Question

Read the following passage from "the war of the worlds," by h.g. wells.: "the planet mars, i scarcely need remind the reader, revolves about the sun at a mean distance of 140,000,000 miles, and the light and heat it receives from the sun is barely half of that received by this world. it must be, if the nebular hypothesis has any truth, older than our world; and long before this earth ceased to be molten, life upon its surface must have begun its course. the fact that it is scarcely one seventh of the volume of the earth must have accelerated its cooling to the temperature at which life could begin. it has air and water and all that is necessary for the support of animated existence. "yet so vain is man, and so blinded by his vanity, that no writer, up to the very end of the nineteenth century, expressed any idea that intelligent life might have developed there far, or indeed at all, beyond its earthly level. nor was it generally understood that since mars is older than our earth, with scarcely a quarter of the superficial area and remoter from the sun, it necessarily follows that it is not only more distant from time's beginning but nearer its end." in general, readers today have a better understanding of science than readers in 1898. how would the tone of the passage's narrator have affected readers in 1898 versus readers today?

a. they would have been frightened by the level of science presented.
b. they would have been insulted by the narrator's attitude toward them.
c. they would have been more impressed by the narrator's knowledge.
d. they would have been hopelessly confused by the narrator's vocabulary.

Answer 1

In 1898, readers would have been impressed by the narrator's knowledge in H.G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds" due to the limited understanding of Martian science at the time. Modern audiences, on the other hand, well-informed by space exploration, might find the assumptions of the passage outdated.

option 'c' is the correct

Step-by-step explanation:

The passage from "The War of the Worlds," by H.G. Wells, reflects a time when the general understanding of planetary science was less advanced than that of today. In the late nineteenth century, readers might have been impressed by the narrator's knowledge of the planets, especially considering the time's fascination with Martian canals and life on Mars, as influenced by astronomers like Lowell.

The passage conveys a tone of didacticism, implying that the contemporaneous scientific community had overlooked the possibility of intelligent life on Mars. The narrator's authoritative approach would have contrasted with the limited knowledge available during that period, potentially causing readers to reevaluate their understanding of extraterrestrial life.

However, modern readers, informed by extensive space exploration and the demystification of neighboring planets through scientific advances, may find the narrator's assumptions about life on Mars outdated and incorrect. The understanding that Mars had conditions conducive to life around 4 billion years ago, similar to Earth, is now well-accepted, but there is no concrete evidence of intelligent life. Also, the portrayal of Mars as older and closer to its end is inconsistent with current knowledge, highlighting the evolution of scientific thought.

The narrator's tone in the historical context of 1898 would likely have instilled a sense of wonder and intellectual humility in the readers. Readers today are armed with facts about the atmospheric and geological conditions of Mars and Venus, and they understand the limitations of life existing in such environments. Consequently, the central idea that human vanity has blinded us to the possibilities of extraterrestrial intelligence would read differently to modern audiences, who may perceive the narrator as presumptuous or uninformed.

Therefore, the correct response to the question is:

• C. they would have been more impressed by the narrator's knowledge.