Evolution or Devolution?
"He . . . thought but cheerlessly of the Advancement of Mankind, and saw in the
growing pile of civilisation
only a foolish heaping that must inevitably
fall back upon and destroy its makers in the end" (76).
H. G. Wells's The Time Machine (1895)
Points
forReflection
H. G. Wells's The Time Machine (1895)
- Are the Time Traveller's conjectures concerning time and space (3-6) accessible to a moderately educated, twenty-first reader? Are we more or less likely to understand what he is describing than would a generic reader in Wells's own time period (c.1895)?
- Do you agree with the Time Traveller that the process of remembering a past event constitutes a kind of time travel--a movement backwards along the dimension of Time (6)?
- Tthe Medical Man objects to time travel because it might result in anachronisms (6). What does he mean, and can you generate a few specific, possible scenarios that illustrate his point?
- What about the Time Traveller is so discomfiting, at least in the eyes of the narrator?
- Are the names given to the various professionals in attendance (ie. Blank, Dash, Chose, etc.) intended to be comic, serious, or merely descriptive?
- Note which types of observations and comments the narrator attributes to members of the various professional disciplines represented at the party in the novel's opening chapter. Which of these professionals comes off as more intelligent and knowledgeable, and which less so? Does this intellectual hierarchy hold during the similar meeting (with, admittedly, a differently composed group) which occurs in chapter two?
- The narrator notes the difficulty of his capturing in words the special quality of the Time Traveller's narrative. He complains that we, the readers, "cannot see the speaker's white, sincere face . . . nor hear the intonation of his voice" (15). Despite these drawbacks, does Wells--speaking through the narrator--transmit the story in vivid enough detail for our imaginations to generate a clear picture of what is described, or does he fail?
- Does the Time Traveller find any of his expectations about the future realized? Has cruelty "grown into a common passion" and humankind become "unsympathetic, and overwhelmingly powerful" (18-19)? Are those beings he converses with advanced in "knowledge, art, everything (21)?
- To what process is the Time Traveller alluding when he notes that "culture" is responsible for the creation of "delicate and wonderful flowers" (21)?
- What difficulties does the Time Traveller face in trying to learn the language of the small beings he encounters (23)?
- What (faulty) explanation does the Time Traveller come up with to explain the absence of obvious physical differences between the sexes (25), and the edenic, garden-like environment in which he finds himself (26)?
- To the Time Traveller's mind, will the perfection of human intelligence, education, and cooperation ultimately perfect human existence (26-27)?
- What variables does the Time Traveller believe must be present for humanity to improve itself (27-28)?
- Does the Time Traveller believe Art is an important element of culture (28)?
- Humankind's mental gymnastics and scientific prowess have landed the time traveler in "the most hopeless trap that ever a man devised" (33). Do his powers of reason provide ample tools for getting him out of this situation?
- Do the time traveler's powers of reason effectively control his emotions across today's reading?
- Does his intellect provide effective solutions to the problems he faces, and valid answers to the questions he asks?
- Which of the theories he creates to explain what he sees proves viable? Do any of them?
- Is his mind powerful enough to ward off the threat of madness?
- Does the time traveler succeed in his attempts to reason his way past the Morlock’s eating habits?
- Do these Darwinian ideas floated earlier by the traveler gain credence in today's reading, or are they rejected as irrelevant?
- What factor, ultimately, matters more to the time traveler in determining with whom his sympathies will lie—the varying qualities of mind he finds in the inhabitants of the future, or their physical qualities?
- Is the Eloi language more or less complex than our own?
- According to the Time Traveler, what distinctive qualities separate humanity from other species? Does he behave in accordance with his own claims?
- How powerful is Wells’ imagination, and how accurate his ability to look into the future? Does he base the future only on ideas, materials, and objects with which he is already familiar, or does he successfully dream up things for which there was no antecedent in his own time period?
- Does this novel celebrate the accomplishments of humankind?
- In his approach to solving problems and facing crises, is the time traveler more like a Morlock than an Eloi?
- What does this novel suggest about the reliability of human perception? About the relative solidity or malleability of human memory?
detail from "The Gateway to the Great Temple at Baalbek" (1841)
David Roberts, RA
Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu
