this novel written? Examine what major events occurred in England around this time, and how they may have influenced this book.

Essay Topic 3

Analyze the character of the artilleryman and what you think he is meant to represent.

(see the answer keys)

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