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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. Where does the narrator decide to take his wife when his chimney is cracked?

2. What element are the gas jets that first streamed toward Earth primarily made from?

3. How does the Lieutenant respond to the soldier and narrator's story when meeting them?

4. Where do the Martian disks first emerge according to the soldier?

5. What does the word "canard" mean?

Short Essay Questions

1. What fact do scientists overlook when considering whether Mars can support life?

2. After the narrator walks toward the dead Martian, what does he see, and why is this important?

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

4. What does the narrator's brother do for the women in the carriage? What does this reveal about his character?

5. How does the narrator's brother initially feel about the narrator's safety, and why?

6. How do those who first see the cylinder feel about it in general, and why do they feel this way?

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

8. Why does the narrator walk toward the Martian down the road after leaving the pub?

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

10. When the narrator first meets the artilleryman, what does the soldier say happened to his unit?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe the author's use of foreshadowing in War of the Worlds, and what role this technique plays in the narrative.

Essay Topic 2

Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of using the flashback technique in general, and specifically in this novel.

Essay Topic 3

Why do you think the author chooses not to give the narrator a name? What effect does this have on the story?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 746 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample