Alex C. Hawley wrote the short essay, “Revisiting H.G. Wells' Depiction of Science and Religion in War of the Worlds”, in order to examine what the novel War of the Worlds states about both Science and Religion. However, the author does not limit himself to examining only the text in the novel; rather, he also looks at examples in the film that came out half a century later. Not only that, but the first three paragraphs are spent giving background information on the history of the science and religion debate. The essay is a tad on the short side, but the author still makes a compelling examination of what the novel and film of War of the Worlds states about how science and religion hold up in the face of catastrophe.

            The first and foremost thing that caught my attention when examination the style of this piece was that nearly half of it wasn’t about the novel at all; a good portion of the essay looked the background of the science vs. religion controversy and the film War of the Worlds.

            It was not until this year that I seriously considered that outside material would be a good addition to an essay about a novel. I always figured that if the novel was your main subject, than nearly your entire essay should be spent discussing it. However, the background information helps to understand the environment in which the novel was produced, thus helping us understand the context. Additionally, I felt like the analysis of the movie, which was adapted to fit its more modern environment, reflects how people have changed from now to then. All in all, I felt like this focus on things besides the novel bettered the discussion about the novel and helped the essay as a whole

            Another unexpected thing about this essay is the counterpoint that is presented at the end. Prior to the last two paragraphs, the author was stating that the book was advocating technology over religion. However, in the last two paragraphs, it is noted that it could have been religion and God that ultimately defeated the Martians. It seemed strange that the author was bringing up contradictory evidence to the thesis he seemed to be headed towards. In writing an essay, it seems foolish to give support to the side your opposing. It means that you are lacking a “strong thesis”. However, in the end, by tying the two together, I feel that his analysis became all the more powerful.

            It leads me to believe that a weak thesis that does not focus on a central point may be effective as well. In other words, there is no definitive answer. You simply analyze the evidence the book presents for both sides of the argument and then, in turn, give that information back to the readers, in order that they make their own assessment. I feel that many analyses of the deep meanings of books are not what the author intended. Therefore, it is important to present evidence for all sides, as the situation is not as black and white as it seems.