The War of the Worlds · GCSE English Literature revision

Plot

The unnamed narrator lives in Woking. A cylinder from Mars lands on Horsell Common, and the Martians kill onlookers with a Heat-Ray.
More cylinders land. Martians in huge three-legged fighting machines destroy towns with the Heat-Ray and Black Smoke. The narrator flees, and his brother escapes from London; the warship Thunder Child destroys a fighting machine.
The narrator is trapped in a ruined house with a terrified curate, who is taken by a Martian. He later meets an artilleryman with grand plans for survival.
The Martians die from Earth's bacteria, which they had no defence against. The narrator is reunited with his wife.

Imperialism (the British feel what colonised peoples felt), science and evolution, human arrogance, survival, and religion.
Published in 1898, at the height of the British Empire and after Darwin's theory of evolution. The narrator compares the invasion to the destruction of the Tasmanians.

A first-person account, mixing the narrator's experiences with his brother's, written like a report from after the events.

Imperialism: One nation taking control of others.
Heat-Ray: The Martians' weapon.
Evolution: Darwin's theory of how living things change over time.
Invasion literature: Stories about Britain being invaded, popular in the 1890s.

Where does the first cylinder land?: Horsell Common, near Woking: Crowds gather to watch.
What weapon do the Martians use first?: The Heat-Ray: They later use Black Smoke as well.
What destroys a fighting machine at sea?: The warship Thunder Child: It sinks after the attack.
Who is the narrator trapped with in a ruined house?: A curate: The curate is taken by a Martian.
What kills the Martians in the end?: Earth's bacteria: They had no defence against germs.
Which theme is shown by comparing the invasion to the Tasmanians?: Imperialism: Britain experiences what it did to others.
When was The War of the Worlds published?: 1898: It was written at the height of the Empire.
Who has grand plans to survive underground?: The artilleryman: The narrator sees his plans are only dreams.