Discuss H.G Wells' portrayal of Victorian society and his fears for the future as shown in his science fiction novel, 'The time Machine'

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Discuss H.G Wells’ portrayal of Victorian society and his fears for the future as shown in his science fiction novel, ‘The time Machine’

The novel ‘The Time Machine’ is a science fiction novel. The dictionary defines science fiction as ‘stories about imaginary scientific discoveries or space travel and life on other planets.’ Science fiction is basically, a book, a play or a film about another time or a high-tech place with aliens or space travel. Classic examples of science fiction are ‘Star wars,’ ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Doctor Who’. This genre is so popular because it is an adventure into the unknown, and anything can happen. Young people in particular love it because there could be exaggerated hi-tech inventions. It allows the writer freedom, as he can write about anything that he wants. The writer can also use his writing to express him-self, as HG Wells does, and to get across serious messages or discuss important issues in his writing. HG Wells does this in his novel ‘The Time Machine’ written in 1894.

       ‘The Time Machine’ tells the story of an inventor who has invented a time machine and has discovered the secret of travelling though the fourth dimension of time. He straps into his time machine and travels far into the future, the year Eight Hundred Two Thousand Seven Hundred and one to be exact. He first perceives the world to be a utopia but his first impressions are wrong. He expected the future to be more advanced than his own time, with science having provided the answer to society and mankind’s problems. He soon discovers that this is not the case.  Instead of civilization progressing it has regressed. He leaves his time machine and goes to explore the world of Eight Hundred Two Thousand Seven Hundred and One. He meets the Eloi; the descendents of man. To his horror and disappointment he finds them to be stupid and indolent, not advanced. The time traveller goes back to his time machine, and realises that it is gone. He can’t understand how this can be. Strange questions begin to enter his mind. Who feeds the Eloi? why do they fear the night?, where do the mysterious wells lead to? And who has his time machine, because the Eloi are too weak to move it? He decides to learn more about the world he is in, while at the same time planning how to get his time machine back. He explores more and he meets a friend, Weena whom he saved from drowning. Many of the time traveller’s questions are soon answered when he finds that the world is not just inhabited by the Eloi but by ugly spider like underground creatures called the Morlocks. These are the creatures that keep the Eloi and have probably stolen his time machine. The time traveller goes and finds weapons; watches, camphor and a crowbar. On his way back from his exploration he is followed by a band of Morlocks, but he keeps them at bay with the use of a match. He lights a fire but stupidly he doesn’t think of the consequences. The fire, of course, spreads throughout the wooded area. This however blinds the morlocks in their pursuit, but they managed to capture Weena before the fire broke out. The time traveller escapes but he never finds Weena. She either has been taken by the morlocks or perished in the fire. Full of despair the time traveller goes back to the white sphinx and finds the doors of it open and his time machine inside. He knows that it is a trap but he goes in, the morlocks ambush him but he manages to escape in his time machine. His escape takes him further into the future. He goes Thirty Million years into the future and at the end of his journey he finds a life form crawling in the sea and the earth no longer has the resources of the sun and life dies out. The time traveller goes back to his own time and tells his story to his friends but they don’t believe him. He goes away on his time machine again and is never seen again.

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     The story begins in Victorian Britain, a time where great advances in industry and technology were made, but not in human rights. There were huge differences between the rich and the poor, they lead completely different lives, the rich did not have to work they had servants and power while the poor had to work for a living. The upper class received an education, whereas, the poor began work at an early age as servants, miners or in a factory. They would work very long hours and endured disgraceful conditions. The rich could treat the poor as they ...

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