The Work of Fifteen Days…
The red weed is more fully explored. Would make for a lousy salad, apparently.
I’m kind of wishing all of the chapters of The War of the Worlds could be in short format. It’s just easier to digest and process. I am also, however, a creature that likes a fair amount of consistancy, and I’m feeling like Herbert George tends to get bored with the fantastical, and obsessive over the human interaction level. This is something I didn’t feel when I was just reading the work for fun. There’s something about dissecting a work and then extrapolating it, that opens up the hidden dimensions to it. Ignorance is bliss, as per usual. Just wait for the blooper reel.
As the title of the chapter suggests, the Narrator has been stuck inside for two weeks, most of that between the wailings of a crazy guy and a very real possibility of becoming a Martian Capri Sun. The mind boggles at what might have been going on in the rest of the world during this dark fortnight of the soul. Thanks to social media these days, two weeks can easily feel like two months, perhaps even two years1; in 1897 things were a little slower paced. You had telegraph lines, sure, but the regular joe was not going to be using those for infotainment. Trains were fast enough assuming the tracks weren’t messed about with, but only if not over-congested. Controlled flight was still a dream for the near future. There would be a decided lag in getting information out to all and sundry.
We never learn from the author what the red weed was really all about. I love the idea of some random weed-seed hitching a ride, though, and becoming an invasive species. Pesky Martians not following quarantine rules and all that. At best, however, the weed serves as forshadowing to the Martian’s own fate, succumbing to Earth’s unseen and overlooked allies2 who turn it all the red fronds to so much sludge. The unseen is not to be discounted.
This is a Great Time to Buy! omfg
The Narrator also benefits from the unseen allies, gathering veg for a meal. Good luck doing that in 2025 suburban ‘Merikuh.
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