The Time Machine by H.G.

Wells
HG Wells was born Herbert George Wells on the 21st September 1866
in Bromley, Kent. The youngest of 4 children born to Sarah Neal and
Joseph Wells his childhood bore the scars of a frugal but not quite
poverty line upbringing. His mother worked for Gentry as a maid and
his father was both a shop keeper and amateur cricketer. They lived
above a crockery shop which his dad run and owned although less
than successfully. His father also earned money as an amateur
cricketer until he broke his leg and the monies for this Endeavour
curtailed. Once of age he followed in his brothers footsteps as an
apprentice draper which was short-lived and came to nothing as did
an apprenticeship for a chemist. At this early stage Wells was trying to
break loose from the chains of his intellectual ability, and at the age of
18 after a 3rd and again unsuccessful career attempt as a pupil teacher
at Midhurst Grammar School, he was accepted to the Royal College
of Science in Kensington. He took a degree in Zoology, and it is here
where his creative influence would be borne into his writing in later life.
At 21 Wells endured the loss of a Kidney after an accident on the
football field and it was at roughly this time his schooling also fell away
and he left the College in 1887 without any degree, to become a
science teacher. He married his cousin Isabel Mary Wells in 1891 and
completed his education. His transition to writing full time was to begin
shortly after and by 1893 he wrote his first book. His marriage to
Isabel failed and Wells ran off with Amy Robbins a former Pupil and
she became his second wife in 1895. Wells now moved into science
fiction with his writing and born out of an earlier piece, called “The
Chronic Argonauts” the “Time Machine” was published.

Wells own views were that of a pronounced socialist. For part of his
life he was a practicing member of the socialist Fabian Society
although for only a short period of time. He was forever concerned
with the state of the world and considered that the world would
advance science, end the nationalistic regimes and that people would
advance as a result of hard work and merit rather than status and
birth. Wells was widely supportive of the theory of “Eugenics”, the
study and practice of selective breeding applied to humans with the
aim of improving the species, some supporters have suggested
connections between the “degenerate” man-creatures portrayed in the
Time Machine and Wells beliefs. Indeed the book reflected not only
this but Wells own socialist views and daily anxiety around world
industrial relations. He had great faith in the potential for Science and
Technology to solve the problems of the human race. However in later
life he became disillusioned with the human race believing they had
become too selfish and cruel in their use of this technology. He was a
big advocate of the League of Nations and continued for much of his
life as an educator.

The Eloi are a species who live in the world of 802K. They are
delicate, weak, small creatures who live an easy life and have a
careless attitude. They have pale white skinny limbs, thin red lips and
curly hair which end sharply at the jaw. They look similar to that of an
elf.

“…being a very beautiful and graceful creature, but

indescribably frail.”
They are bred like cattle for the Morlocks who work and live in the
underground below them. Eloi are afraid of the dark because in the
night, Morlocks steal them to eat for themselves. The Eloi are useless
creatures, as they don’t really have their own opinion and wander
aimlessly around in their own world, not taking action, not taking
anything seriously, all with a concerning lack of communication.
However, for them to live, they are dependent on the Morlocks to
provide them with food and clothes. As all animals had become extinct
in 802K, the Eloi are strict vegetarians, and eat only fruit.

The Eloi have a very careless, vague presence about them in which
they are always laughing and don’t have a view of what is happening
in their world.

“A graceful gentleness, a certain childlike ease.”

“..Hectic beauty...”
They have no awareness of their past, and seem to have lost all
intelligence they might have had, which leaves them purely as food for
the underground.

“Were these creatures fools?”

The Morlocks are the opposite of the Eloi in almost every way. They
live underground in dark tunnels and gutters where they work to
provide the Eloi with food and clean clothes where in the end; they eat
the Eloi for themselves. To them, the Eloi are like cattle, and have only
one purpose, food.

The Morlocks have a very ape-like appearance. They have large

sensitive eyes, a pinky grey colour, like fish. Their eyes are lidless and
they have no chin. Again, they are also pale, but have a larger, less
graceful build.

When the time traveller first meets the Morlocks, luckily equipped with
matches, he goes down into the well, and is suddenly attacked by
them. The moment he strikes a match, the Morlocks flee. However, as
soon as the match is out, they once again try to capture him. This
shows how the Morlocks are like scavengers and how greedy they are
for food, even though they have a whole species above them.
Compared to the Eloi, the Morlocks have a much harder and
unpleasant life and work to live.

In the Time Machine, the first encounter between the time traveller
and the Eloi is interesting. The Time Travelers first impression of the
Eloi was disappointing as they laughed at him and lost interest very
quickly. Also, as the Eloi didn’t speak English, there was a language
barrier which meant that they would have to communicate another
way. (I also think that this was one of Wells’ theories about what would
happen in the future.)

“I felt naked in a strange world.”

Another point that Wells makes is the fact that the weather seems to
have changed drastically and become a lot warmer than before, and
storms are still experienced. I think this exhibits Wells’ theory on
global warming. The plant life and nature have progressed, with the
exception of animals which have become extinct, yet everything else
seems to have been thrown into regression. He talks about the ruins
of giant buildings, the intelligence of the Eloi, and the White Sphinx
which Wells describes as “...greatly weather worn, and that
imparted and unpleasant suggestion of disease...”
“…delicate and wonderful flowers countless years of culture
had created.”
The time traveller talks about the change in power, and how the
ancestors of the Eloi were strong while the ancestors of the Morlocks
were weak. He believes that both Eloi and Morlocks descended from
humans; however the views against cannibalism must have changed,
where the Morlocks had eventually grown strong. The Eloi, losing
power, become brainwashed in a sense and experience fear of the
Morlocks. The state of 802K is that the Morlocks are the higher
aristocracy and that the Eloi have become nothing more than food.
Wells writes about the relationship between the Eloi and the Morlocks
displaying his attitude towards the world that he lived in at the time of
writing The Time Machine.

“The Upper world people might once have been the

favoured aristocracy, and the Morlocks their mechanical
servants, but that long since passed away. The two species
that had resulted from the evolution of man were sliding
downwards, or had already arrived at, an altogether new
relationship.”

I think that is a very important part in the book because he shows not
only how he feels about the world in terms of relationships between
different classes but also how that relationship has developed. Also,
there could be a link to his childhood where his mother was working
for an upper class family. I think it played quite a big part in his
inspiration for the book.

I would say that the book is quite relevant to 2009, because a lot of
the issues that are expressed in the book are being experienced
today, namely global warming, the relationship between the upper and
lower classes, and also the future that lies ahead, furthermore, the use
of technology to better mankind.

The book of “The Time Machine” is formed as a short story from the 3
part earlier work of “The Chronic Argonauts”. It is an early science
fiction work based around a main character framed in a fictional story.
Wells indulges heavily in the make believe however uses scientific
facts to back up the theories used in the book making it all the more
believable. It employs social experiences of the author to ask
questions of the reader and draws you in to the make believe society
created engaging you the reader in the debate. Wells maintains the
links to humans keeping it all the more plausible that this could really
happen.

The structure of the book is deep and thoughtful. You are drawn into a
vision of the narrators experience and this is described graphically so
that there is no confusion. Wells at times diverts from the fictional to
real time adding reference to the London Underground for effect or
moving from time traveller to narrator first person.

The book is written with words that are carefully chosen. The
language is in strong terms and Dark & Fear appear throughout the
book. He uses this language to shape meaning and emphasizes main
words with capital letters. He explores the idea of a language barrier
as on meeting the Eloi and Morlocks he finds they do not speak his
own language making the characters communication with them
challenging. His use of cliff hangers at the end of chapters signifies
the form in which the piece was originally written. Scientific
commentary and terminology reflect the dedication to science
throughout Wells’ life and the friendships he had with many scientists.