Herbert George Wells' The Time Machine

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Herbert George Wells' The Time Machine ‘The Time Machine’ was written in 1895 by a writer, scientist and member of The Fabian Society, Herbert George Wells. Wells (born 1866) was, and still is, a very famous writer who produced many novels, but is most commonly known as a science-fiction author. ‘The Time Machine’ is Wells’ most celebrated novel and it’s themes represent the fears and anxieties of his society and background. Wells’ background was difficult, his father lost his business when Wells was 14, therefore, Wells got a job as a housekeeper at a grand house called Uppark. This is important because it influenced Wells in his writing. It showed him the strict division in the upper and lower classes of his society. Also, at the time of writing ‘The Time Machine’ the Industrial Revolution. Wells originally became interested in science when he won a scholarship to the School of Science where he was taught biology by T.H.Huxley. Wells found Huxley an inspiring teacher and as a result developed a strong interest in evolution. Accordingly he soon heard about Darwin’s theory of Evolution and Einstein’s theory of Relativity, which made many scientists of the age, including Wells, start to get worried. The cause of this tension was that they were on the verge of a new century and, what many people thought to be, the Apocalypse. As I mentioned earlier, Wells’ time was deeply affected by the theories put forward by Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein. These theories also sparked ideas in many scientists’ heads about the four dimensions: Length, Breadth, Thickness and Time. Creating what seemed to be the stupendous possibility of time travel. The way ‘The Time Machine’ is structured is diverse compared to... ... middle of paper ... ...the ‘Morlocks’, who eat the ‘Eloi’ (cannibalism). Wells has an unmatchable aptitude to create a sense of horror in the readers’ minds, somehow, he taps into it and generates an unbelievable sensation of terror and unforgivness to enchant the reader on the book and nothing else. The ‘Eloi’ and the ‘Morlocks’ liaison reflects the class system of Wells’ time because it shows us the ‘Eloi’ as the upper-class people going round at day above ground. While the lower-class people (‘Morlocks’) go around by night using tunnels below ground to manoeuvre about the land. All in all Wells was trying to warn us that the apocalypse or end of the world as we know it was near and to prepare for the possible degeneration of the human race. Therefore, my conclusion is Wells was a very smart man, but evidently, his prediction was wrong, at least at the time he predicted it.

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