“The Star” is a short story written by H.G. Wells. It depicts a catastrophic event that nearly destroys Earth completely. By the third day of the New Year, this phenomenon was visible with any instrument. An instrument, in that case, would be a telescope. Newspapers described it as “new planet”, and thought that it would cross paths with Neptune. But it was more than that, it was some form of cosmic matter, it was a giant, bright star. And it was coming closer to Earth. “Brighter it was than any star in our skies; brighter than the evening star at its brightest.” (Wells 2). In this quote, Wells describes the giant star as a star so bright that it outshines all the other star. “And where science has not reached, men stared and feared, telling one another of the wars and pestilences that are foreshadowed by these fiery signs in the Heavens”(Wells 2). In this line, people were afraid of what this star could bring. They were worried about the destruction it can cause.

One thing that I noticed throughout the story, is that Wells is good at describing people’s reactions and feelings towards the coming of the star. Wells writes, “It hurried along wakening streets, it was shouted down the frost-stilled ways of quiet villages; men who had read these things from the throbbing tape stood in yellow-lit doorways shouting the news to the passerby”(pg.2). In the line, people are spreading the word about the star inching closer to the Earth. Some would view the star as a disaster but other viewed as a sign of new beginnings. A master mathematician was calculating the amount of time until Earth’s untimely demise. People were in complete fear. Wells states, “It was the tolling of the bells in a million belfry towers and steeples, summoning people to sleep no more, to sin no more, but to gather in their churches and pray”(pg.4). Since the star was inching its way closer, people soon became worried about their lives that they turned to the churches and decided to pray. It was predicted that a series of natural disasters would affect the planet, Earth. “Earthquakes, volcanic outbreaks, cyclones, sea waves, floods, and a steady rise in temperature to I know what limit”(Wells 4).

“The star–it grew with a terrible steadiness hour after hour, a little larger each hour, a little nearer the midnight zenith, and brighter and brighter, until it had turned night into a second day”(Wells 5). In this quote, Wells describes the star as a being so powerful that night is no longer there. Once that star arrived on Earth, disastrous events started to occur. The temperature rose, floods began, lava spewed from volcanoes and earthquakes tore across continents. It was the end and no one could prepare for it. “Once again men set their eyes upon old constellation they had counted lost to them forever”(Wells 6). In this line, people were looking up at the star knowing that it would be their last night.

The star had destroyed everything in its path. There was devastation everywhere. But soon the star passed and mankind survived somehow. Wells writes, “All the familiar continental markings and the masses of the seas remain intact, and indeed the only difference seems to be a shrinkage of the white discoloration (supposed to be frozen water) round either pole”(pg.7). The ending was a bit confusing. Wells described that star as the ending of Earth. But it seems that all the star did be a little collateral damage. I was expecting that the entire Earth would be destroyed, wiping out the entire human race.

Ultimately, Wells proved a some of the important points. While this star was inching its way closer, no one decided to do anything. People carried on with their lives, people prayed to the heavens and some just gave up. No one thought of a way to get off Earth. People just waited on their impending doom and it came.

The star is a short story about the impending doom of humanity itself, and all the things that might take place on earth as time goes on. It is a very interesting speculation on how humans as a population would react to such an event. It actually seems quite accurate. H.G. Wells goes on to talk about how there would be people all around the world would view this star as a spectacle and nothing more, and continue going about their business as if there is nothing to be afraid of. He then goes on to talk about the utter destruction on earth caused by natural disasters that occur because of said star which has heated up the planet and melted earth polar ice caps. Again, this is quite similar to the things that are happening currently in modern times albeit slow and steady. Natural disasters all over the world have been occurring that have been worse than the latter times we’ve experienced them. This downfall of humanity in “The Star” seems to almost be satirical in the sense that we as a race know and practically predict what our future might end up looking like with scarily accurate depictions of what is happening to earth, but we continue to ignore the physical signs that things have taken a turn for the worse. The twist at the end of the story was of a different point-of-view. H.G. Wells thought of a microcosm of extraterrestrial beings on mars who have actually caused Armageddon on earth as the astronomers experimenting with rockets to see what would happen if it only passed nearby. This was actually quite ironic. The idea that something that has caused mass destruction on earth was only an experiment for astronomers as our astronomers experiment on earth to calculate the destruction of planets.

The Star by H.G. Wells is a short story similar to The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster in which Earth suffers as a result of a catastrophe.  In the story, a glowing white star has become visible above Earth’s surface which becomes an object of interest to the people on Earth.  Instead, it turns out to me a comet that completely alters Earth’s atmosphere, instantly killing many people with the natural disasters that occur due to the sudden climate.  The things that stuck out to me the most while reading this were the human’s reaction to the star and the martian’s reaction to human’s agony.

Throughout the story, H.G. Wells put a noticeably large amount of detail into humanity’s response to the star.  Some people had no interest in the star and brushed it off. Others showed interest in it but treated it like a constellation instead of something dangerous.  The reaction that stood out the most was the master mathematician. He had a theory, proved it, and said “‘Circumstances beyond my control,’ he said and paused, ‘which will debar me from completing the course I had designed.  It would seem, gentlemen, if I may put the thing clearly and briefly, that-Man has lived in vain.’” (Page 3). Despite his great mind, his accurate prediction of the impending calamity, he immediately gives up and isn’t willing to come up with a solution to ease humanity’s upcoming suffering other than a forewarning.  Afterwards, when the star came to Earth like the mathematician predicted, people panicked and did odd things such as taking a ship out into the ocean even though thunderstorms and tsunamis started stirring up. All of the reactions H.G. Wells wrote down perfectly captures the diverse and imperfect nature of humans.

At the end of the story, there’s one last group of people that had their very own reaction, the Martians astronomers.  They were considered “very different from men” yet we see them saying things like “it is astonishing what a little damage the earth, which it missed so narrowly, has sustained. (Page 7)”.  Their response shows that they acknowledge the suffering of the humans but the way they did sounded very indifferent. Their response is quite insensitive but when you think about it, isn’t that how humans would react if they see or hear something terrible happening to another?  If someone else is going through a rough experience wouldn’t the typical reply be “Oh, that’s too bad.” The martians may be different from humans but their response was precisely how a human would act.

Compared to The Machine Stops, we can see several differences and similarities.  The Machine Stops is post-apocalyptic and humans are all very similar as a result of the Machine taking care of them.  The Star is closer to apocalyptic and humans are capable of showing different reactions to the imminent crisis.  They both show early signs of the nearing end, have someone who is aware of the danger (Kuno and the master mathematician) yet both times, humans are incapable of avoiding their fate.  By comparing both of them, we can see that humans are at fault because of their inability or lack of will to take action.

As science fiction short story, I think this was written because H.G. Wells wanted to create a hypothetical scenario to help humanity open its eyes.  We have our flaws but a lot of the time, we’re not willing to do anything to fix them, even if we do acknowledge them. This story perfectly showed how people would act in times of emergency and if more people could imagine an event like this happening, we could possibly better ourselves as human beings.

The Star by H.G Wells is a short science fiction story that details the events of a star approaching the earth. In it, the author is very meticulous in his writing; he perfectly captures the reactions of humans awaiting their doom. For example, in page 4, the author writes, “…everywhere the world was awake that night, and throughout Christendom a somber murmur hung in the keen air over the country side like the belling of bees in the heather, and this murmurous tumult grew to a clangour in the cities.” This quote conveys the world-wide panic that was created because of the star. Interestingly, he compares the cries of humans (“a somber murmur”) to that of bees, which probably means that there was so much noise that it was impossible to discern any of it. In addition, the author seems to imply that the crying among humans never stopped (similar to how a bee never stops buzzing). He further emphasizes the panic and noise by stating “this murmurous tumult grew to a clangour in the cities.” In simplest terms, this means that the panic grew larger when moved from the country side to the city. Something to note in this sentence is the author’s use of the word clangour, which is defined as loud banging. Loud banging probably refers to the destruction of vehicles, buildings and people. This shows that the country side and the city mourned their doom differently. The country side let out a cry while the city seemed to let itself be subjected to chaos.

Wells later gives individual or specific reactions to the imminent catastrophic event. For example, some laughed at the news and didn’t believe anything of substance will occur. This is shown in page 3, as the author writes, “[t]he students glanced at each other. Had they heard alright? Mad? Raised eyebrows and grinning lips there were.” Then in page 5, he writes, “there were plenty awake to laugh at the master mathematician – to take the danger as if it had passed.” On the other hand, other people thought nothing of it as, “nine human beings out of ten were still busy at their common occupations” (page 5). These sentences convey the different attitudes people have to something they don’t understand or want to understand. Most seem to think nothing will happen and continue on with their daily lives. In my opinion, I believe these reactions are realistic. Wells’ attention to detail / realism in his characters really caught my attention and made me want to hear what happens next. Overall, his story effectively builds its atmosphere by conveying the reactions every person on earth had. As a result, Wells builds a connection with his audience and makes the story more interesting.

Something else I found interesting was how Wells appears to make a connection to the bible in page 4, as he states, “… in all the seas about the civilsed lands, ships throbbing engines, and ships with bellying sails, crowded sails, crowded with men and living creatures, were standing out to ocean and the north.” The fact that everyone was trying to escape on ships with living creatures reminds me of Noah’s ark. Interestingly, the setting for Noah’s Ark and The Star are similar because they both occur in an imminent apocalyptic setting (the human race is in danger of being extinct in both). To connect back to my previous point about how Wells effectively describes the hysteria among the human race, he states in the same page that the warning of the oncoming star was, “translated into a hundred tongues.” Simply put, this means that practically everyone on earth understood what was going to happen as the warning was written in nearly all languages.

“The Star” written by H.G. Wells recounts the story of a comet approaching earth and the way people react to this impending danger that they dent really realize is actually a danger to them yet. What I found interesting in this story is the way it takes on  a completely opposite approach to that of “The Machine Stops”. Whereas in this tale people are renouncing a more scientific approach to understanding there dilemma and ridiculing the mathathmation for his understanding in ” The Machine Stops” they renounce the idea of more spiritual thinking and in both cases this sort of thinking leads to both populations demise. 

I find it interesting how in both of these tales isolation in one form or another plays a key role in the way they experience problems. In this story the beginning tells us how isolating the solar system can be and because of this it brings with it ignorance of what lays beyond the solar system. “Few people without a training in science can realise the huge isolation of the solar system.” (page 1 Wells). The very begging of the second paragraph alone tries to make us comprehend how even as we are surrounded by planets and people we as humans are still alone. The bleakness of the sentiment illustrates how even as the entirety of the human race was dealing with the same issues they were still alone in their predicament without anyone to really help them face this obstacle. Even as this monumental issue is fast approaching it still isolation amongst people as a whole. Rather then coming together and understanding the issue at hand people divide themselves and ridiculed those among them that shared an opinion or some insight. “The master mathematician’s grim warnings were treated by many as so much mere elaborate self-advertisement…So, too, barbarism and savagery, already tired of the novelty, went about they’re nightly business”(page 5 Wells). Even as the impending danger approaches the people in this narrative lose respect for the novelty and continue there lives as if nothing strange is occurring. 

Overall I didn’t really understand the point of the story at hand. Even though you get the sense of a dividing humanity in the tale it isn’t really expressed as a detrimental factor to the story. Yes, the stars approaching rapidly but there isn’t much that can be done about it. The issues at hand are inevitable and with it no further development is presented amongst the few characters. I feel like the story in a lot of ways was pointless because even with the problem they presented with no real solutions the people just kind of had to deal with what was happening to them. Even the Martians offered little elevation to the story as to what could possibly be the meaning as to why this occurred. The story overall felt more like a shrug of shoulders were this is whats happening and thats about. I find that the story is very irritating especially in the beginning because you don’t really get the sense of whats happening or even where.