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Art by Allan Davey
CCSS
R.1, R.2, R.3, R.4, R.7, W.3, SL.1, SL.2, L.4, L.6
War of the Worlds
Aliens have come to Earth . . . for us. Can they be stopped?
CHARACTERS
*Starred characters have larger speaking parts.
photo credit: Image Source/Getty
photo credit: Vadim Sadovski/Shutterstock
photo credit: Vershinin89/Shutterstock
photo credit: Tatyana Vyc/Shutterstock
photo credit: PeopleImages.com-Yuri A/Shutterstock
SCENE 1
Maybury, England, 1894
N1: It is a peaceful night in the village of Maybury.
N2: Henry and Clara are out for an evening walk.
N3: What they don’t know is that Earth is being watched.
N1: Powerful beings from another planet are looking down on them.
N2: They
Henry: What is that sound?
Clara (pointing up): Look!
N3: A flaming object shoots through the sky.
Clara: What is that?
Henry: It must be a
N1: The object crashes in the distance. Henry and Clara walk toward the crash.
SCENE 2
A field just outside Maybury
N2: Henry and Clara walk for a mile. They reach a smoky pit in the middle of a field.
N3: A scientist named Ogilvy stares down into the pit.
Henry: Looks like you found the meteor.
Ogilvy: I don’t think it’s a meteor. It’s shaped like a
Clara: How odd.
Ogilvy: I believe it is from another planet. A few nights ago, I saw a red flash moving from Mars toward Earth!
Henry: Really? Wow!
N1: More people show up.
Villager: What is that thing?
Henry: It may be from Mars.
Crowd (laughing): Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
N2: A scratching sound comes from the cylinder. The crowd freezes.
Villager: Something is coming out!
N3: A gray creature about the size of a bear rises up out of the pit.
N1: It has two dark eyes. Its skin shines like wet leather.
Crowd: Gasp!
N2: Another creature appears.
Villager: Monsters! Run!
N3: Henry and Clara climb a nearby hill. From there, they have a good view of the pit.
N1: The couple watches a group of other scientists join Ogilvy at the pit.
Ogilvy: We come in peace!
N2: A dark shape rises slowly.
N3: Then—a flash of light!
N1: Flames shoot at the men. They fall to the ground.
Henry: No!
N2: The flames spread across the field and into the town.
N3: Bushes, trees, and houses catch on fire.
SCENE 3
Clara and Henry’s house, the next morning
N1: Clara and Henry stand in front of their house.
N2: A neighbor walks by.
Neighbor: What’s the trouble? You two look like you’ve seen a ghost.
Henry: Not a ghost—Martians. They shoot fire!
Neighbor (laughing): Oh yes, I heard. It all seems so silly.
N3: Another villager walks by.
Henry: What’s the latest news from town?
Villager: A second cylinder fell near the woods.
Clara: No!
Villager: Don’t worry. Those brainless blobs are no match for our soldiers.
N1: Pop! Pop! Pop!
Villager: See? That’s our boys firing their guns. Thousands of men against a couple of creatures!
N2: A violent crash shakes the ground.
Henry: I don’t think we should stay here.
Clara: Where can we go?
Henry: To my cousin in Leatherhead.
N3: The tops of nearby trees burst into flames.
Henry: We need to go. NOW!
SCENE 4
The road to Leatherhead
N1: Henry and Clara sit in a horse-drawn cart.
N2: It rattles down a dirt road.
N3: Behind them, smoke rises into the air.
Clara (looking back): The entire world is on fire.
Henry: If we can get you to Leatherhead, you will be safe. But I must go back to Maybury and help the fight.
Clara: It’s too dangerous. We barely got out alive!
Henry: I will return to you, Clara. I promise.
Art by Allan Davey
The Aliens
There are more books, films, and TV shows about aliens than we can count. Sometimes these aliens are friendly explorers. Other times they come to destroy Earth.
SCENE 5
The road away from Leatherhead, that evening
N1: Henry takes the cart back toward Maybury.
N2: Suddenly, a huge metal
Henry: Gasp!
N3: Henry dives into the bushes. He hides as the machine passes by.
N1: Then a soldier appears.
Henry: Sir, what happened?
Soldier: We were about to fire upon a cylinder. I heard an explosion. Then everything around me was burnt to a crisp.
Henry: How did you survive?
Soldier: I hid in a pit. But the rest of the soldiers I was with are gone.
Henry: What was that tripod I saw?
Soldier: A fighting machine. The Martians climb inside. It can’t be destroyed.
Henry: Does Maybury still stand?
Soldier: Maybury burns. I fear the whole world will too. We are no longer masters of our planet.
SCENE 6
On the road
N2: Henry turns back to Leatherhead.
N3: In the next town, people smile. They
Henry (shouting): Don’t you know what’s happening? Death! Death is coming!
Woman: Poor man. He’s gone mad. The army has got things under control.
Henry: You aren’t listening. You need to go—now !
N1: The people ignore Henry, so he continues on.
N2: Henry sees a man sitting in the dirt crying.
Joe: This is the end of us!
Henry: There is still hope, good man. I know we’ll find a way. There are millions of us.
N3: Pop! Pop! More gunfire.
N1: A black cloud spreads over the valley.
Henry: Poison gas! Run!
N2: The men run to the next village.
N3: They break into an empty house and hide.
N1: Then—an explosion. Pieces of the ceiling fall down.
Henry: Are you all right?
Joe: I think so.
N2: The men stay still until morning.
N3: Then Henry looks out through a hole in the wall.
Henry (whispering): Another cylinder has struck right next to this house. A Martian is standing guard. And there’s a metal cage full of . . .
Joe: What? Full of what?
Henry: People.
N1: Henry gasps.
Henry: The Martians are taking blood from the humans. They’re . . . feeding on us.
NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images (Newspaper); Harry Warnecke/NY Daily News via Getty Images (Orson Welles)
Could a War of the Worlds Really Happen?
In 1938, the writer Orson Welles turned The War of the Worlds into a radio show. In it, Martians attack New Jersey. Newspapers reported that some listeners thought an alien attack was really happening! Of course, the show was all fiction. But the questions remain: Could aliens come to Earth? And if they did, what would happen?
SCENE 7
The same house, one week later
N2: Joe and Henry are still hiding. A small pile of food sits between them.
N3: Henry looks through the hole in the wall.
Henry: The ground is covered in a strange red weed. It’s like they are trying to turn Earth into Mars.
Joe: Who cares? We are going to starve here.
Henry: Don’t give up.
Joe: What is the point of living? What kind of world will be left?
Henry: I must survive. I must get back to my Clara!
N1: Suddenly, Joe grabs the food and shoves it into his mouth.
Henry: We agreed to share that food!
Joe: I’m hungry!
N2: Joe throws the bread on the floor.
Joe (shouting): Enough! I’ve had enough!
N3: Joe runs toward the door.
Joe: Just let it be over!
N1: Henry tries to stop Joe from leaving. But he fails.
N2: He watches as Joe is put into one of the cages.
SCENE 8
The same house, two days later
N3: Henry wakes up from a deep sleep. All is silent.
N1: He crawls to the hole in the wall.
Henry (to himself): I see the tripods, but . . . why aren’t they moving?
N2: Henry walks outside. Everything is covered with red weeds.
N3: Among the weeds are Martians—dead.
Henry: Is the war over?
N1: Henry slowly makes his way back to Maybury.
N2: Everything is destroyed.
Henry (crying): Am I the last man on Earth?
N3: But when he gets to his house, it is still standing.
N1: And Clara runs out.
Clara: Oh, Henry! Everyone said you were dead, but I knew . . .
N2: They run to each other and hug.
Henry: The Martians are all dead? How can it be?
Clara: Some kind of human disease killed them. They had no defense against our germs.
N3: Henry and Clara hold each other.
N1: And the sky glows orange from the setting sun.
© Historical Picture Archive/Corbis via Getty Images (H.G. Wells); Alamy Stock Photo (War of the Worlds)
Meet the Author
H.G. Wells (1866-1946) wrote The War of the Worlds in 1897. Wells was a famous writer and a trained scientist. In his stories, he wrote about laser beams, televisions, and airplanes—before they existed!
ACTIVITY:
Inference
You've just read “War of the Worlds.” Now it’s time to try this activity.
Tip: An inference is something that is not stated but can be figured out from clues in the text.
What to do: Imagine that you are Henry the day after you and Clara meet again. You’re telling Clara about everything that happened while you were apart, and she has some questions. Make inferences to answer each of her questions below with at least one complete sentence.
Clara: Why did so many people ignore you when you tried to warn them about the Martians?
Henry:
Clara: Why did you and Joe stay in the abandoned house for so long?
Henry:
Clara: What made Joe run out of the house when he did?
Henry:
Clara: How did you know it was safe to leave the house?
Henry:
