The War of the Worlds: Book 2, Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

While the narrator’s brother escapes England, the narrator himself has remained with the curate, camping out in an abandoned house for two days to avoid the Black Smoke. In hiding, he can’t keep his mind off his wife, thinking she must assume he’s dead. Meanwhile, the curate grates on his nerves so much that he tries to avoid the annoying man, moving from one room to the next until finally locking himself in the attic to be alone. At last, a Martian comes along on Monday afternoon and nullifies the Black Smoke with a blast of steam. Once the coast is clear, the narrator and the curate creep outside, only to find that an invasive red weed has grown across the land. 

The narrator decides to leave the abandoned house. At first, the curate disagrees, arguing that they should stay because it’s safe in the house, but he eventually relents when he sees that the narrator has no reservations about leaving him behind. Together they set out, passing dead bodies strewn across the roads and fires raging through the woods. At one point, a Martian fighting machine appears within a hundred yards, chasing a group of people. They hide in a shed until the machine passes, and then venture out again (though, once more, the curate is reluctant). Upon leaving, they quickly see another Martian pursuing a small group of humans, which it doesn’t incinerate—rather, it scoops them up and places them in a “great metallic carrier.” The narrator notes that this is the first time he intuits the Martians “might have any other purpose than destruction.”

The narrator and the curate hide yet again in a ditch. Eventually they rise and continue until the curate feels weak, at which point they go into a house to look for food and water. The first house they try has nothing valuable, but the second has a pantry stocked with food. The pantry is connected to a kitchen and a cupboard. While the two men stay up late eating, another cylinder crashes to earth. This time, though, it lands nearly on top of them, destroying a portion of the house and rendering it impossible for them to leave. When the narrator wakes up after having passed out, the curate tells him to be quiet because there is a group of Martians just outside the house. Together they huddle in the kitchen, scared to even breathe. After a long time, the narrator sneaks into the pantry and starts eating, and the curate follows behind.