How we cite our quotes: (Volume.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
…many who swam out to these vessels were thrust off with boathooks and drowned. (1.17.4)
Once again, we see the ideals of the community destroyed by the coming of the Martians. That is, when someone is drowning, people with boats are supposed to help them. Whereas here, it's the people in the boats who are somewhat responsible for the drowning.
Quote #8
It sounds paradoxical, but I am inclined to think that the weakness and insanity of the curate warned me, braced me, and kept me a sane man. (2.4.4)
So far in these quotes we've gotten a lot of examples of community-breakdown. With the narrator and the curate, though, we have an example of a temporary community during the Martian invasion. Generally speaking, it's not a pretty picture. Instead of, say, one member giving the other member strawberries (see above), we get a lot of fighting and withholding of food. But there is one bright point to this community: according to the narrator, he has to be even better (saner) because the curate is so far gone. That's kind of a weird positive, but we'll take what we can get.
Quote #9
But while that voice sounded the solitude, the desolation, had been endurable; by virtue of it London had still seemed alive, and the sense of life about me had upheld me. (2.8.17)
What about inter-species – or inter-world – communities? Here, at the end of the novel, we briefly glimpse a human-Martian community. Is this a real community?