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Irony
Definition of Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor can be stated explicitly, as... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other... read full definition
Book 1, Chapter 1: The Eve of the War
Explanation and Analysis—Blindness:
The motif of blindness in The War of the Worlds conveys a sense of human error and hubris. Its presence underscores humanity's vain beliefs about itself. For instance, in Book 1, Chapter 1, the narrator explains why people doubt the presence of intelligent life on Mars:
It has air and water and all that is necessary for the support of animated existence. Yet so vain is man, and so blinded by his vanity, that no writer, up to the very end of the nineteenth century, expressed any idea that intelligent life might have developed there far, or indeed at all, beyond its earthly level.
Related Themes:
Book 2, Chapter 6: The Work of Fifteen Days
Explanation and Analysis—Dethronement:
In The War of the Worlds, the Martians usurp humanity's control. For a brief period of time, aliens become the tyrannical masters of earth. Following humanity's loss of control, the metaphor of "dethronement" appears in Book 2, Chapter 6:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I felt the first inkling of a thing that presently grew quite clear in my mind, that oppressed me for many days, a sense of dethronement, a persuasion that I was no longer a master, but an animal among the animals, under the Martian heel. With us it would be as with them, to lurk and watch, to run and hide; the fear and empire of man had passed away.
Related Themes:
Book 2, Chapter 8: Dead London
Explanation and Analysis—Blindness:
The motif of blindness in The War of the Worlds conveys a sense of human error and hubris. Its presence underscores humanity's vain beliefs about itself. For instance, in Book 1, Chapter 1, the narrator explains why people doubt the presence of intelligent life on Mars:
Unlock with LitCharts A+It has air and water and all that is necessary for the support of animated existence. Yet so vain is man, and so blinded by his vanity, that no writer, up to the very end of the nineteenth century, expressed any idea that intelligent life might have developed there far, or indeed at all, beyond its earthly level.
Related Themes:
