The War of the Worlds 5. THE STILLNESS Summary

Summary

The narrator begins by securing the scullery door and finding the pantry stripped bare—apparently by a Martian the day before—which plunges him into despair. He goes without food and mostly without drink for days, suffering thirst, fevered dreams, and constant preoccupation with the curate’s death. On the twelfth day he dares to pump and drink rainwater, refreshed and emboldened by the lack of Martian response. His confinement is marked by a red light, fevered reveries of food and death, and a growing dread tempered by fragile hope.

On the fourteenth and fifteenth days the narrator discovers that the red weed has grown over his peephole and the kitchen. He briefly encounters a dog’s nose among the fronds and contemplates killing it for food, but the animal withdraws. Listening closely, he notes an almost absolute silence from the pit below—only birds, crows, and a few distant noises remain. Encouraged, he parts the red weed and climbs out onto the ruins, finding the pit emptied of machinery and Martians. The landscape of Sheen is a devastated, weed-choked ruin, its houses smashed but unburned, trees dead and threaded with red weed. No people are in sight. After a long confinement, the narrator is struck by the brightness of the day and the sweetness of the air, and recognizes that his chance of escape has come.

Key events

1. Narrator fastens scullery door and finds pantry empty, causing despair.
2. He endures thirst and feverish dreams, later obtains rainwater from pump.
3. Red weed grows, obscuring light and peephole; dog appears briefly.
4. Silence from the pit; narrator listens to bird and dog sounds.
5. He opens the fronds, climbs onto the rubble mound, and surveys Sheen.
6. Discovers the pit emptied of Martian machinery and no Martians in sight; breathes sweet air.

Analysis

This section shifts the novel from immediate terror and confinement to tentative possibility and renewed perception. Structurally it functions as a transition: the claustrophobic, sensory deprivation of the scullery gives way to an external panorama of devastation. The narrator’s physical suffering—thirst, fever dreams, fixation on food—intensifies his psychological isolation, while the empty pantry and the red light of the weed amplify themes of scarcity and altered nature. The red weed serves both as an alien, invasive symbol and a literal screen between confinement and the outside world; its growth over the peephole dramatizes the narrator’s suspended state between knowledge and ignorance.

Narrative technique is immediate and limited—Wells keeps close to the narrator’s perceptions, blending objective observation with fevered subjectivity. The long, watchful paragraphs create suspense through withheld information: the reader learns of the pit’s abandonment only as the narrator dares to look. Foreshadowing appears in the catalogue of ruined houses and dead trees, suggesting widespread consequences beyond the pit; yet Wells restrains broader disclosure, maintaining focus on survival and the narrator’s vulnerable agency. The silence itself functions thematically as ominous and liberating: it signals the Martians’ absence but also produces anxiety about what new danger might follow. Overall, the chapter pivots the story from immediate horror toward cautious exploration and the possibility of escape while deepening themes of alien invasion, human fragility, and the uncanny alteration of familiar landscapes.

Important quotes

“The pantry was empty; every scrap of food had gone.”

NarratorImmediate discovery that the food supply has been taken, triggering despair and desperation.

“I could see in any direction save behind me, to the north, and neither Martians nor sign of Martians were to be seen.”

NarratorThe narrator identifies, for the first time in days, that the pit is empty and no Martians are visible—this moment opens the possibility of escape.

“And oh! the sweetness of the air!”

NarratorAfter prolonged confinement, the narrator experiences a powerful sensory relief that underscores his renewed hope and the contrast between interior and exterior worlds.

Characters in 5. THE STILLNESS

• The Narrator
• The Curate
• The Martians