Alston Badger

Prompt #2

Pattern #1: The Martians as a Juggernaut

“After that no body of men would stand against them, so hopeless was the enterprise.” p.90

“And then night and extinction – nothing but a silent mass of impenetrable vapor hiding its dead” p.91 [Mankind is not fighting a war; mankind is being wiped out]

“‘They are invulnerable, they are pitiless.’” P.71

Pattern #2: Mankind underestimating the Martians

“A Martian, therefore would weigh three times more than on Mars, albeit his muscular strength would be the same.” P. 33 [Since they are so weak, the Martians can’t be a real threat]

“Stent and Ogilvy, anticipating some possibilities of a collision, had telegraphed from Horsell to the barracks as soon as the Martians emerged, for the help of a company of soldiers to protect these strange creatures from violence.” P.29 [The Martians aren’t the ones that need protection]

“No doubt the Martians were strange and terrible in the extreme, but at the outside there could not be more than twenty of them against our millions.” P.78 [The narrator, and maybe the British military, are assuming they can beat the Martians because they have more numbers. However, it seems quite logical that the Martians would send more cylinders if invasion was indeed their end goal]