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The Time Machine
(1895)
This was the first book that seriously introduced me to the genre known as science fiction. (Though it has to be said that the genre had no real title until the 1950's) I was thirteen at the time, and to say that effected and affected my outlook on life is an understatement. Like all of Wells 's futurist fiction, it has more of a macbre feel to it, engaging the reader to consider the possibility of the darker side, not only humanity, but of nature itself. On more than one occasion Wells himself--as the narrator--justifies the monstrous behaviour of the creatures in his novels by looking at both natural selection and Darwin for reasons as to their behaviour, but... if you read The Time Machine, it's pretty clear that Wells is not satisfied with these theories... it simply does not cover it. What I personally like about this novel is not just the world that Wells creates... it is the hideous believability of it... and this comes across in all of his fiction... making him one of the best in his field. --Submitted by Andrew Hunt
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There are four dimensions; the three plains of Space, and the fourth, Time. The plains of Space include length, breadth, thickness, and duration. A figure that has all four of these exists, can be seen and felt. Then there is another dimension that we all seem to take lightly, the fourth dimension; Time. We've traveled through space, distance, and even through our own earth to reach the side of something we hope to find. H. G. Wells wanted to find a way through time. Some say it's impossible, and some say that one day in the distant future, man will be able to travel back and forth through time at will. Mr.-, a man of science, hopes to find this answer. He builds a machine that is capable of doing this exact thing, the time machine. By taking himself into the distant future, the Time Traveler finds himself in a new world. A world with no disease, insects, weeds, or violence. All he finds is a new race of humans, which he calls the Eloi. These creatures are, to the Time Traveler's eyes, very fragile and cheerful, dancing around to play with their new toy that has mysteriously come to this place. These creatures may seem like harmless children, but the Time Traveler finds a second race that roams these hills, another race of man so contorted and savage that he must fight against the terrors of the night to stay alive. The Morlocks as he calls them, feast on the flesh of the Eloi. They are what you would call albino creatures. They live under the earth and only come out in the dark. Will the Time Traveler ever make it back home, or will he be doomed to face his fears in this queer world of the future?--Submitted by Erin Lichnerowicz
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Recent Forum Posts on The Time Machine
The Time Traveller's lack of technology
One of the things that amused me about the time traveller was this: Obviously he was a pretty clever guy. it must have taken him many man-years of lonely, dedicated effort to design and then build his time machine. You'd imagine he'd be very single-minded with no time for anything else, for example sports or physical training. He builds this incredible piece of technology, but once he's used it to get to the future, the only other piece of technology he has is a box of matches. He is reduced to running around and using his fists. I don't suppose they had electric torches back then, but an oil lantern, a compass, and especially an army revolver would have come in handy. Even a magnifying glass would have been useful, because he could have started a fire with one. As it was, he has to rely on an iron bar he finds at the museum to battle the Morlochs with.
Weena
SPOILER: Poor Weena :bawling: She semed to just die of fright; thus was spared slaughtering by the Morlocks. I am not satisfied that the time traveller put enough effort into finding her. He said he thought her body must be somewhere in the woods. Why didn't he retrace his steps? If she was dead when he tried to wake her then she could hardly have moved by herself. Weena seems like a small child. She has the mind of a five-year-old. I wonder whether the doctor in Dr Who views his companions like that.
Written by an inexperienced writer?
In an introduction that H.G. Wells wrote for The Time Machine thirty-five years later, Wells wrote that the story was obviously the work of an inexperienced writer. This was not obvious to me, although the structure of the story is a bit unusual. The story is quite short. The time traveller is not named. There's a first narrator who reports what the second narrator says, i.e. the time traveller himself. There is the main adventure, then another little mini-adventure at the end. The book combined scientific thought and social concerns of the time. It's unusual, but I can't see that it was written by someone inexperienced.
The Thames River movement question
The time traveler says that the Thames River was still in existance almost 1 million years later and had only moved a few miles from it's former location. How likely is that? I thought a river would move or change much more drastically than that.
Completely wrong
In The Time Machine, H.G. Wells talks about how the time machine only travels through the dimension of time. So if this were to somehow have really happened, wouldnt the time traveller find himself randomly in space at times, seeing as how the machine might not follow the earth's revolution around the sun? Would it only go through time, or would it really keep him on earth like in the book and travel through time and space at the same speed as the earth?
Time Machine destination. I REALLY REALLY (add 100 more reallys) need help!
I need to know at the end of the book when the time traveller has the camera and knapsack he says he'll be back in 30 m. but then is gone for 3 years or more. WHere did he go? WHy did it take him so long? AND WHen he's seeing the earth die... how would you explain the effect it had on him. Please help me!!!!
is hg wells warning us about the future
i read the time machine recently and have been puzzled over the meaning of the book i recognize that all the time travellers theories turn out to be incorrect i just feel i am seeing this book as pessimistic and missing the optimistic qualities of it does anyone think that the story is optimistic?
need help with research
I have looked four hours trying to find the dimentions and what the time machine represented and have found nothing.:crash: I prepairing a speach and need some info on the machine itself. i would be over joyed if you could help me by sending a link or some info.
Help Please.
i need to read a book by H.G Wells for Honors English and cannot read a book that i have already read by him. i made the mistake of telling my teacher that i have read the time machine and war of the worlds. but of the others, i don't know which to pick. please, some recommendations would be helpful. send all you want.:)
The Time Machine
Hi my name is Ana and I got some Questions and I would love if you could answer some of them!! 1. Where is the Time Machine held? 2.What does the Time Traveler use to strike the Morlocks?:crash: 3. How does the Time Traveler meet Weena? 4. Of what social class are the Morlocks descendants? 5.Why do the Morlocks flee from the Time Traveler in the Forest? 6.What happens to the Sun when the Time Traveler travels into the far future? 7.How Does the Time Traveler believes Time is related to Space? 8.What do the Eloi eat? 9. What do the Morlocks eat? 10.Where does the Time Traveler (TT) find artifacts from the past? 11. What kind of creatures are the Morlocks? 12.What do the Eloi call the period of the waining moon? 13.What temporarily blinds the Morlocks?:sick: 14. Where does the TT introduce his concept of time travel? 15. What Social system does the TT initially believe is in place in 802,701 AD? 16.What animal do the Morlocks resemble? 17. What scientific principle does the TT's visit to the decaying world thirty millions in the future illustrate? 18.What scientific theory developed by Herbert Spencer does "The Time Machine" combat in many ways? 19. What major social change further stratified the classes in 18th- and 19th-century England? 20. Who is known as the founder of Communism? 21. What does Weena constantly give to the TT? 22. What word did Wells most likely want the word "Eloi" to resemble? 23. Why is the TT afraid to stop the Time Machine once it is in use? :idea: 24. How does the TT first demonstrate the Time Machine? 25. Other than the narrator, which two guests are present at both dinner parties?
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