In these first few chapters we feel as if we are in the room with him, “This little affair, said the Time Traveller, resting his elbows upon the table and pressing his hands together above the apparatus,” He uses a lot of discreet imagery and it seems life – like, as if u can feel his presence and you are the one he is speaking to.
Whilst he is explaining his theory he uses metaphors, “She seemed to shoot across the room like a rocket.” It is slightly humorous and we can picture it happening. It makes us imagine the area, time and what’s going on around us.
His paragraphs in the chapters are set up with clever thought; they slowly build up more suspense with, is he going to time travel? Isn’t he going to time travel? And the last paragraph gives us an in depth explanation on him getting into the machine and shooting off in into the future. “I resolved to stop forthwith. Like an impatient fool, I lugged over the lever, and in contently the thing went reeling over, and I was flung headlong through the air.” This concludes the suspense with a sudden stop of the Time Machine.
We are now caught up in the next chapter because we want to know where he has stopped and what it is like. Each paragraph adds a new aspect to the story and we feel as if we have to keep reading.
He then travels into a world with two different species; the Eloi and the Morlocks.
At first he meets the Eloi, “In another moment we were standing face to face, I and this fragile thing out of futurity. He came a step forwards, hesitated, and then touched my hand.” They come across as peaceful shy creatures, but as we read on we find they are not so delicate.
As we get to know them more we find they are powerless and do not do anything for themselves.
You’re probably thinking well then how do they survive without cooking or cleaning? Well, the Time Traveller thinks the same and goes underground to see the Morlocks because the Eloi’s never speak of them and they always seem so afraid when night falls.
The Morlocks seem to be a very scary species, “A pair of eyes, luminous by reflection against the daylight without, was watching me out of the darkness. The old instinctive dread of wild beasts came upon me. I clenched my hands and steadfastly looked into the glaring eyeballs.” This is a very tense moment; HG Wells uses this abruptive language to put the point across that the Eloi’s and Morlocks are completely different to each other.
But as we read on we find out more about them and realise, that actually, their lives depend on each other for their lives. The Eloi are supplied with food and cleaning by the Morlocks which keeps them alive and the Morlocks then eat the Eloi as food so that they live as well; it is like a food chain.
This is just like the Leisure and Working class or the Victorian times. The Time Traveller thinks the Morlocks are the prototype of the working class, due the huge amounts of machinery and electronics underneath the luxury city of the Eloi.
Whereas the Eloi are presumed to be the leisure class, as they have a luxury life with everyone working for them.
It is clever how HG Wells set this up. As in the Victorian times he would not wanted to offend the Leisure class, as they were thought to be the 1st class people of time.
I think that this book has a lot of hidden messages, which if thought about, these can be brought out and the book is seemed to open a whole new meaning.
Although it is a Science fiction book, I thoroughly enjoyed learning about it as I learned a lot about hidden depths in writing and about the Victorians and how HG Wells writing is so widely spread.
