"Meteor" by John Wyndham is a short story about Sally Fontain and her fiancee, Graham, whose house is shaken by an impact which they assume to be a meteor. Wyndham's carefully structured narrative enhances tension as it slowly reveals, through the intertwining of the framed third person narrative with the first person epistolary narrative of Onn the alien, that what has impacted Earth is not a meteor at all.
Each strange finding by the Police Inspector and his Sergeant is explicated to us slightly by the diary entry that follows: we know that Onn wants to make friendly contact with humans, after which the policemen discover a cat with a strange hole bored through its head. Then, Onn explains that he has encountered "an enormous face . . . high above us . . . black. It had two pointed ears . . . " His narrative makes us understand that the aliens are very tiny and mistook the cat for a monster. Next, he explains having seen the four humans approach and pick up the Globe itself, which leaves Onn feeling very desolate. Wyndham repeats this pattern throughout the story.
Characters in the story:
Sally Fontain is the first character introduced. Sally, interestingly, upon discovering that the meteor is artificial, speculates that "all those people who hate war . . . could go to a clean new planet," unknowingly describing exactly what the creatures from Forta are attempting to do.
Graham is Sally's fiance. A former soldier, Graham says that "noises like that [of the supposed meteor] remind me of the war" and worries that "a new one" is beginning. Graham is very affected by the hissing sound emitting from Onn's Globe, which causes him to faint.
Sally's father spots the "faint flash" of what he thinks is a meteor and encourages the inhabitants of the house to venture out in the garden to see the hole where the meteor hit.
We encounter Onn through his diary, which is written in the first person. Onn explains that "Great Leader Cottaft" has informed his people that "the Globes" are about to go out into the universe to "win a victory over nature" with the science and skills of Forta—the planet that Onn comes from—which is dying. The purpose of the Globes is to search the universe for a new home.
Onn observes Earth, "the planet to which our Globe is being sent," through a telescope and remarks that it "shines like a blue pearl," which pleases him—"the other globes are being sent to worlds that do not look so inviting." Onn reveals that he will be put to sleep with gas inside the Globe, and when he next wakes up, he will be on Earth. Interestingly, Onn expresses "trust in God."
The police inspector is invited by Sally to come and see the crater where the supposed meteor has hit. Sally reveals to him that Graham and her father have in fact dug out the meteor. The Inspector fears that the Globe (as the reader knows it to be) may actually be a nuclear weapon of some kind.
When the humans finally discover the aliens, they think they are "like insect[s]," and, unaware that these are the creatures who have designed the meteor, they kill them with "a cloud of insect-killer" without even thinking. The alternating perspectives of this story have enabled us to see two completely different views on the same thing. Sally's observations about the possible use of the meteor are so similar to the use it was put to by the aliens that the audience cannot help but interpret the meaning as being that all peoples, however different, really want the same thing. Everyone wants peace and happiness. However, our first instinct is often to kill each other: we dismiss other cultures as possible allies instead of working together in pursuit of our mutual goals. Thematically, the story highlights the natural tendency of mankind to destroy and the extent to which prejudice and division leads to further destruction.
Monday, March 23, 2015
Hello, is it possible to have a detailed analysis of the story "Meteor" by John Wyndham including themes, analysis of characters, and important passages? Thanks.
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