My supercalifragilisticexpialidocious padlet by Student Harrison Reckseen

Author Analysis (H.G. Wells)

reckseenhp — 2024-04-24 20:33:18 UTC

Herbert George Wells was born September 21, 1866, in Bromley, Kent, England. He died August 13, 1946. Wells is known for his science fiction novels, his most popular ones being The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine. Wells' parents were owners of a small shop, and money was tight for them and they always faced the threat of going broke. Wells didn't get a good education growing up but that didn't stop his love for books. Wells went through many jobs growing up, until finally at 18 years old he won a scholarship to study biology at the Royale College. He graduated in 1888 becoming a science teacher, he got married to his cousin in 1891, Isabel Mary Wells, got divorced, and then got married again in 1895 to Amy Cathrine Robbins. Wells than began writing novels, his first novel, The Time Machine, was published in 1895 and it is one of his most famous books even to this day. He continued publishing books all the way up to 1945 until he eventually passed away a year later.

Critical Lens Analysis (Historical)

reckseenhp — 2024-04-26 20:34:22 UTC

The technology and other things mentioned in this book is very accurate to what it was like back then in 1800s. The buildings and towns described in this book are very accurate to what they would have been like back then. Shopkeeper is a very popular profession in this book which back then was a very common way to make money in the real world, "It was the head of the shopman who had fallen in..." (Wells #24). in fact Wells' parents were shopkeepers themselves. However, one of the more accurate things in this book is the technology. For example, in this book the main character and his associate Ogilvy, uses an observatory to observe the planet Mars. Back in the 1800s the main way that humans explored space was through telescopes and observatory's and they would notate everything that they saw, exactly what they are doing this book. This makes sense, since this book was written i the late 1800s, so it would make sense that it has very accurate and similar technology to that time period.

However, this consistency of accuracy ended when the aliens started to attack, "I described the Heat-Ray to them, and they began to argue amongst themselves," (Wells #43). I find this interesting because even to this day people are still improving the technology in science fiction books and movies, specifically ones about aliens. For example, in the movie Transformers, the humans have pretty simple technology, however, the aliens have super advanced technology. It is interesting to see this trend of advanced technology in alien movies and books date all the way back to the late 1800s, over 100 years ago.

Pop Culture Connection Analysis

reckseenhp — 2024-05-02 20:14:02 UTC

The first few chapters of this book are the people trying to figure out if aliens are even real. They look at Mars through a telescope and they make hypothesis and guess all to try and prove the existents of aliens. "His idea was that meteorites might be falling in a heavy shower upon the planet, or that a huge volcanic explosion was in progress," (Wells #10). This connects to our modern pop culture because even today we are trying to figure out if aliens exist. The book has people using telescopes to look at Mars and see if they can see anything, and obviously now in our current era, we have more advanced technology like sending rovers over to Mars and other planets and looking at the surface of the other planets through cameras on the rovers. This is a connection because we are still watching and looking at other planets to try and discover alien life. This is interesting because this book was published in 1898, over 100 years ago, and even back then, there was speculation of life outside of Earth.

After the people in this book look for aliens, they eventually discover that they are in fact real and the aliens end up coming down and invading Earth. This is also a big connection to modern pop culture because there are many movies and books still being made with the same concept as this book. Modern movies like Transformers, Aliens, and Edge of Tomorrow all have the same concept with aliens coming down to earth, very similar to the concept of this book.

Setting Analysis

reckseenhp — 2024-05-06 18:18:19 UTC

The setting of this book takes place in Woking and its nearby sand pits and fields. This is an actual place in England and it is one of the many places that Wells lived, which is what inspired the setting of this book. The setting starts off in the town of Woking with the main character and his associate Ogilvy inside of an observatory. The setting then switches to the main characters living quarters where a nearby meteor lands. The setting then switches back to the observatory where the main character and Ogilvy talk about the recent meteor landing. The setting then switches to the fields where the meteor landed. The setting doesn't switch but it does change. The fields end up catching on fire due to an attack by the aliens, "Forthwith flashes of actual flame..." (Wells #27). The setting has been very accurate to what it would have been like in the actual time period (besides the flames). The buildings, the observatory, and the fields, all would have been places in Woking, and they are described to fit the theme of 1800s buildings. This tells us that Wells used the environment around him and the place where he lived to create this story's setting.

Etymology Analysis (Dovetailing)

reckseenhp — 2024-05-08 17:57:06 UTC

Dovetailing was used in my book when the main character escaped the first attack by the Martians and he was back at his home thinking about what just happened. "The most extraordinary thing to my mind, of all the strange and wonderful things that happened upon that Friday, was the dovetailing of the commonplace habits of our social order with the first beginnings of the series of events that was to topple that social order headlong," (Wells #38). According to Cambridge English Dictionary the definition of this word is, "To fit together well, or to cause something to fit together well with something else," (“DOVETAIL | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary”). Wells uses this word in order to describe how the main character is feeling. When he uses this word it makes the reader understand that the main character is feeling confused about how everyone is just living their normal lives after he just went through a near death experience with the aliens. This describes the main characters confusion because being attacked by aliens, and living your normal life does not fit with each other, so using the word dovetailing in this sentence tells us that the main character is confused about how everyone is just living their normal lives, after him and many others were just attacked by aliens.

Opinion Analysis

reckseenhp — 2024-05-10 20:38:16 UTC

My opinion analysis on this book is when the main character went back to his house in Woking after the Martians invaded. When the Martians invaded Woking the main character and his wife escaped to their cousins house after making a deal with a innkeeper to barrow his horse and carriage if they returned it after. After they reached their cousins house, the main character decided to head back to his house in Woking in order to keep his promise to the innkeeper. "Had it not been for my promise to the innkeeper, she would, I think, have urged me to stay in Leatherhead that night," (Wells #49). In my opinion, I would not go back. I was already safe in my cousins house with my wife and I would enjoy the last few days I have with them because the Martians are probably headed this way to destroy this town and everyone in it. Going back risks death which is not something I would like to put on the line when I can spend the last few days I have with my loved ones. Even if that would mean I couldn't keep my deal with the innkeeper I would feel much happier spending those days with my family instead of risking my life to go back and probably never see my loved ones ever again.

Personal Connection Analysis

reckseenhp — 2024-05-14 20:15:00 UTC

I connect to this book because I love science-fiction. I've grown up watching mainly science-fiction movies like Star Wars, Star Trek, Interstellar, Back to the Future, and many others. So when I was choosing what book to read, I saw this one, and it was about science-fiction and aliens and I had to chose this. I feel like I made a good choice because this book really interests, I'm not that big of a reader but this book really interests me with being about humans defending the earth from aliens. "'Crawl up under cover and rush 'em, say I,' said one," (Wells #43). Another reason I connect with this book is because I love space. Space is a topic that really interests me, so with this book being made around aliens and space makes it the perfect book for me. I also want to get into reading more frequently and I thought this would be the perfect book to start doing that with, because it is about some of my favorite topics, space and science-fiction.

Sources

reckseenhp — 2024-05-16 20:30:17 UTC

“DOVETAIL | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary.” Cambridge Dictionary, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/dovetail. Accessed 10 May 2024.

Nicholson, Norman Cornthwaite. “H.G. Wells | Biography, Books, & Facts.” Britannica, 19 April 2024, https://www.britannica.com/biography/H-G-Wells. Accessed 6 May 2024.

Wells, H.G. The War of the Worlds. William Heinemann, 1898.