View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Where does the Lieutenant tell the narrator and the soldier to go?

3. What color is the first Martian's skin?

4. How does the first man get into the pit?

5. Henderson sends news of the cylinder to his colleagues in what city?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Why might the narrator have included the story about his brother?

4. What is the state of the narrator's relationship with the curate when they stay in Halliford, and why?

5. What does the "Committee of Public Safety" do to the narrator's brother, and what does this reveal about human nature?

6. How does the Martian invasion begin and how do people generally react?

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

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

9. What kind of newspaper coverage does the cylinder receive on the second day? What might this predict?

10. Describe what the Martians look like.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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

Essay Topic 2

What advantages do the Martians have over the humans, and vice versa?

Essay Topic 3

Based on the character of the curate, what do you think H.G. Wells is trying to say about religion in this novel?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 735 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample