Explore the ways Wells presents the Eloi and the Morlocks in 'The Time Machine'. What do you think Wells was telling us about the time he lived in and his fears for the future?

    The way ‘The Time Machine’ is structured is diverse compared to most other novels because it switches in narratives. This means, in this case, that at the beginning of the novel Wells tells the story in a third person manner, then, when ‘The Time Traveller’ arrives at dinner it changes from third person to first, subsequently changing the narrative. ‘The Time Machine’ has many characters but none so profound as ‘The Time Traveller’. ‘The Time Traveller’ is a smart, intellectual upper-class man of his time, with smart friends as well. He’s also an amazingly bright scientist, which is what pushed him further to make his time machine. The world to which the ‘Time Traveller’ visits in his long journey through time is described as a ‘Dystopia’. A ‘Dystopia’ is best defined as the complete opposite of a ‘Utopia’. A ‘Utopia’ is a dream or fantasy world that is completely perfect, therefore, a ‘Dystopia’ is a nightmare world with horrible secrets.

    The ‘Eloi’ race are a pleasant but slightly frivolous. The name tells us that they are not a violent race because it does have a sharp, brisk tone. The ‘Eloi’ represent a strange but cheerful people who have no advantage over the ‘Morlocks’. The appearance of the ‘Eloi’ is somewhat frail and weak. The ‘Time Traveller’ describes them as “exquisite creatures” and “fragile things out of futurity”. The ‘Eloi’ behaved as if they were carefree and careless, for example, when Weena started to drown in the river, the other ‘Eloi’ just sat there not caring, so it was the ‘Time Traveller’ who had to save her. They lived in apparent ‘Utopia’ living off fruits growing on trees in their surroundings and living happily and freely, without a care in the world, apart from getting indoors before sunset. At first the ‘Time Traveller’ became intrigued by the ‘Eloi’ but then he grew horrified by them.

    The ‘Morlocks’ on the other hand differ significantly from the ‘Eloi’. They are ugly, ape-like blue/white creatures with no form of noticeable language. The appearance of the ‘Morlocks’ is disastrous. They have “common features of nocturnal things” and extreme sensitiveness of light to the retina. They are cannibals who live in darkness, with floors covered in the bones of the ‘Eloi’ they have digested days, months, or perhaps, years before. Wells also mentions they seem to have a caveman or somewhat prehistoric personality and hunched movement. He also wrote about the “grotesque black shadows” to make an effort to add emphasis to the fact that the ‘Morlocks’ were terribly horrifying creatures.

    The relationship between the ‘Eloi’ and the ‘Morlocks’ is a bizarre but well-planned liaison. The ‘Eloi’ eat the food on the plants, which is nurtured for by the ‘Morlocks’, who eat the ‘Eloi’ (cannibalism). Wells has an unmatchable aptitude to create a sense of horror in the readers’ minds, somehow, he taps into it and generates an unbelievable sensation of terror and unforgivness to enchant the reader on the book and nothing else. The ‘Eloi’ and the ‘Morlocks’ liaison reflects the class system of Wells’ time because it shows us the ‘Eloi’ as the upper-class people going round at day above ground. While the lower-class people (‘Morlocks’) go around by night using tunnels below ground to manoeuvre about the land.

    All in all Wells was trying to warn us that the apocalypse or end of the world as we know it was near and to prepare for the possible degeneration of the human race. Therefore, my conclusion is Wells was a very smart man, but evidently, his prediction was wrong, at least at the time he predicted it.