Identity's Anchors

"I tell it here simply to show how one’s isolation and departure from this planet touched
not only the functions and feeling of every organ of the body but indeed also the very
fabric of the mind with strange and unanticipated disturbances" (117).
H. G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon (1901)

Points for Reflection

H. G. Wells's The First Men in the Moon (1901)

  1. Is Bedford trustworthy? Can we assume everything he says is objectively recalled and narrated?
  2. Is the adventure experienced by Mr. Bedford a product solely of chance, as he suggests in the opening (1), or do his own temperament and personality play a role in putting him on the moon? He notes that in his youth his “disasters” were likely of his own making (1). Is this true once more?
  3. Does Bedford’s preoccupation with turning Cavor’s discovery into a moneymaker (11) mark him as practical, or mercenary?
  4. What carrot does Cavor dangle in front of Bedford to convince him to make this journey into the unknown?
  5. Bedford obviously lacks Cavor’s raw intellect and scientific expertise; how do his common sense and wisdom compare to Cavor’s?
  6. Does Bedford gain self-knowledge during his space travels?
  7. What is the “Presence” which Bedford feels surrounding him when the hole into the moon is closed up and he is left alone on the moon’s surface (111 top)?
  8. When Bedford realizes Cavor has not been thinking about the practical ramifications of his research, Bedford is incredulous and uses what analogy to describe Cavor’s automaton-like behavior (11)?
  9. With what materials does Cavor build the traveling sphere, and what design scheme does he apply to its interior?
  10. After first meeting Cavor, Mr. Bedford (our narrator) considers whether Mr. Cavor would serve well as a comic character in the plot of his play (5-6). Is Mr. Cavor primarily a figure of fun in this novel—do we laugh at his actions and ideas more often than we identify with him?
  11. How does Nature immediately respond to the creation of Cavorite?
  12. Whose reaction to being prodded forwarded with goads (at the plank-like bridge) is more reasonable, Bedford’s or Cavor’s (80-82)?
  13. After eating the moon mushrooms, Cavor and Bedford grow intoxicated and start losing their inhibitions. What do their words and actions at this point reveal about their respective value systems?
  14. Does the novella itself implicitly support Bedford’s anti-science diatribe (68)?
  15. What physical and philosophical constants does H. G. Wells set about questioning and destabilizing during our heroes’ space travels?
  16. Which species appears more violent, humanity or the Selenites?
  17. What do you make of the following moments? “I stood there, panting and feeling very wicked” (95) and “I was unexpectedly strong. I laughed stupidly” (97).
  18. At what points in the novel is Bedford so overwhelmed with new stimuli that he seems to lose his group on reality?
  19. What signs does Wells provide that Bedford has difficulty readjusting to Earth?
  20. How does Bedford avoid “madness” following the unwitting theft of the sphere?
  21. After reporting Cavor’s accusation that Bedford intentionally left Cavor alone on the moon and took off in the sphere by himself, Bedford asks the reader to “decide between us,” adding “I know I am not a model man—I have made no pretence to be. But am I that?” (132 bot). Does the second portion of the novel encourage us to side with one protagonist over the other, or does it split the reader’s sympathies neatly down the middle?
  22. What elements of the Selenite’s society does Cavor find it difficult to unequivocally praise, despite his desire to hold them in high regard?
  23. At one point, Cavor realizes he has seen no dead Selenites; does he ever?
  24. Does Cavor learn much about the Selenites’ marital or reproductive customs?
  25. Is Cavor correct to feel horror, however briefly, in the presence of the Grand Lunar?
  26. Does the Grand Lunar easily comprehend the various unique features of earth living explained to him by Cavor (153-56)
  27. What finally happens to Cavor?
  28. Cavor claims that the Selenites are “colossally, in intelligence, morality and social wisdom, higher than man” (138). Does all of what we learn of the Selenites support Cavor’s assertion?


The Moon Is Up and Yet It Is Not Night
"The Moon Is Up, and Yet It Is Not Night" (1890)
John Everett Millais


Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu