The Time Machine by George Wells - Coursework Example

H.G. Wells’ Time Machine Considered his first major breakthrough in writing science fiction, H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine was first published in a number of periodicals before finally appearing in the form known today in 1895 (Asimov, 1968). The story introduces its main character, known only as the Time Traveler, as an eccentric inventor and trickster, who finds himself in possession, through careful study and application of theory, of a time machine that allows him to travel back and forth along the fourth dimension he calls duration in much the same way as one might travel through space. Much of the story he tells regarding his first experimental trip to the future centers around the future inhabitants of the earth, whom he calls the Eloi and the Morlocks. These two very different peoples inhabit different parts of the world, the Eloi on the surface of the planet and the Morlocks underground. While the Eloi seem to live idyllic lifestyles in a paradise-like garden planet, the Morlocks live in perpetual darkness powered by great machines both providing for and preying upon the innocent Eloi. However, his travels are not limited to this single period in time. The Time Traveler also journeys to a far more distant future toward the end of life on the planet and describes what he sees there as well. Although he wasn’t writing specifically from the words of the Bible, nor was he trying to imitate its final book in any way, many of the landscape features described by H.G. Wells in his short novel The Time Machine reflect the landscape images that are brought forth in the Book of Revelations, depicting the end times of civilization as we have come to know it. Upon his arrival in the land of the Eloi, the Time Traveler describes his surroundings as being almost Eden-like except for the few remnants of mankind’s efforts in the form of a white marble sphinx on a brass pedestal and the great ruins of grand palaces dotting the countryside; the kind of scenery one might expect to find in the peaceful aftermath of God’s wrath in Revelations. “Here and there rose a white or silvery figure in the waste garden of the earth, here and there came the sharp vertical line of some cupola or obelisk. There were no hedges, no signs of proprietary rights, no evidence of agriculture; the whole earth had become a garden” (48). The Eloi are the first group of people he meets upon his travels, and he describes them in terms of child-like innocence, experiencing no fear, no jealousy, no need and no illness as is described for the people living in God’s kingdom after the expression of his wrath has subsided and he has come to join his people on earth. Like life in the new Jerusalem, the Eloi are provided with plenty of fruit to eat whenever they wish it, shelters of immense size and comfort and the temperate climate made it unnecessary for such mundane things as fire or artificial heat from anything but the sun. “The air was free from gnats, the earth from weeds or fungi; everywhere were fruits and sweet and delightful flowers; brilliant butterflies flew hither and thither. The ideal of preventative medicine was attained. Diseases had been stamped out … I saw mankind housed in splendid shelters, gloriously clothed, and as yet I had found them engaged in no toil” (49). It is this sort of ideal lifestyle that is promised to God’s people in Revelations upon the arrival of the new Jerusalem after the cleansing of the world. However, the new Jerusalem is also considered to be the seat of power and intellect in the new world, described as a shining city of God’s home. As such, it is also reflected in Wells’ tale, although with a similar run-down flare to it that reflects the state of mental and intellectual breakdowns he finds in the human race once they are no longer challenged. New Jerusalem, described in the Bible’s final book, is walled with a first wall of jasper, a greenish stone, which protects the inner city. Likewise, the Time Traveler discovers “a vast green structure, different in character from any I had hitherto seen. It was larger than the largest of the palaces or ruins I knew, and the façade had an Oriental look: the face of it having the luster, as well as the pale-green tint, a kind of bluish-green, of a certain type of Chinese porcelain” (66). While the walls do not protect the shining city of gold described in the Bible, the Time Traveler eventually discovers that it is indeed a seat of knowledge and intellect. His first discoveries within the building reveal it to be a museum, displaying not only the bones of the dinosaurs that roamed the earth before his own time, but also machines of a later time than his own yet well before the time in which he stands. The idea that this building also houses a great deal of power is also emphasized in the fact that it is here that the Time Traveler finds the tools he needs to take back some of his own power in the form of an iron crowbar that allows him to fight off the Morlocks and in the form of matches and camphor which he uses to scare them away from him and frighten them into revealing the hiding place of his time machine. Any landscape reflecting some of the aspects of the book of Revelation would not be complete without mention made of the Abyss and the creatures that live there, which Wells does with the presence and appearance of the Morlocks. The Morlocks are described as under-ground dwellers, who have lived in the dark for so long that they have changed into another species altogether from that of the Eloi who live above ground. The Time Traveler describes them as having extremely white skin, flaxen hair and large reflecting eyes that cannot stand even the light of the moon. “They were just the half-bleached colour of the worms and things one sees preserved in spirit in a zoological museum. And they were filthily cold to the touch” (65). As he experiences more of these creatures, the Time Traveler begins to associate them with the machinery that continuously runs below ground with a thudding, oppressive sound that relates them to the only industry of the time, just as those who reject God in the book of Revelations are too busy associating themselves with industry to turn to repentance in order to save their souls. It is upon his visit to their underworld caverns that the Time Traveler discovers the creatures’ primary source of sustenance when he sees a large joint of meat on the table even though he hasn’t seen any large animals above ground that could provide such fare. It is upon further reflection that he finally realizes the relationship between the Eloi and their subterranean cousins. “These Eloi were mere fatted cattle, which the ant-like Morlocks preserved and preyed upon – probably saw to the breeding of” (75). Like the beasts found in the book of Revelation, these creatures crawled out of the holes of wells spaced randomly about the parks in which the Eloi lived each night after the moon had set and stole members of the above ground people to use as food for themselves below ground. However, the Time Traveler did not stop his investigations into the future with just the one stop. His further investigations led him to more of a hellish landscape than his first stop, depicting the type of scenery one might expect during the middle phases of God’s plan in Revelation. In this far-distant future, the Time Traveler indicates that the stars have ‘fallen from the sky’, changing the look of the sky into the timeless void one would imagine as the horses of the apocalypse ride through the heavens. “All trace of the moon had vanished. The circling of the stars, growing slower and slower, had given place to creeping points of light. At last, some time before I stopped, the sun, red and very large, halted motionless upon the horizon, a vast dome glowing with a dull heat, and now and then suffering a momentary extinction” (90). As he stops his machine and takes a look around, he notices that the only green that can be found is the lichen-type green of ill-health and all else is bathed in a lurid red light, reminiscent of the sun turning ‘dark like sackcloth made of goat hair and the moon becoming like blood’ described in Revelation. Most of the creatures have obviously died along with most of the plant-life, yet hideous beings still inhabit the earth in the form of giant crabs that come seeking him. This desolation is emphasized even more strongly as the Time Traveler continues his journey forward and observes a planetary eclipse of the sun, passing a cold shadow upon the dying earth. “The darkness grew apace; a cold wind began to blow in freshening gusts from the east, and the showering white flakes in the air increased in number. … At last, one by one, swiftly, one after the other, the white peaks of the distant hills vanished into blackness. … I saw the black central shadow of the eclipse sweeping towards me. In another moment the pale stars alone were visible. All else was rayless obscurity. The sky was absolutely black” (93). By placing this scene on the edge of a deadened salt sea, with only the indistinct flapping of a black beast moving on the far sandbar, Wells is able to convey a sense of the blackness of the earth following the breaking of the sixth seal when the earth becomes black and the beast is allowed to roam the surface, calling as many to him as he can. Of course, the order of the scenes in Wells’ novel are backward from what is found in the book of Revelations, the blackness in Wells’ story comes after the paradisiacal greenery and abundance of the Eloi, but the world of the Eloi is not necessarily intended to indicate the same kind of paradise that the book of Revelations promises to the followers of God. While each landscape promises to provide its inhabitants with everything they need to live happy, carefree lives, the source of this plentitude is provided by God in Revelations and provided by the Morlocks in Wells’ Time Machine. While this obviously leads one to understand the different motivations of the source of all sustenance, Wells’ story begs an even more important question regarding the consequences of such idyllic existence. In the absence of fear, want, discomfort, jealousy, anger or need, the Eloi have developed into fragile small things with only a hint of intelligence and a very limited concept of their world. This ill-equips them to deal with the threat of the Morlocks and leads the Time Traveler to wonder at the quality of their lives. They seem to him to be little more than cattle of the field with as much interest in living and dying as is shown by a cow. The Eloi are no longer even able to appreciate or create beauty, in language or deed. While the narrator of the story indicates that there is some comfort in knowing that “even when mind and strength had gone, gratitude and a mutual tenderness still lived on in the heart of man” (98), the question remains what is the purpose of this existence if it can no longer even be appreciated. Works Cited Asimov, Isaac. “Introduction.” The Time Machine. Greenwich, CT: Fawcett Publications, 1968. Wells, H.G. The Time Machine. Greenwich, CT: Fawcett Publications, 1968. Read More