How far and in what ways does Wells show the differences between the Eloi and the Morlocks?

''I turned...and saw a queer little ape-like figure, its head held down in a peculiar manner.'' This is when he first sees a Morlock, and by reading the rest of that paragraph we get the impression that the Time Traveler was rather afraid, totally an opposite reaction to how he'd been when he saw the Eloi. Then he lights a match and gives us a brief description of a Morlock he sees.

''...I saw a small, white, moving creature, with large bright eyes which regarded me steadfastly as it retreated. It made me shudder. It was so like a human spider!''. Now we know that the first encounter with the Morlocks wasn't very pleasant... He also tells us about one he sees that he had flaxen hair both on its head and down its back. Wells uses many things to differentiate the two races from one another.

When you read this novel you can see it's written in first person narrative, we are told the story of The Time Traveler which has been told to the narrator who is telling us his own version of the original. This is better than other types of narratives; for example if it was written in third person, if we are told a story of something that has happened to a person by that same person who actually lived it, we are aware of many facts that happened and of every single detail, but then if someone that was told the story told it to us (in third person narrative) it's not as exciting and a lot of things would get missed out. By having us being told the story with The Time Traveler's actual words we can feel what he actually saw that day in the year of 802701, we know exactly how he felt when he saw everything he saw, how exited he was at the sights of all these marvelous things. The Time Traveler's response to the characters helps a lot in understanding some things. For example if we just hear that he saw some little creatures from that year so far away we wouldn't be so shocked or believe as much or know as much about them as if the reader told us about them in much more detail (which he does), exactly how they looked, how they were called, approximately how much was their height and the clothes they had on.

Any story told as The Time Machine should be gotten or at least tried to be gotten at its best to the readers minds as though as if they were talking to the narrator himself. The people have to be able to see the things the best way possible as if from the narrator's own eyes. The Time Traveler, before he lands in that year, is afraid. He thinks that maybe he would end up in some time where he will be in great danger, also that maybe when he stopped the Time Machine might end up in some place where something else should be and something to do with the atom particles would make such a great charge that it could cause an explosion, maybe he would end up meeting fierceful creatures that he would have no defense against. Eventually all these thoughts vanish when he arrives at the future world of 802701:

''I looked round me. I was on what seemed to be a little lawn in a garden, surrounded by rhododendron bushes...''.

He saw this garden as something he didn't expect, well maybe he just didn't know what to expect. Another thing he sees that he didn't expect at all was the little creatures, later to be known as the Eloi.

''In another moment we were standing face to face, I and this fragile thing out of futurity. He came straight up to me and laughed into my eyes. The absence from his bearing of any sign of fear struck me at once.'' He sees that the Eloi are completely harmless little things that couldn't do any damage to him whatsoever. He regains confidence and coexists with them for a while. Then again, the reaction here was pretty different to the one with the Morlocks.

Many of the devices used by Wells have been discussed. For example it being a person telling us what happened instead of the Time Traveler himself, like this we doubt if he survives or not, which adds up to the cliffhanging ending of 'whatever happened to the Time Traveler' (whose name we are never told), he left on his last trip, prepared, to never come back. Maybe he died, maybe he decided to stay and live and learn more of the ways of the Eloi. All these things make up a good story and make it enjoyable too, these characteristics would be lost if the story was told by the Time Traveler. Why? Because if it was him telling us the story, then we would know that he survived and therefore we know what happened to him. These elements add up to the dramatic effect of the novel and helps the reader understand how much could the human race possibly evolve and into what.

English Salvador Stamatti

11y 31/10/03