Introduction

The Time Machine is a science fiction book in which H.G. Wells analyzes social changes.
late 19th century, and applies them to an imaginative future. That future that is narrated in the work would be the
consequences of the social issues of that time.

Herbert George Wells

He was born on September 21, 1866, in Bromley, England, and died on August 13, 1946, in London.
England. His father was a gardener and his mother was a housekeeper. They belonged to the lower class of society.
Englishwoman. She had a son in 1914 named Anthony West, the result of her relationship with the writer Rebecca West.
By earning a scholarship, he studied natural sciences at the University of London. He had several jobs until 1895.
when he dedicated himself completely to writing. He was a lover of science. He believed that science could
contributing many things to the society of that time. In 1890 he dedicated himself to teaching and published a manual of
biology. He began his literary career with science fiction novels, and his style was very similar to that of Julio.
Verne. He was part of the Fabian Society (British socialist organization for education). Then he started
to write works about sociological utopia, in which he/she demonstrates concern for the structure of a state
ideal. His works were realistic and very successful, and in the interwar period he was characterized as a writer
political and sociological. The Second World War and the beginning of the atomic age made their last
works were very pessimistic.

In most of his works, the idea of a society with social justice and freedom is discussed, and criticism is aimed at the
bourgeoisie and Christian morality. He always demonstrated through his writing the faith he had in the future of the
humanity.

In his career, he wrote more than 80 books. Here are his most famous titles:

The Time Machine

Socio-historical-cultural context

The time machine was published in 1895. At the end of the 19th century, there was the first world war for
to begin and the industrial revolution was in full swing.

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At this time England, like the rest of Europe, was in full industrialization. The bourgeoisie was the branch
social that had power, because they had the means of production. Moreover, this system did not provide any
chance for the workers to grow socially, and they were exploited with very long working days, and a
miserable salary. Because of this, unions and social organizations were born with ideas for better
living conditions.

In England, Queen Victoria was reigning, who reigned from 1837 to 1901. She ruled a
constitutional monarchy and a bicameral parliament: the House of Lords and the House of Commons. At that time, there
They had made electoral reforms to increase the number of voters from the lower classes, since the
the number of voters was seen as reduced because the only ones who voted were the bourgeois and nobles with money
sufficient. A criminal equality was established between employer and employee, as before that the employer was
seldom judged for his crimes. After the second phase of the industrial revolution and the sudden
arrival of advanced technology, the main products shifted from coal and textiles to
chemicals, electricity and oil. Due to labor exploitation at the end of the century, it was difficult for a
worker to rise in class, because he could only afford to eat and could not even provide education for his children.
Worker ideals such as socialism, Marxism, and anarchism emerged. Additionally, other
Unions that demanded benefits for workers.

People from the countryside began to move to the cities to look for work, and with this, traditions were being lost.
and customs; religious practice is fading, and Protestantism is gaining strength. The need arises to
entertainment for the middle class: cafes, bars, cabarets, football, cinema, horse racing, etc. In the
literature preferred science fiction, detective novels, and realism. Impressionism in art takes
strength. There was a great rise in science during this time, as people were amazed by everything
new inventions.

Central theme of the work

It is the story of a scientist who creates a machine that can move in the dimension of time. This
The scientist tells a group of important people, first about his machine, and then about the first
trip to the future. This trip is made to the year 802,701, and the scientist recounts that in that era the race
humans have evolved into two classes of beings: the Eloi and the Morlock. This scientist is referred to in the novel
the Time Traveler, and stays for about a week in the future.

The Eloi are small people with little intelligence. They dress in blankets and eat fruits given to them by the
nature. They are always singing and dancing happily. They live on the surface apparently happy,
but they are very afraid of the darkness.

The Morlocks are the complete opposite of the Eloi. They live underground and appear as white monsters with eyes.
big, and they can't stand the light. They make the blankets for the Eloi, and at night, before the moon rises, they go up.
to the surface to catch Elois, and take them to the depths to eat them. The Morlocks feed on
Elois.

These Morlocks retain the scientist's time machine, and they also try to eat him, but in the end the
The scientist recovers his machine. He travels a few million years further into the future, but doesn’t stay for long.
time there, and returns to the present to narrate this story to those important people.

Secondary problems of the work

When he is telling important people about the time machine, almost no one believes him. When
make the demonstration of the scale machine, they think it's a trick, but not that the machine did travel in the
time.

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When I was in the future, I saved a little Eloi named Weena from drowning. Between her and the Traveler of
There was a small platonic romance once. She was almost always after him.

Once the Traveler descended into the underground world of the Morlocks, he was completely repulsed by them.
specters, and discovered that the light stunned and frightened them. These Morlocks always wanted to eat him, but
they couldn't. They had hidden the machine inside the white sphinx, and the Traveler knew it; in the end
when the Traveler is about to break the door of the sphinx, it is open. The traveler enters and turns out to be a
trap, but he was already expecting that, and managed to operate the levers of the time machine.

When it was going to be a New Moon, the traveler knew that the Morlocks were going to come out of the caves to search.
food. Because of this, he went with Weena to a green palace where they could take shelter. This palace was
it was a little far from where they were, so they had to walk. The green palace turned out to be an ancient
museum, and in it he explored the different rooms fascinated. He found matches and camphor, which were flammable.
This would help keep the Morlocks at bay. When the Morlocks arrived, the Traveler lit some
thickets drove him away. He went into the forest with Weena. He was exhausted, but he continued. Suddenly he could do no more
And he stopped, lit a fire with wood, and sat down. He fell asleep, and as the fire went out, the Morlocks took him out.
the matches from the pockets. He woke up immediately and began to fight with the Morlocks protecting Weena.
The initial fire had spread and was consuming the forest. In that desperation of the Morlocks
he lost Weena, and had to leave without her. She had probably died.

When he went millions of years into the future, there were giant crabs off the coast. These surely
they wanted to harm him, so the Traveler left that era very quickly.

Since they hadn't believed him, the Time Traveler decided to leave again and bring back proof. After leaving, he never
he returned, and did not show up again.

Analysis of the work

The time machine is narrated roughly towards the end of the 19th century, and it takes place in England. The Time Traveler
Time travels into the future, and in that future the area where the Traveler is located is the place where in the
19th century is England.

H.G. Wells wrote The Time Machine to make a comparison between the working class and the bourgeoisie, and
show that if this continued, society could become like that future. The Eloi represent the
bourgeoisie, they always act happy, but with an internal fear of the Morlocks; the Morlocks make them feel
fabrics and then they take them to eat them. The Eloi are like cattle. The Morlocks, who are the workers, in
change, repressed by society, when they cannot find food decide to eat the Eloi. At that time already
individuality exists, there are only two communities. This is classic science fiction: trying to predict the
future, and try to describe the impacts of science on that future.

H.G. Wells was part of both worlds: the working class and the bourgeoisie. In his youth, Wells was the son of
a gardener and a housekeeper. Later, after earning the scholarship, he had the opportunity to grow socially and
he became part of the dominant society. Because of this, he always wanted to find an organization of the
society that would satisfy all social classes. This work is a critique of the society at the turn of the century in
England, and although somewhat pessimistic, it shows what that society could become.

I loved this novel, because regardless of it being science fiction, it shows the author's position.
in front of the society of his time. Moreover, I believe that Wells is absolutely right in thinking that society
recently industrialized, if it hadn't changed its policy, it could have become like the Morlocks and the
Eloi in a remote future.

Bibliography

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 •Article WELLS (HERBERT GEORGE). New Larousse Encyclopedia. Barcelona, Planeta, 1982,
Volume 10, Page 10416.
•Article WELLS (HERBERT GEORGE). Encarta Encyclopedia. Microsoft, 1999.
The Time Machine
•Article GREAT BRITAIN. New Larousse Encyclopedia. Barcelona, Planeta, 1982, Volume 5,
Page 4501.

THE TIME MACHINE

H.G. Wells

Fontán School

Bogotá, August 17, 1999