G. Wells The Time Machine And Kurt Vonnegut's Harry Potter

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What is the point of time travel? The phenomena of having the ability to go to any point in time seems to fascinate modern cultures, and the realm of literature is no stranger to this. The concept of time travel appears to be a popular trope to explore throughout not just science fiction, but in general fiction, as it branches out into multiple genres, with a famous example being in the worldwide bestselling fantasy series, Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling, with the existence of a magical timepiece. Spanning years and crossing over genres, why exactly do authors and readers keep coming back to this style of storytelling? Through various example texts including H. G. Wells’ The Time Machine, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, and other shorter works, …show more content…

The beginning of Slaughterhouse-Five makes this immediately clear. “Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time.” (Vonnegut, Ch. 2) With a non-linear progression, the novel follows Billy Pilgrim—or rather, his conscience. This interpretation of time traveling throughout one’s own timeline is quite different from the standard mechanical method presented by Wells. Billy is constantly traveling throughout his own life, his conscious halting at random points of his life. “Billy is spastic in time, has no control over where he is going next, and the trips aren't necessarily fun. He is in a constant state of stage fright, he says, because he never knows what part of his life he is going to have to act in next.” (Vonnegut, Ch. 2). Because of Billy’s endless journey, he learns that life is structured and nothing can be changed. Time travel is used in Slaughterhouse-Five to express this philosophy that life is just an inevitable series of events we cannot change, but we can change how we live our lives, choosing to embrace the better moments in life instead of worrying over the tragic times, seeing as it is all simply a part of life. So it

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