Thematic Elements of the Time Machine
“We should strive to welcome change and challenges, because they are what help us grow. With out them we grow weak like the Eloi in comfort and security. We need to constantly be challenging ourselves in order to strengthen our character and increase our intelligence.” This quote comes from a novel that inspired the genre of science fiction. The Time Machine was the first work of fiction written by H.G Wells. This novel inspired not one Wells himself to explore new possibilities in science fiction, but a generation of science fiction writers. The themes of science, evolution, progress and of class struggle are the main elements Wells explores in his groundbreaking novel.
One of the largest themes present in the Time Machine is the theme of class struggle. England, at the time the novel was being written, was leaving the Victorian Age and was entering the Industrial Age. Instead of a caste system, in which what job a person was born into a person stayed until death, a class system emerged. This was due most to the increase in the number of literate people in England. David Galens points out, “More people had access to old professions, such as medicine and law, and new professions, such as writing and psychology… However, with the industrial revolution and the mass migration of rural laborers into the cities, the differences between the haves and the have-nots became more starkly visible.” Wells plays on this heavily in the novel. Once the Traveler reaches his final destination almost 800,000 years in the future, the Traveler meets one class of people known as the Eloi. When he meets them the traveler believes he has entered a communist society. As time goes on, however, the Travel...
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...t was for a 19th century author to view the world as ever changing. Some view this novel as a parable, a parable of what could be if the human race does not make fundamental changes.
Works Cited
Aubrey, Bryan. “The Time Machine.” Masterplots II: Juvenile & Young Adult Fiction Series (1991): 1-3. MagillOnLiterature Plus. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.
Galens, David A, ed. "The Time Machine." Novels for Students 17 (2003) 247-58. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.
Ruddick, Nicholas. “The Time Machine.” Magill’s Guide To Science Fiction & Fantasy Literature (1996): 1-2. MagillOnLiterature Plus. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.
Semansky,Chris. "The Time Machine." Novels for Students 17 (2003) 247-58. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.
Stableford, Brian. “The Time Machine.” Masterplots, Fourth Edition (2010): 1-4. MagillOnLiterature Plus. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.
Time: How does the way the writer moves between the past and present and future affect the structure of the book? How might this technique inform my approach?
For the Science Reader project, I read Black Holes, Wormholes, and Time Machines by Jim Al-Khalili. Interested in time travel and the secrets of space, I chose this book with hopes of better understanding our universe.
In “The Cold Equations”, a short story by Tom Godwin, Godwin did some interesting things with time as he described the unfortunate story of a girl who stowed away illegally on a small spacecraft. The girl, Marilyn, did not know the consequence would be her own death. Unquestionably, in “The Cold Equations,” Tom Godwin manipulated time in order to influence the pace of the plot, because the manipulation and presence of time and deadlines creates suspense, inspires increased interest, and purposefully instills a sense of impending doom.
Labin, Linda. ”Harrison Bergeron.” Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition. 2004: 1-2. Literary Reference Center. Web. 12 March 2014.
Over the course of Kurt Vonnegut’s career, an unorthodox handling of time became one of many signature features in his fictional works (Allen 37). Despite The Sirens of Titan (1959) being only his second novel, this trademark is still prevalent. When delving into science fiction, it is often helpful to incorporate ideas from other works within the genre. This concept is exemplified by the “megatext,” an aspect of science fiction that involves the application of a reader’s own knowledge of the genre to a new encounter (Evans xiii). By working within the megatext, Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed (1974) provides an insightful avenue in exploring the handling of time and its consequences in Vonnegut’s The Sirens of Titan.
The Time Machine by H. G. Wells was an intriguing and exciting book about a Time Traveller and his journey’s through time. In this book, the Traveller explained to a group of men who were discussing the nature of time that time was the fourth dimension; just like the three dimensions of space: length, width and height. The Traveller argued that since time was a dimension, then it stood to reason that people should be able to move along the time continuum, into the past or the future. Most of the men do not seem to believe the Traveller or his theory, but agreed that they would like to travel in time, and talked about what they would do if they could. To illustrate his point, the Time Traveller went and got a model of his time machine from his laboratory to demonstrate and later returned to detail the places, things and people he had seen in his travels with his working Time Machine. Throughout the story, the Time Traveller faced setbacks and challenges, but the book outlined how he persevered and pointed to the future mankind faced.
By going back and forth between the time frames, the first being in the present and the second being in 800,000, H.G. Wells lets the reader know that the time traveller has made it back from the future by providing passages that prove he made it home, to the present, alive. However, during the time span of the novel, the time traveller from the future did not know that he was able to escape the future. This changes the point of view throughout the story, even though the main character doesn’t change. Because of the changes in the time frame, the time traveller in the present and the time traveller in the future can be considered different people. “Selecting a little side gallery, I made my essay. I never felt such a disappointment as I did in waiting five, ten, fifteen minutes for an explosion that never came. Of course the (dynamite sticks) were dummies, as I might have guessed from their presence. I really believe that, had they not been so, I should have rushed off incontinently and blown Sphinx, bronze doors, and (as it proved) my chances of finding the Time Machine, all together into nonexistence.” In this excerpt, the time traveller is speaking of his own adventure after coming back from the future. However, he makes it sound as if he were in the future. By putting interjections into the story, he changes up the storyline
Fossum, Robert H. Hawthorne’s Inviolable Circle: The Problem of Time. Florida: Everett/Edwards Inc, 1972. 77-79
Magill, Frank N. ed. Masterplots II: Short Story Series. Vol 5 Pru-Ter. California: Salem Press, Inc. 1986.
“The Time Machine” can be seen as Wells’s socialist warning of what will befall humanity if capitalism continues to exploit worker for the benefits of the rich.
This is an odd little book, but a very important one nonetheless. The story it tells is something like an extended parablethe style is plain, the characters are nearly stick figures, the story itself is contrived. And yet ... and yet, the story is powerful, distressing, even heartbreaking because the historical trend it describes is powerful, distressing, even heartbreaking.
Bernardo, Jr., Anthony J. “The Veldt.” Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition (2004): 1-3. Literary Reference Center. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.
...es the reader thinking about the impact of technology long after they have finished the story.
There are numerous people in society who lack certain skills that they need for survival.