War with the Newts

Other violent incidents occurred in France. In Normandy, the employers of newts refused to give them apples, and so the newts began to steal apples from orchards. The farmers responded with armed raids against the newts. When the police tried to intervene, the farmers also shot at them.

Meanwhile, in Coutance, some boys attack a newt. The newt detonates an explosive which kills him and three boys, as well as injuring other boys. This causes a mob to attack the newt settlement and violence to develop from the newts in return. Humans and newts meet violently in other coastal locations in France. The ship Jules Flambeau sails out into the bay and sends up colored rockets. The newts torpedo the ship.

Newspapers cover this sensational event, and the public wants to know who gave weapons to the newts. The government admits to arming the newts and wants to keep them armed in order to defend the coast. Several officials involved in the incident are fired and the government awards the families of the boys monetary compensation.

Eventually, after fears that the coasts will be closed, the Minister of Agriculture has apples thrown into the sea and allots rations of wine to the newts. This pleases the newts and the Minister of Agriculture becomes the Minister of the Marine.

In the Straits of Dover, the ship Oudenbourgh sails close to some underwater explosions. Many newts are killed, but the ship escapes and warns other ships. There is debate whether the underwater fortress of England or France struck first. Eventually, the two countries agree on a neutral zone between the underwater fortresses.

The Baltic Newt, called der Nordmolch, stands out from the other newts in terms of appearance and intelligence. The news outlets in Germany argue that this is the ur-newt: the newt from which all other newts descend. Germany wants to expand in order to accommodate their growing group of newts.

Other nations are opposed to Germany expanding. England says their navy will protect their coasts from the Germans. The Marquise de Sade writes about the prowess of the Baltic Newt, arguing that it is the best soldier, and how Germans are creating more boats and underwater defenses. He questions if the British can defeat the Baltic Newts, who will dig underground as well as dominate the ocean.

Germans deny these accusations of domination but run maneuvers with the salamanders alongside their fleet and other forces. They destroy sand dunes that have crossed into their territory. The explosion throws sand in the air, which remains there for several months, causing sunsets to take on a redder hue.

A philosopher, Wolf Meynert, publishes “Untergang der Menschheit (The Decline of Humanity)” (283). It argues that humans are desperate as their race is coming to an end. Humans are divided, due to differences in finances, nationality, etc., and these divisions keep humans from being happy. They cannot operate as a collective.

Newts, on the other hand, do not have the divisions among themselves that humans do. This allows for newts to be more unified. They are the most oppressed group—treated worse than the most subjugated humans. Newts do not have their own arts or philosophy to help cope with oppression, like humans. However, they have a strong communal identity.

Since there are far more newts than humans, Meynert argues that the newts could become the most powerful force on earth. In their solidarity and lack of difference, newts can avoid the problems that humans had. The newts will be happier than humans ever were. The narrator notes that Maynert’s book was very popular among both humans and newts.

Young people, especially artists, begin to idolize newts and they found a movement called Salamandrism. Humans who oppose Salamandrism call it “Newt mania” (291). One person in particular, the anonymous X, publishes a pamphlet in reaction to the movement. It warns about how newts outnumber humans and humans do not know what happens among them underwater. Newts and humans are opposites in various ways, such as being nocturnal or diurnal.

X wishes the newts would make some demands and is concerned that humans have no idea what the newts want. Also, X contrasts the people who are revolted by newts with the people who idolize them. A major reason why X dislikes the newts is because they are mediocre as well as successful. They are too practical and lack the kind of artistic soul that humans have.

Humans should separate themselves from the newts, X argues. This includes not employing them and not giving them weapons. X believes there should be a league or society in order to organize opposition to the newts.

The response to the pamphlet was mixed. In theory, separation from the newts was appealing. However, in practice, it would harm the human economy since it was deeply intertwined with the newts. Anti-newt sentiments appeared all over the world, written on the border walls. Humans mobbed and stoned newts. The newts did not organize protests or publicly respond to the actions against them.

A large earthquake affects many places in Louisiana, including New Orleans, Fort Jackson, and New Iberia. There is a fissure between the Gulf of Mexico and Vermilion Bay filled with sea water. Mud is everywhere. Several telegrams are included that give details about the destruction and what kind of aid is needed in the emergency. Several hours after the earthquake, a tidal wave hits the US coast from Texas to Alabama.

The newspapers cover the event and print a scientific opinion about it from a seismologist, Dr. Brownell. He predicts there could be more geological instability, up to a catastrophic level, but more information is needed. A telegram from Fort Jackson to the Governor of Louisiana includes a message from the Chief Salamander, who apologizes for the loss of 340 human lives. The rest of the message is from Fred Dalton, who the governor believes is joking.

A few days after the Louisiana earthquake, another earthquake hits the Kiangsu province of China, creating a fissure. Other earthquakes hit the Cape Verdes Islands and the coast of Senegal. Newspapers cover the events. On November 20, the Chief Salamander sends out a transmission, apologizing for the loss of life in the earthquakes. The newts need more coastlines and shallow waters for their expanding numbers, so they are breaking up the continents. The chief says humans can head into the mountains for safety. The broadcast ends with content from the monster film Poseidon.

The newspapers call the transmission a joke. The following night, there is another broadcast from the newts. They play a song from a human musical about salamanders. Then, they explain that they torpedoed the British ship that tried to attack their broadcasting station. They also sank a ship that refused to give them more explosives. If the humans do not deliver explosives, the newts will sink more ships. The broadcast ends with another human song about salamanders.

More ships are sunk by the newts, and England still refuses to give supplies to the newts. In another broadcast, the Chief Salamander says there will be a blockade on England (but not the Irish Free State). Then, the Chief Salamander talks to other nations about needing more explosives, torpedoes, and food. The broadcast ends with the record “The Triton-Trot” (313).

The newts’ blockade interferes with most of British shipping in six weeks, but the government does not want to negotiate with newts. The British people have very little food, and air shipping is heavily controlled by European nations. The weapons used in the conflict between the English and the newts include cannons, bombs, and chemicals. After the newts release poison gas, the Chief Salamander broadcasts a monetary offer for part of England and stops attacking. England still refuses to negotiate, and the newts set off explosions, causing more of England to be covered with sea water.

A few weeks later, there is a conference in the High Alps among the human nations. England suggests that other nations stop sending supplies to the newts, but this idea is rejected. Columbia proposes that they work with delegates representing the newts, and this passes. England’s representative is excused from attending and interacting with the newt delegates. The newts send human representatives, which surprises the representatives from human nations.

The newt representatives ask what they can do about the British hostilities against them, since the Hague will not hear their complaints and the League of Nations does not consider them a nation. They want an apology, free trade, and a gift of land. The conference’s president says he will convey this to the representative, who is out sick. Then, the newt representative from Paris argues that the Senegal earthquake was not caused by the newts, despite the chief admitting on the broadcast that it was. The newts demand a large portion of France, and the French delegate is outraged. Dr. Rosso Castelli, one of the newt representatives, says the newts will take it by force, so it is better to take the monetary offer.

This sentiment is repeated when the human nations ask for the newts to avoid areas heavily populated with humans and build new lands instead. Dr. Manoel Carvalho, another newt representative, explains that newts can extract gold from sea water, and thus can pay handsomely. He personally argues in favor of taking the offer, as a human. The European nations want to give the newts most of China in exchange for them leaving Europe alone. The Chinese delegate tries to debate this, but no one speaks Chinese. A secretary enters and tells the Italian delegate that newts have caused areas around Venice to flood. The newt broadcast plays Venetian music at that time, then announces they are switching to a broadcast location in Venice.

Povondra, now retired from his porter position, has taken up fishing in Prague as a hobby. His son, Frantik, works at a post office and has a son who shares his name, and a daughter named Marenka. The father and son discuss the newts’ progress into Germany and the German people who used to live there. Povondra considers how newts sinking a nation used to be sensational news, but now people have grown used to it. Many nations are entirely, or largely, underwater now, including Prussia and a large part of France.

They discuss how humans and newts can’t directly fight one another because one is a land animal and the other is an aquatic animal. Then, they argue whether or not the newts have made it into Prague. Frantik argues that the newts must be close to them because they have “sunk about a fifth of all the continents” (334). His father disagrees, but then they see a newt in the water. Povondra believes it is the end, and his son rows him home.

At home, Povondra feels ill and gets into bed. He feels guilty about showing the captain in to see Bondy and thinks he played an important part in ending the world. His son argues that Povondra should not take so much of the blame because everyone is responsible for what happened with the newts. Mrs. Povondra offers her husband some tea. He asks for forgiveness from his children.

The writer, Čapek, argues with himself about the ending of the book. He considers calling in a doctor to look after Povondra and extend his life. However, the outcome of the newts destroying the human world is inevitable, given how humans behaved toward the newts. The author tried to warn them through the X character. If humans survive on small strips of land, they would end up working for the newts.

He debates the validity of Meynert’s book, and thinks about how Marenka should be able to live. However, humans are responsible for the outcome of the newts destroying the world because they supplied the newts with weapons and demanded more production. The author admits that the Chief Salamander was a soldier named Andreas Schultze.

One part of himself wonders if newts would fight each other over for power or nationality. He looks at a map and considers the underwater realms of the newts—Atlantis versus Lemuria—and the newts dying off in the end. Humans could then come down from the mountains and Europe would simply be a myth, alongside a new flood myth. The author admits he doesn’t know what would happen after that.