“In the Days of the Comet” is a utopian novel written by H. G. Wells in 1906. This work describes the events surrounding
an extraordinary change in the behavior of the human race. The story is set in the early 1900s, during a time of fictional war between England and Germany.
The protagonist, William
Leadford is a poor young man in love with a middle class woman named Nettie. Nettie elopes with a rich man named Verral. Leadford becomes jealous and follows Nettie and Verral in an attempt to kill them. All this time, a comet is visible in the sky. Its green tail is brighter that the moon.
Leadford
eventually finds Nettie and Verral on the coast when two German warships appear and begin to shell the coastal town. Panic ensues and Leadford loses contact with his prey. At this time, the tail of the comet begins to enter the Earth’s atmosphere and a green gas envelops the entire earth. Everyone who comes into contact with this fog immediately faints. Eventually, everyone on Earth was impacted by the spreading fog. After several hours of unconsciousness, people awake in an enlightened state of mind.
The green gas somehow changed the atmosphere and humanity has embarked on what was called the “Great Change”. Leadford is no longer interested in vengeance, and the war between England and Germany ends. Also, national borders are eliminated as are all polluting factories. The world is magically transformed into a Utopian state. At the end of the novel, Leadford is in his seventies and he is one of the few remaining survivors that witnessed the “Great Change”.
H. G. Wells was a self described Socialist and he was a member of several Socialist organizations. His work, “In the Days of the Comet” best describes his political views. At the end of the novel, there are no nations, wars, pollution or private ownership of property. With the help of the green Comet, society has transformed itself from a greedy warlike race into a peaceful Utopian Socialist existence.
This work is different from many of H. G. Wells other science fiction novels. While it has many of the standard science fiction themes, it is more of a political statement than a science fiction story. Also, many of Well’s other works end on a somewhat negative tone. In “War of the Worlds”, much of the world is destroyed. In “The Time Machine” humanity has severely deteriorated and eventually ceases to exist. “In the Days of the Comet” is one of Well’s lesser known works and is not widely read today. Unlike his more popular works, this story has never been adapted to cinema. While several recent blockbuster movies depicted asteroid or comet collisions with Earth (Armageddon, Asteroid, etc.), none have been inspired by H. G. Wells “In the Days of the Comet”.
Mark Askeda.