Character & Narration
The Unnamed Narrator
The narrator is an educated, middle-class man whose certainties are systematically destroyed. He begins as a confident Victorian intellectual; he ends humbled, traumatised and grateful to be alive. Wells uses his transformation to argue that humility is the appropriate response to humanity’s place in the universe.
As a first-person narrator, his perspective is limited. We experience events only through his eyes, sharing his confusion and terror. This creates immediacy but also unreliability — the narrator acknowledges gaps in his knowledge and moments of panic where his observations may not be accurate.
The narrator transforms from confident Victorian intellectual to humbled survivor. He loses his certainties about British superiority, human significance, and the reliability of civilisation. Wells argues that humility, not pride, is the correct response to our place in the universe.
The Curate — Religion’s Failure
The curate represents organised religion failing under pressure. He is initially pious but quickly descends into hysteria, selfishness and self-pity. His response to the invasion is to demand: “Why are these things permitted? What sins have we done?” He interprets the invasion through a religious framework that offers no practical help.
Wells, an atheist, uses the curate to argue that religion is inadequate in the face of genuine existential threat. The curate’s collapse contrasts with the narrator’s pragmatic survival instinct.
The narrator’s wife appears only at the beginning and end. She represents the domestic life the narrator is fighting to return to. Her survival is confirmed in the final chapters, but the reunion is muted. Wells suggests that trauma has changed the narrator permanently — he can never return to his previous complacent life.
The Artilleryman — Dangerous Fantasy
The artilleryman talks impressively about rebuilding civilisation underground, selecting only the “strong.” But his actions contradict his words: he plays cards and drinks wine. Wells satirises the human tendency to create grandiose narratives of survival while doing nothing practical.
The narrator’s brother provides an alternative viewpoint of the London evacuation. He is more active and heroic than the narrator, rescuing two women from attackers. Wells uses this parallel narrative to show how the invasion affects people differently depending on their circumstances.
The curate = religion’s failure (hysteria, selfishness). The artilleryman = Social Darwinism’s fantasy (big plans, no action). Both contrast with the narrator’s pragmatic survival. Wells critiques both organised religion and survival-of-the-fittest ideology.