The War of the Worlds: Style 1 key example

The War of the Worlds is written in journalistic, reportage-style prose. Despite the novel's extraordinary circumstances, its prose remains measured, descriptive, and realistic. For example, in Book 1, Chapter 6, the narrator describes how the Martians are "able to slay men so swiftly and silently":

Many think that in some way they are able to generate an intense heat in a chamber of practically absolute non-conductivity. This intense heat they project in a parallel beam against any object they choose by means of a polished parabolic mirror of unknown composition, much as the parabolic mirror of a lighthouse projects a beam of light. But no one has absolutely proved these details. However it is done, it is certain that a beam of heat is the essence of the matter.

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