How we cite our quotes: (Volume.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Then – a familiar, reassuring note – I heard a train running towards Woking. (1.9.2)
If you were looking for a symbol of rules and order, you could do worse than the train. After all, the train has to keep to a certain schedule. Unless, of course, that schedule is interrupted by invading aliens using Heat-Rays. (Or, really, any type of ray.) For more on this, check out the Martian vs. human technology section in "Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory."
Quote #5
Even the crews of the torpedo-boats and destroyers that had brought their quick-firers up the Thames refused to stop, mutinied, and went down again. (1.15.31)
Ever since the Spanish Armada (and likely even before that), British power has been associated with sea power. They have the best navy around and don't you forget it. So, in some ways, British life in the 19th century is based on the fact that they have a fantastic navy. Yet we see that the Martian invasion is undermining this basis for the British way of life. (Although the Martians seem to leave untouched that other basis for the British way of life: tea.)
Quote #6
By ten o'clock the police organization, and by midday even the railway organizations, were losing coherency, losing shape and efficiency, guttering, softening, running at last in that swift liquefaction of the social body. (1.16.1)
Okay, so maybe the Martians have left the tea untouched, but look at all the other things they're ruining: the police, the railroads, the whole "social body." But maybe the Martians aren't totally to blame. Perhaps part of the reason why the social order is falling apart is that people aren't doing enough to keep it together. Also, check out that language: "guttering, softening, running" – that sounds a lot like words you would use to describe candle wax, something solid that doesn't stay solid. (For more on liquid metaphors, check out "Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory.")