H.G. Wells' Time Machine and Its Relativity with the Victorian Era

In George Pal’s 1960 film adaptation of H.G. Wells's 1895 novel, The Time Machine, technological advancement is represented as a road of insight into the human condition, uncovering both our strengths and our flaws. Wells’s novel was written during the turn of the century, a time that basked in the futuristic potentiality of technology. As echoed in Alex Goody's book on technology, literature and culture, she cites how revolutionary advancements and discoveries in technology, such as the "electric age" (Goody 7), have greatly impacted science fiction literature. This inspired and fuelled science fiction writers such as Wells himself. Pal's 1960 film adaptation of the novel, also titled The Time Machine, changes the plot to reflect the war and social

the Eloi and the Morlock are said to be evolved from the upper and lower classes, the Eloi being from the upper class and the Morlock from the lower class. The Time Machine was inspired by Darwin's book called, "Origin of Species" which was written about evolution and natural selection. H.G Wells makes clear connections to Darwin's work, focusing on the points that humans will continually evolve, Natural Selection, and that organisms are limited in their ability to survive.

Even though his novel, The Time Machine, may appear to be purely science fiction; HG Wells wrote it with close ties to the ideas of the great scientist of his time, Charles Darwin. Both Wells and Darwin lived in the late Victorian Era, a time of social and scientific growth for the western world. Wells was a very well educated man on the new findings of science and society, especially when it came to Darwin's book, On the Origin of Species. In his book Darwin recorded his theories on, strangely enough, the origin of species: Theories such as; natural selection, the continuous evolution of humans and the dictation of survival by the environment. Throughout Wells novel, the protagonist, The Time Traveler, develops three theories in the people he observes in the future: each of which, directly correlate to one of Darwin's ideas.

In 1893 Wells became a full-time writer. As a novelist, Wells made his debut with "The Time Machine", a parody of English class division. The narrator is Hillyer, who discusses with his friends about the theories of time travel. Much of the realistic atmosphere of the story was achieved by carefully studying technical details. The basic principles of the machine contained materials regarding time as the fourth dimension – years later Albert Einstein published his theory of the four dimensional continuum of space-time ("H.G. Wells" 2).

In the short story, “A Sound of Thunder”, Bradbury discusses how these men received the opportunity to ride in a time machine and travel back in time. This time machine is an example of a technological advancement. The story also presents itself as a science fiction type of story. Ray Bradbury writes this story making the reader travel unimaginable worlds with impractical ways of living. It showed readers in the beginning how it was this great thing that was created, but will soon be a disaster that they wish they were never apart of. As the men in the story traveled back in time in the time machine, they saw all the wonders of the dinosaur era. On their trip, one guy messed up and created a butterfly effect in their world. One small mistake caused an even bigger one in the story. Furthermore, Bradbury in “A Sound of Thunder” shows how a dystopian theme was created in the story by Eckels exclaiming “’Can't we, he pleaded to the world, to himself, to the officials, to the Machine, ‘can't we take it back, can't we make it alive again? Can't we start over? Can't we...’” (9). The time machine overall shows how technological advancements can be a downside to society.

With over fifty novels published, more than twenty short stories, a couple of textbooks, many political essays, a few accurate predictions of the future, influence on the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and zero awards to show for it, Herbert George Wells was one of the most notable authors of the 20th century. An early interest in reading and science shaped Wells’s studies in college and career. The publication of his first novel, The Time Machine, rocketed his name to the metaphorical top. His political views also influenced his books and personal life. He was most well-known for his science fiction works; themes of science, society, class, community, as well as socialist ideas that ran through his work. Additionally, Wells frequently

H.G. Wells took 5 pounds and moved to London in 1888. Wells traveled back and forth from France during the Wars. (Abrams 13+; Hall 310+; “Herbert George Wells-Biography”; Kunitz 1492; O’neal 1630; “Wells, H. G.” 122). The idea of the future of humanity greatly fascinated Wells. People refer to Wells as the father of modern science fiction. One of Wells best known novels “The Time Machine” was his first

impressed by the world he finds, he is lost for words as is he is

H.G. Wells’s family and social life had a very big impact on his novel The Time Machine. His entire life he struggled with his social class. He portrays much of that struggle into his novel. A reader can sense his struggle when reading The Time Machine because it is clear that Wells mocks the rich, upper class in his work. His feelings towards the future societies are very evident in his main character, the Time Traveler. The Time Traveler was a very smart, intellectual upper class man. In the novel, he predicts two futures for society. Though in the story, the societies are presented as the Time Traveler’s predictions, they are in fact H.G.Wells’s idea of evolution of the social classes. He predicted that the rich would evolve into wonderful, intricate creatures, while the poor would deteriorate

Many people can be inspired to do great or bold tasks simply by reading a book, or some sort of literature. H.G. Wells was a prolific author, using many different literary techniques to portray a deeper within his numerous amount of works, more specifically, his novel The Time Machine. Wells was very big on advocating equality amongst all people, no matter their race, religion, sex or what they had to say, and was also very loyal to his country. Wells was the spokesperson for women’s rights groups, and took part in international peace movements, along with supporting Britain during WWI by making propaganda against Germany. He also supported the “League of Free Nations” during WWI. H.G. Wells was very knowledgeable of the wrong in the world, and wanted people to know how the world is and will by showing it with his work, both in his novels such as “The Time Machine”, and with his contributions to women’s rights and

In summary, a remnant instinct drives us to form groups, because we feel safe in numbers and can accomplish more when we collaborate with others. The facts show that our society has evolved into a technology-based dysfunctional state of comfort and complacency. It is ironic that cooperative intelligence enabled humans to build societies that are so proficient at protecting and providing for most of its members, that intelligence and competition are no longer requirements. Such a paradoxical state was forecast by science fiction writers and movie producers – in one case more than a century ago.

The Victorian Era was a turning point in the areas of scientific discovery, and the doubting of religion. There was a strong belief that certain areas of everyday life would stay the same, such as the roles each gender played, and class stratification. These examples are very evident in The Time Machine published in 1895, and well as in The Door Into Summer, published in 1957. Although there was roughly a century between these novels, Victorian culture is still subtly displayed in both these novels.

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells is a science fiction novel written during the industrial revolution. The novel echoes Wells’ own beliefs about the growing class divide of the Victorian era, as well as his socialist political views. The novel also reflects many ideas of evolution presented by Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species, which was published almost forty years earlier. H.G. Wells’ novel The Time Machine was influenced by Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species, and his novel reflects this through the Time Traveler’s theories about the inhabitants of 802,701 AD.

In the novel a Time Machine by H.G. Wells the novel takes place in two very different locations the 1800s and the far distant future. Although they are very far away from eacher in time they are still both familiar. What makes them so familiar is their problems. They haven't gone away, and this is because the human race believe they are the center of the universe, and it is this shortsightedness that will lead them to their inevitable demise. A time traveler travels to the far future. In the future he learns that the class division had become extreme. The working class have become savage creatures called Morlocks, and the upper class have become a passive race called Eloi. The Time traveler goes back

The Time Machine is a social criticism written by Herbert George Wells who was born in 1866 in London. The book was published in early 1890s which was the first novel of H.G Wells. He uses the book as a socialist warning of what Capitalism will cause the downfall of society if workers still continually exploited for benefit of upper class. Wells expose the class problems in the 19th century. I will explore how the character’s experience was when he traveled through the time in order to prove this thesis as following.