53 pages • 1 hour read
Karel ČapekWar with the Newts
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1936A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Newts
The titular newts, or giant talking salamanders, are the main focus of the novel. Scientists argue if the modern newts are the same as the fossil “Andrias Scheuchzeri” (108). Newts are compared to “seals” (47, 83) and “beavers” (56) in their appearance and their natural building ability, respectively. Another important biological detail is that the male newts do not directly create offspring: “[T]he male is not the father of the tadpoles, but only the producer of a certain quite impersonal chemical agent bringing about the sexual milieu which is the true means of fertilization” (156). Not knowing who their father is changes the social structure of the newts. The males have a collective identity that is not fractured by paternity, nationality, or other factors that divide humans. In other words, the newts have a “single, huge, and homogeneous unity” (286). The problem that the newts face is not conflict within their species, like humans, but the rapid increase in their numbers once they learn to kill their main predators with weapons.
Captain van Toch, the first human who brings newts into the human world, says they are “very nice and good animals, those lizards” (46). From him, newts on the island Tanah Masa learn how to collect pearls (See: Symbols & Motifs). The captain convinces Bondy to form a business around the newts, the Pacific Export Association. After the captain’s death, and after the price of pearls has dropped, Bondy sells the newts themselves as an enslaved labor force. The new company used for this purpose, the Salamander Syndicate, considers how “each Newt represents some kind of economic value” (145). The newts are treated as a commodity. Humans continue to treat the newts as property even though newts create the “most modern and, scientifically, most advanced educational system in the world” (206). The intelligence of the newts is not recognized by the people who are exploiting them.
Some humans, in addition to the captain, recognize the intelligence of the newts and create art about them. The newts themselves are “without art” (287), but they inspire Salamandarism among humans. This is the desire to emulate newts and elevate them, which is referred to negatively as “Newt mania” (291). The strongest warnings against Salamandarism come from the anonymous author X, who is a persona of the author. However, the warnings are not heeded and the newts begin to cause explosions to create more coastlines for their growing population. The newts explain to the humans that they “are only using your own weapons” (316). Newts are more powerful because they are more unified: “Newts can’t fight other Newts. That would be contrary to nature” (343).
Captain van Toch
Captain van Toch is a “powerful man in a captain’s cap” (43) with “sky-blue eyes” (61). Bondy compares him to the protagonists of adventure novels. However, the captain does not self-identify as an adventurer. He begrudgingly agrees to go to Tanah Masa, complaining that, “For thirty years I’ve been around in these parts of the world, and now these fellers want me to discover something here!” (13). Captain van Toch is well traveled and world-weary at the beginning of the novel.
Once he finds the newts, he admits to being an “old chap [...] lonely” (53). The captain enjoys spending time with the newts. He also believes they represent an excellent business opportunity. When the captain tells Bondy about teaching the newts to gather pearls, Bondy thinks it is the “best story” he has ever heard (52), and agrees to fund the captain’s pearl-gathering expeditions. While the captain is alive, the newts are not fully exploited. For instance, the captain gives the newts weapons to fend off sharks. The other humans follow the captain’s example while he is alive, treating the newts somewhat like a circus act. It is only after Captain van Toch dies at the end of Book 1 that Bondy decides to enslave the newts for their labor.
G. H. Bondy
Captain van Toch and Gustl H. Bondy knew each other when they were kids in Czechoslovakia. However, the captain remembers Bondy’s father, Max, before recalling the son. Newspaper editors refer to Bondy, a successful businessman, as a “captain of our industry” (38) to Captain van Toch. However, the two captains approach newts very differently. Bondy distances himself from the newts, while the captain was one the humans closest to the newts. Bondy thinks of himself as “a dreamer […] a poet” (46). He supports the captain’s somewhat kind treatment of the newts until the captain’s death.
While Bondy still holds the captain in high regard as a person, Bondy criticizes his business sense. After the captain’s death, Bondy dissolves the Pacific Export Association, which used the newts to harvest pearls, and creates the Salamander Syndicate, rooted in a system of slavery. Bondy, when asked by a member of the board of directors of the Syndicate, what a newt is like, he is unable to answer, not having had contact with a newt. Rather, Bondy is “interested in business myself as an artist [...] we must be poets if we are to keep the world turning” (145). He considers enslaving the newts—only giving them food, not wages, in exchange for labor—to be poetic.
Mr. Povondra
The human character who undergoes the most development is Povondra, Bondy’s porter, a position that is similar to a butler. When he decides to allow Captain van Toch in to see Bondy, he “decided to shoulder all responsibility” (42). Of all the humans, Povondra is the only one who feels responsible for the war. It is significant that someone who is part of the working class—rather than a director or politician—feels regret about events that, eventually, led to the war. After the first decision he makes regarding the newts, facilitating the creation of the Pacific Export Association, Povondra feels pride in the advancements that the newts allow, such as the construction of new lands.
Book 2 is created from Povondra’s collection of newspaper clippings about the newts. Not only does he feel pride in how human life is improved by newt labor, but he seeks to keep a record of it. He has a wife and a son, Frantik. The passage of time after Captain van Toch’s death can be tracked by Frantik’s age. He is eight years old in Chapter 10 (122). By the end of the novel, Frantik is a “grown-up man” (329). Povondra expresses his guilt over the war to his son, worrying that “one day people will know who was the cause of it all” (337). He believes it is his fault that the newts are destroying continents to make more coastline.
Supporting Characters
There are a few human and newt supporting characters, such as newspaper editors, filmmakers, and zoo employees/residents. Newspapers and the Uses of Information play an important thematic role in War with the Newts, reflecting Karel Čapek’s real-life experiences working as a journalist for many years. The characters Mr. Golombek and Mr. Valenta are editors at a Czech newspaper. On a slow news day, they decide to interview Captain van Toch, and they recommend he talk to Bondy about his pearl-harvesting business idea. This makes them just as responsible as Povondra for the war. However, they do not reappear later in the novel like Povondra.
There are also a group of people who visit Tahuara: Abe, Li, Fred, and Judy. Abe owns the yacht Gloria Pickford, which brings the vacationing group to the island. He is interested in Li, aka Miss Lily Valley, who is an “artist” (89). It is her idea to film the newts on the island, and eventually Abe bankrolls the film with his family’s money. The other couple, Fred—an old school friend of Abe’s—and Judy, take part in making the film. The unnamed yacht captain (99) can be contrasted with Captain van Toch—the former is a minor, static character with only a few lines, while van Toch is a central figure in Book 1.
Another pair of minor characters are part of the London Zoo: the Reptile House keeper, Mr. Thomas Greggs, and Andy the newt who is part of the exhibit. These characters develop the theme Newspapers and the Uses of Information when Greggs, realizing Andy can talk, decides to teach him how to read with daily newspapers. Andy forms ideas about the world based on these newspapers, which is noted by scientists who interview him.
There are also a number of politicians that take part in the Conference at Vaduz near the end of the novel. These include human representatives of the newts: Dr. Van Dott, Julien Rosso Castelli, and Manoel Carvalho—as well as representatives from human nations, such as the French delegate, Minister Deval and the Belgian delegate, Creux. These characters parody real-life politicians, with the conference proceedings being bogged down with bureaucratic processes, demonstrating The Problems With Nationalism.
