He compares both creatures to many human elements. However, he has more to compare about the Eloi, than the Morlocks, as he spends more time with them. One of the ways in which he compares the Eloi is by their intellectual level. The Time Traveller had expected them to be highly advanced and intelligent but this was a myth of progress. However, he learns that the Eloi were “ at the same level of intelligence as one of our five year old children.” In addition, their lack of interest was also like our children. They communicated abstractly and therefore, it was hard for the Time Traveller to talk to them. The Time Traveller first got the impression that the Eloi were “fools” when they abstractly asked him if he “had come from the sun in a thunderstorm.”
The Time Traveller first meets an individual Eloi, when she is “drowning before” his “eyes.” He helps her and later finds her name is Weena. Throughout this novel, Weena plays a significant role. Her role helps the Time Traveller understand the Eloi more. The Time Traveller sees that the major difference between the Eloi and the Morlocks is that the Morlocks are able to fend for themselves. After seeing Weena “weakly crying” the Time Traveller says the Eloi are “ very beautiful and graceful creatures, but indescribably frail.” They are like this for two reasons. Firstly, it was a nineteenth century belief that as technology improves, human life becomes too comfortable: “ the new conditions of perfect comfort and security that restless energy, that with us is strength, would become weakness.” He believes during evolution things change. There is no need for “physical courage and the love of battle.” He finds that humanity has lost many things such as “physical balance and security. There is no longer “wasting disease to require strength of constitution.” Life for the Eloi, is less challenging and everything is ‘ given to them on their plates.’ The second reason why the Eloi are frail is because they have a strict vegetarian diet, consisting of fruit. However, the Morlocks are very different. They are much bigger and stronger. The Time Traveller finds the Morlocks are “carnivores.”
The Eloi live in a communal society. Everything is equal and there is no hierarchy and no leader. Each Eloi eat the same food and dress in the same way. This is why the Time Traveller suggests that the future world is alike, as you cannot differentiate between “the sexes.” The Eloi are naturally selected and they adapt well to their environment. The Time Traveller also finds that although the Eloi seem to live in a utopian society, full of peace and equality Here they are rather opposite to the Morlocks. The Morlocks live in a more challenging environment. They are strong labourers and they work and live “underground,” unlike the Eloi, they hate light as they adapt well to their dark environment.
Both the Eloi and the Morlocks live in completely different environments. The Eloi live in a “richer” environment than the Morlocks. The Time Traveller describes the Eloi having a “big doorway” opening into a “great hall hung with brown.” The roof of the house, of “colossal dimensions,” was in “shadow.” Windows were made up of “glazed coloured glass” and the floor of “huge blocks of hard white metal.” As the Eloi all live together, the Time Traveller saw “innumerable tables with a great number of cushions.” The home was almost like a “palace.” However, when the Time Traveller sees the home of the Morlocks it is very different. The entrance to their home “was in the throat of the well.” The walls of this well “was effected by metallic bars projecting the sides of the well.” In this long tube is “a slender loophole” leading to “a narrow horizontal tunnel. The place is full of “unbroken darkness.” The “underground” was full of “noise of machinery.” The Time Traveller notices the “walls fall away” from him. He finds himself in a “large open space- a vast arched cavern.” This “cavern” was in “utter darkness.” The Time Traveller concludes the reason why the Eloi and the Morlocks split into two species was due to social divisions of the past. He feels that the rich and poor societies have become increasingly divided. “… the exclusive tendency of richer people- due to doubt, to the increasing refinement of their education.”
Seeing both types of creatures, the Time Traveller has realised that “man had not remained as one species, but had differentiated into two distinct animals.” The Eloi are the “graceful children of the upper world were not the sole descendants of our generation.” Although both creatures are said to evolve from humans, they both become very different. The Morlocks are strong because, the Time Traveller feels that, cannibalism is the result of division of society. Interestingly, later the Time Traveller does find he is as violent as the Morlocks. “I felt his bones grind under the blow of my fist.” This clearly suggests that even a nineteenth century gentleman has violent, Morlocks- like, qualities.
The Time Traveller finds that the Eloi are scared of the dark. “I never found the Eloi out of doors, after dark.” This shows that they do not live in a complete utopian society. This can be due to two reasons. Firstly, this can be because they are afraid of the Morlocks, as they are cannibals. Secondly, because they are only used to daylight. The Morlocks are used to the darkness “underground” therefore, they do not like the light. The Time Traveller found this when he was trying to scare one away from Weena. “ Then the match scratched and fizzed. I held it flaring and saw the white backs of the Morlocks in flight.”
Wells comments that his own society is already showing signs of the future, “underground world,” as “there are subways, there are underground workrooms and restaurants, and they increase and multiply.” He sees that working class people are being put underground. During the novel, the time Traveller proposes two theories, which reflect on his own society. From this, he learns that his own society is too divided the rich and poor division is too great. The Time Traveller points out that in the nineteenth century the rich people tend to live in the “prettier country” and tend to retain good environment for themselves. However, the workers put underground do not see light. The Time Traveller feels if the tendency of “the exclusive tendency of richer people” continues the workers or poorer people will change and become “underground” species like the Morlocks. The class division results the species division in the future. His point of this is a warning that if classes are so unequal or divided then it spells disaster for human kind. He also learns that their, the Victorians and himself, belief in progress is false. He sees and feels that human life does not progress or he sees in the dystopian future world.
The Time Traveller has enough knowledge of the future world to compare and contrast the future creatures. He is able to compare their lifestyles and their appearance, most of all he can compare them to human elements. He introduces two theories, which he finds are false. He is also able to comment on the future world after seeing what is happening in his own society. He suggests that his society is vastly causing the division and the effects of the future.
