In H.G. Wells War of the Worlds the humans' instinct to survive overcomes threats to their existence.

When faced with the unknown the human instinct for survival gives us only two options, fight or flight.

When the unknown plumes of fire were first spotted shooting from Mars it attracted many scientists, and it was also the same year that Mars was close enough to Earth to allow scientists to observe it with telescopes from that era. It was not until the cylindrical object, for that is what the scientists now knew what it was, entered the Earth's atmosphere that most humans felt the fear of the unknown. When the first object had landed, many noises were heard emanating from within. As time went on the noises gradually faded to nothing and many people felt relief that whatever was living inside, was now dead. It was not until the lid started unscrewing that humans became frantic. "It's a-movin', a-screwin' and a screwin' out. I don't like it. I'm a-goin' 'ome, I am." (Wells 11) The lid fell off,

The many soldiers that managed to escape had to find a place to hide and one "pushed on, wet and shivering to the nearest house." (29) Other soldiers that did not want to take the risk of flight "hid under dead horses for a long time, peeping out furtively across the common" (33) in hopes that the Martians would leave. People returning to their homes found soldiers retreating, hiding or dead. The soldiers cared about other people because those returning home were told to leave because "you may be hurt if you cross the canal." (22) Soldiers retreated beyond the range of heat rays and continued to fire wildly at the fighting Martians. It was hard to survive when the enemy is about twenty times the size that you are and have superior weaponry. Even though many sacrificed their lives and died, the efforts were continued.

With the arrival of Martian reinforcements many realized there was no chance of winning the battle or even a chance of survival many fled. It was unsafe to live in a country being inhabited by Martians. One man stated "if all that the soldiers are doing to kill these beasts and it is not very effective, why are we here, we are surely to die." (94) When the humans fled, they did so in a hurry because they were terrified. Many people were killed while others were attempting to escape. "Out in the road I saw a man, he was being trampled over by carriages and being whipped by the drivers because he chose not to move out of the way." (76) When the families did decide to flee, the husbands, at a later date returned to gather more possessions only to find the wreckage of buildings and dead bodies. They were thankful, I am sure that they left when they did.

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