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Brooke VanSickle
Professor Heiniger
English 2120-004
25 March 2013
Societal Downfalls
(INTRO) Thesis: H. G. Wells wrote "The Time Machine" to do the cultural work
on 19th century Victorian society to caution about the use of too much technology and
societal competition would lead to the devolution of humans.
First impressions upon arriving to the year Eight Hundred and Two Thousand,
Seven Hundred and One leave The Time Traveler with unexpected disappointment.
Expecting to find a world far more superior to his current, The Time Traveler
immediately feels a sense of remorse and regret. Advances in medicine, technology, and
lifestyle were only obscure ideas that were never achieved. The Time Traveler left
during a time of progress and great industry. In Colin Manlove’s article “Charles
Kingsley, H. G. Wells. And the Machine in Victorian Fiction” he argues that the focus of
many nineteenth-century novels is the progression of self, as opposed to the progression
of a protagonist in eighteenth-century novels. In most cases it focuses on the moral
teachings of the Christian church and a relationship with God. H. G. Wells ignores
evangelical principles of the progression of good and argues the dangers of technology
and the machine. (214).
Wells makes the argument in The Time Machine that machines and technology
are producing a fin-de-siècle, or an ‘end of an era’. Advancements are conflicting with
the human soul and are not working for betterment of society. (Manlove 226). The Time
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Traveler was expecting to find a world of advances on every level. He realized that
technology “had increased till Industry had gradually lost its birthright in the sky” (Wells
41).
While The Time Machine warns about the harm in technology, it is also a science
fiction novel that continues to praise its good it has done for society. Science Fiction
novels glorify advancements in modern machine and marvel at all it has achieved. Wells
continues this early scientific trend in The Time Machine as well. The advancements of
the Victorian area were originally seen has a triumph over nature. Man could now defy
nature and its elements. No longer was survival a struggle against the organic world, but
a victory over nature. (Manlove 230). The Time Traveler saw a world where pests and
disease had been abolished and fruit and flowers had reached an ideal state with no
imperfections. The Time Traveler arrives and initially sees a world of Utopia. He sees a
world where “there were no signs of struggle, neither social nor economical struggle… It
was natural on that golden evening that I should jump at the idea of a social paradise”
(Wells 47). Wells uses the initial impressions of his arrival in the year Eight Hundred
and Two Thousand, Seven Hundred and One to glorify technology and all it has
overcome. While technology has brought about a destruction of many aspects of the
human race, and will eventually lead to its death, there was a short time of a perfect
utopia.
Upon arrival in the year Eight Hundred and Two Thousand, Seven Hundred and
One, The Time Traveler is under the impression it is a communistic society. One of his
first words even spoken was “communism” (Wells 24). The Time Traveler notes that
they were all dressed in the same attire with the same hair. Even the appearances in the
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faces were similar; the genders looking alike as well. Typical gender differentiations had
been eliminated, as well as the purpose of family. Initially, The Time Traveler believes
that communism is the root to an idealistic social world. The original presentation of the
new area is that of peace and security. The Time Traveler eventually discovers while a
communistic utopia creates a beautiful work, the society of the Eloi is actually one of a
exploited capitalistic society. (Beaumont 236).
Somewhere in society, between the era of The Time Traveler and the year Eight
Hundred and Two Thousand, Seven Hundred and One, life was at an absolute safety.
Matthew Beaumont argues in “Red Sphinx: Mechanics of the Uncanny in “The Time
Machine”’ that life had reached a balance between wealth and comfort and there was no
unemployment problems. It was “a capitalist utopia, one that accepts a permanent
division between the classes even if it homes to make society completely pacific”
(Beaumont 241). The one common factor that persists through time though is that “man
never changes”. Where there are societal classes, and there will always be conflict. Wells
uses The Time Machine as a warning to present day society that as long as there is a
distinction among classes of society, there will never be everlasting peace. The balance
from a capitalistic society is only temporary. The Morlocks are an example of a
mistreated societal class that eventually rose up to a cannibalistic group because of their
horrific treatment from the Eloi.
Even though technological advancements pointed to a capitalistic society, Wells
originally argues that capitalistic society would create an unbalanced world between the
Have’s and the Have-not’s. He described the current society in Eight Hundred and Two
Thousand, Seven Hundred and One based on two social classes, “above ground you have
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the Haves, pursing pleasure and comfort and beauty, and below ground the Have-nots;
the Workers getting continually adapted to the conditions of their labour” (Wells 41).
The capitalistic society that the Victorians know has turned into an abuse in power.
Those in charge and those with plenty have appeared to exploit to work of those who are
below them. Two distinct and separate worlds have been created based on societal roles.
Matthew Beaumont’s article “Red Sphinx: Mechanics of the Uncanny in “The
Time Machine”” makes the argument that the only way for a capitalist society to cease to
exist is the same basic principals that created it. (232). Beaumont’s idea explains why
the current relationship between the Eloi and the Morlocks is no longer one of a
capitalistic society. There is one distinct ruling class, and one of fear and dependence.
Wells explains the situation of the Eloi and Morlocks being one of drastic change.
Originally “man had thrust his brother man out of the ease and the sunshine. And now
that brother was coming back- changed! Already the Eloi had begun to learn one old
lesson anew. They were becoming re-acquainted with Fear” (49). At this point, society
has made a complete cycle of reverse. A capitalistic society began to exploit the work of
the Have-not’s, creating a false sense of security. Overtime the Have-not’s, or the
Morlocks, have slowly begun to rise up and taken advantage of the Eloi getting
comfortable in their position.
Through the dependence on technology and the superiority over nature, humans
began to devolve over the years and into Eight Hundred and Two Thousand, Seven
Hundred and One and beyond. By the end of the novel, The Time Traveler makes note
of the new society saying “there is no intelligence where there is no change and no need
for change. Only those animals partake of intelligence that have to meet a huge variety
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of needs and dangers” (Wells 65). Once there was a balance and no need for change the
human race began an overall decline. Without a world of challenges the human race
began to get soft, in both appearance and physical adaptations. While the Eloi became
comfortable in their world, the Morlocks were eventually able to continue to
revolutionize and overturn the Eloi. (Beaumont 243).
Robert M. Philmus considers The Time Machine to serve as a warning for the
human race in his article “’The Time Machine”: Or, The Fourth Dimension as Prophecy”.
Philmus argues that there are two reasons as to why humanity is ultimately doomed to a
future of that similar to the Eloi and Morlocks. The first one being a result of human’s
ability to overcome nature and the organic world, as well as other humans. The ultimate
downfall is due to humanity’s own result. Philmus blames this lack of triumph due to
negative moral judgments. Capitalistic society became an opportunity for those with
resources to dehumanize those who labor. The upper-world eventually became one of
uselessness and beauty and the under-world became one of machinery and brute strength.
Society became too specialized and what originally had a purpose became useless. The
second reason Philmus considers as a cause of devolution is due to uncontrollable,
evolutionary processes. Mankind began to place too much emphasis on technology and
be relying on it too much it became their own downfall. There was no longer a need for
intelligence and no struggle for survival. (533).
By writing a short novel, Wells is able to achieve his main purpose of The Time
Machine to warn society. Too much technology, exploitation of others, and triumph over
nature all point to one specific purpose Wells had in mind. The Time Machine serves to
do the cultural work to warn society to change their current motives and priorities. Wells
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saw a society that needed a science fiction piece of work to show the abuse of society. In
Wells opinion, capitalism only worked to serve the Have’s and the Have-not’s were
merely used for mechanical work. Triumph over nature only resulted in triumph over
fellow man, and as a result, society creates its own downfall.
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Work Cited
Beaumont, Matthew. “Red Sphinx: Mechanics of the Uncanny in “The Time
Machine”.” Science Fiction Studies 33.2 (2006): 230-250. Web. 25 Feb. 2013.
Manlove, Colin. “Charles Kingsley, H. G. Wells, and the Machine in Victorian Fiction.”
Nineteenth-Century Literature 48.2 (1993): 212-239. Web. 25 Feb. 2013.
Philmus, Robert M. “”The Time Machine”: Or, The Fourth Dimension as Prophecy.”
PMLA 84.3 (1969): 530-535. Web. 25 Feb. 2013.
Wells, H. G. The Time Machine. New York: Dover, 1995. Print.