H.G Wells > The Time Machine
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/timemachine/quiz.html
Further Reading
Wells, Herbert George. The Definitive Time Machine. Harry M. Geduld, ed. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana
UP, 1987.
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Characters
The Time Traveller - The Time Traveller's name is never given. Apparently the narrator wants to protect
his identity. The Time Traveller is an inventor. He likes to speculate on the future and the underlying
structures of what he observes. His house is in Richmond, a suburb of London.
The Narrator - The narrator, Mr. Hillyer, is the Time Traveller's dinner guest. His curiosity is enough to
make him return to investigate the morning after the first time travel.
Weena - Weena is one of the Eloi. Although the Time Traveller reports that it is difficult to distinguish
gender among the Eloi, he seems quite sure that Weena is female. He easily saves her from being washed
down the river, and she eagerly becomes his friend. Her behavior toward him is not unlike that of a pet or
small child.
Summary and Analysis
Chapter 1 & 2
Summary
The Time Traveller is in his home, speaking to a group of men that includes the narrator. He is lecturing on
the fourth dimension. He tells them that a cube exists not only in space, but also in time. Time is the fourth
dimension. Many of them are skeptical. The Time Traveller claims that one should be able to move about in
the fourth dimension just as one can move about in the other three. After all, he notes, we are constantly
moving forward in time, why not move faster or slower or even backward? He produces a miniature time
machine, the size of a clock, made of ivory and crystal. The Time Traveller explains that one lever sends the
machine into the future and the other one sends it into the past. He asks one of the guests to push the
forward lever, and the machine disappears in a small gust. He claims that the machine is now gliding
forward into the future. The guests ask why they cannot still see it, since they too are moving into the future,
and the Time Traveller explains that it is moving forward too quickly to be seen, like the spokes of a wheel or
a speeding bullet. The guests are amazed. The Traveller then shows them a much larger machine, with
which he plans to explore time.
The narrator concludes that not many of the guests believed the Time Traveller, as he was a very intelligent
man, likely to play elaborate pranks. The narrator returns to dinner at his house the next week. The guests
include some of the men from the previous week and some new guests. They have been instructed to begin
dinner without their host. When he enters, he is incredibly dusty and dishevelled. He quickly drinks some
champagne, then goes to wash up. The narrator suggests to the other guests that their host has been
travelling in time. The others are incredulous and make sarcastic remarks in reply. When the Time Traveller
is finally ready to tell his story, the guests quickly raise objections. The Time Traveller says that he has no
energy to argue and will speak only if everyone agrees not to interrupt. The guests agree, and sit in
increasingly rapt attention as the story begins.
Commentary
In The Time Machine, there is a story within a story. The first two chapters make up the outer story, the
frame. What follows is the Time Traveller's story. It is important to consider why Wells included a frame
story. It lets the reader know that the story takes place in Victorian England, in a world of gas lamps, cigars,
and gentlemen with the leisure time to discuss topics like the fourth dimension. It also sets up a good deal of
suspense. The small time machine that disappears could be proof that time travel is possible, but it could
also be some kind of parlour trick, an illusion created with mirrors. It opens the reader up to the idea that
time travel might be possible. In the second chapter, we see the dishevelled time traveller stumble in. The
reader recognizes that he must have been travelling in time. This whets the reader's palate, and also makes
the story seem more plausible.
Chapter 3 & 4
Summary
The Time Traveller gets on his machine and pushes the forward lever just a little. He feels a dizzying
sensation, and when he looks at the clock in his lab he sees that five hours have passed. He then presses
the forward lever a bit more. Night and day fly by in increasingly rapid succession. Soon the lab disappears.
He can see the hazy outline of buildings as well as the sun going in a continuous path across the sky that
moves up and down with the seasons. A feeling of headlong motion turns into exhilaration. He begins to
worry that when he stops the machine it will land where there is already some solid object, and he will be
obliterated. He becomes very frightened and pulls the lever to a stop. He ends up flying headlong through
the air.
The traveller finds himself in a hail storm. As it passes, he notices a giant statue of a white sphinx on
a bronze pedestal. He begins to fear what man may have evolved into. Perhaps it is something very cruel or
savage. He notices large buildings, and as he turns his time machine over on the right side, he notices that
some figures in rich robes are observing him from the nearest building. One of the creatures approaches
him. It is beautiful but very frail, reminding the Time Traveller of someone afflicted by tuberculosis .
More of the creatures surround him, speaking in a "sweet and liquid tongue." They seem free of fear, and he
feels safe. He removes the control levers from his time machine so that no one else can use it. The
creatures have large eyes, curly hair, and thin red lips. When he points up to the sun to try to explain where
he has come from, one of the creatures makes the sound of thunder, thinking that he came from the hail
storm. He wonders if they are fools and is flooded with disappointment. They begin to run about and shower
him with strange flowers, and he laughs at how wrongly he had imagined the future.
The creatures take the traveller into one of their large buildings. It is covered with strange hieroglyphics.
They give him a meal of strange fruit. He tries to learn a few words. They laugh at his attempts to speak their
language, and soon grow weary of teaching him. They seem foolish and indolent. He walks out to explore
the world of 802,701 AD. There are ruins. He notices that all of the creatures live together in huge buildings.
He also notices that there are no outward signs of gender, and that there are no old people. He thinks he
has arrived in a communist paradise, and that these creatures are the result of a world without hardship and
fear. He thinks how in his own time, human intelligence is bent toward making life easier, and now, he
thinks, he sees the outcome in the frail, naive creatures. It is hardship that necessitates vigor, and keeps
man intelligent and strong. Without danger, he thinks, there is no need for the family, which results in the
communist way of life he sees in these creatures. But, as he is telling his story, the Time Traveller says that
this theory of his was very wrong.
Commentary
Wells uses his story to talk about contemporary social questions such as the advent of communism. The
Time Traveller thinks that these frail creatures and their communal lifestyle is the result of a world free of
trouble. While this seems desirable, it also seems strange. The Time Traveller finds the creatures beautiful,
but he is disappointed by their laziness and lack of intelligence. It seems that Wells may be making a
negative comment on communism. Later, his story will seem to illustrate the problems of capitalism as well.
It is also likely that Wells was criticizing the more general idea that human intelligence should always be
used to make life easier. The late Victorian period was a time of great technical progress and social stability.
Many people thought that progress was inevitable and good. Here, Wells suggests that progress can go in
many different directions, and that if too much progress is made, if humans get too comfortable, they might
get soft.
Chapter 5
As the Time Traveller is reflecting on his theories, night begins to fall. He heads back to his time Machine.
As he approaches the spot from a distance, the machine appears to be gone, and he breaks into a
desperate run. It is gone. He is sure that no one travelled in time, because he took the levers, but someone
has obviously moved it in space. He believes that the creatures he has encountered so far are too weak to
move the machine. He goes into a frenzy, running around the Sphinx statue, where he startles a white
creature that runs away. He goes into the hall and wakes the sleeping creatures, demanding his time
machine in a gruff manner, which scares the creatures. The narrator calms down and tries to reason out
where his machine might be and how he can get it back.
That morning, the traveller decides that since he was only away from the machine for a short time it
can't have gone very far. He concludes that the machine must be hidden in the immense pedestal of the
sphinx statue. He tries to open the pedestal's panels with a rock, but does not succeed. When he asks the
creatures how to open it, they react with shock and disgust. He decides that he must be patient, and that it
would be a good idea to get to know the creatures better. He learns more of their language and explores the
area. He pays more attention to the wells dotting the landscape, and notes that air seems to be sucked
down into them. He can hear the dull sound of machines coming from below.
He begins to reconsider his theory that the creatures come from a decadent, automated civilization, for he
notices that there are only buildings, and that the clothes of the creatures must be made somewhere. He
also doesn't understand the strange wells, or how his time machine disappeared.
Meanwhile, the Time Traveller rescues one of the creatures from drowning in the river, which has shifted a
mile or so from the bed of the Thames. Her name is Weena, and she seems like an affectionate, precocious
child to him. She greets him when he returns to the area of the white sphinx statue, making it feel like home.
Like the other creatures, she is very afraid of the dark. Her fellow creatures sleep in great clumps in the halls
of the buildings, and she is very reluctant to let the narrator sleep elsewhere. One morning, the narrator
wakes up at dawn and goes out on the porch of one of the buildings. He imagines he sees white figures
moving around in the dull pre-dawn light. On his fourth morning, he enters an old ruin and finds two big eyes
staring back at him. It is a white, ape-like creature. The animal flees, stumbling through the daylight. He tries
to track it, but it seems to have disappeared down one of the nearby wells.
He deduces from this new creature's appearance and behaviour that it lives underground, and he begins to
understand the wells as being a huge ventilation system for an underground race. He imagines that the
underground creatures are the labourers of the future society, and that they are only allowed to come out at
night. He thinks of how in his own time there is a growing gap between the idle rich and labourers, and how
the wealthy own huge estates where others are not allowed. He imagines that the overworld creatures have
forced the underground creatures to work for them and have denied them access to the sunshine of the
surface.
He soon learns from the peaceful surface creatures that these underground creatures are called "Morlocks"
and that the surface creatures themselves are called "Eloi." When he tries to ask Weena more questions
about the Morlocks, however, she becomes very upset.
Commentary
In this long fifth chapter, the Time Traveller learns much more about the world of the Eloi. His adventures in
this time constitute the bulk of Wells's novella. The fifth chapter also contains much of the political message
of the book. Again, the reader sees in the Time Traveller's remarks a thinly veiled criticism of contemporary
social mores in Victorian England. The world of the Eloi is a dystopia, or a negative utopia. Just as a utopian
story presents a perfect society and recommends how such a state of existence can be achieved, a dystopia
shows how society will go wrong if certain trends continue.
While the time traveller's first theory on how Eloi society functions appeared to be a critique of communism,
in this chapter he identifies the operations of capitalism as the source of tension between the Eloi and the
Morlocks.
Wells imagines the separation of workers and capitalists taken to the extreme. This makes sense, given the
context Wells was writing in. London is the archetype of the nineteenth century industrialized city that is filled
with miserable workers and rich industrial leaders. Wells, like most Englishmen, was very conscious of class
status. Growing up, he went to a school where the working class was prominent, and he automatically allied
himself with the upper classes, however much he was turned off by their decadence. This is similar to how
the Time Traveller feels a great deal more sympathy for the Eloi than for the Morlocks, in spite of his disgust
for the frailty of the Eloi.
Chapter 6 & 7
The Time Traveller concludes that in order to recover his machine he must enter into the world of the
Morlocks. In the distance, he sees what he describes as the Palace of Green Porcelain. Instead of visiting it,
he decides that he must descend into one of the wells. When Weena sees him descend, she is very worried.
He clambers down one of the wells for a long time, finally finding a small alcove where he can rest. He
awakes to the touch of clammy fingers. Lighting a match, he sees several Morlocks running into the
distance. He explores further and finds a vast chamber filled with Morlocks and the throbbing machines that
pump air through the caves. The Morlocks are eating some kind of meat. Suddenly, the matches that he is
using to ward off the Morlocks run out, and they seize him. He narrowly escapes back up the well.
Horribly frightened, he decides that he must find some way to defend himself from the Morlocks. He
has to revise his theories. Over the next few days, he realizes that the meat the Morlocks were eating was
probably Eloi, hunted at night. He now thinks that he understands why the Eloi dread the night. They speak
of imminent "Dark Nights," and he realizes that the moon is waning. He imagines that his theory about the
division of labour being carried to the extreme was right, that at one point the ancestors of the Morlocks
must have been driven underground to work for the ancestors of the Eloi, but that now the balance of power
has shifted. In their restful ease, the Eloi have grown weak, while the Morlocks have grown strong. He
imagines that both are the descendents of man, and that the instinct against cannibalism must have gone
out of style. He also imagines that his journey into the underworld must have horribly upset the Morlocks.
Nervous, the traveller hastens to find a safe place to spend the night.
He decides to try to find safety in the Palace of Green Porcelain. With Weena on his shoulders, he begins to
journey toward it. Weena walks alongside him for a while, stuffing his pockets with flowers, two of which he
produces for his guests. He resumes his story. The journey takes longer than he thought, and as night falls
they find themselves on the border of a great forest. The Time Traveller is out of matches, and is afraid to
enter the woods with Morlocks about. He sets Weena down on top of a hill, and lets her sleep while he
keeps watch. The night passes without harm.
Commentary
The Time Traveller makes a journey into the underworld. This is a common element in fiction, especially in
myths. In many ways, Wells's tale is like a myth, in that it is a story of a completely different world full of
symbolic meaning.
The Time Traveller formulates a third theory on the world of the Eloi. Not only has capitalism led to a ghastly
division of labour in which the workers must live underground, but the workers are now exacting revenge on
their former masters. The Morlocks eat, hunt, and terrorize the Eloi, just as the ancestors of the Eloi
metaphorically preyed on their subjugated workers.
This theory seems to represent some of Wells's own anxieties. Capitalist societies often produce tales about
fears of an uprising from below. In Wells's tale, the uprising is an unavoidable evolutionary consequence. It
should be noted that while Wells seems to attack communism earlier in the book, the Time Traveller's third
and ultimate theory still incorporates the idea of class warfare, a way of looking at society that is a key
element of Marxism.
Chapter 8-10
Weena and the Time Traveller enter the Palace of Green Porcelain, and find that just as it appears, it is
made out of green porcelain. They also find that it is a ruined museum. Among a chemistry exhibit, the Time
Traveller salvages some camphor, an inflammable substance often used in torches. He is thrilled to find
some preserved matches--he had run out--and he marvels at the completely decayed remains of books that
he finds in one of the halls. Exploring a giant hall of machinery, he notices that Weena is scared. Looking
into the dark end of the hall, he hears the sound of Morlocks. He breaks a lever off one of the machines, and
flees. Exiting the museum, he intends to rush back to the area of the sphinx statue, but he is exhausted
because he has not slept in two days. As they near the woods again, they hear Morlocks beginning to stir
behind them. Night has fallen. Using the camphor and some dry brush he had collected, the Time Traveller
starts a large fire to guard their retreat into the woods. It spreads quickly. He and Weena proceed at a rapid
pace, but eventually find themselves surrounded by Morlocks. The Time Traveller hurriedly starts a small
fire, pulling down dry timber to feed the flames. Incredibly tired, he nods off to sleep, feeling safe by the fire.
He awakes to feel the Morlocks grasping him. He struggles, grabbing hold of the lever he took from
the museum. He swings wildly, killing a few Morlocks. Suddenly, the rest flee, and he sees that the first fire
has become a giant forest fire. He can't find Weena anywhere, and he runs after the Morlocks, hoping that
they will lead him to safety. He finally comes to a clearing with a large hill, filled with confused, blinded
Morlocks. They are helpless. When morning comes, he gets his bearings atop the hill and heads back in the
direction of the white sphinx statue. He plans to pry open the pedestal with his lever.
When he arrives, to his surprise, the pedestal is open, and he sees his time machine inside. He smiles,
guessing at the Morlocks' plan of action. He walks into the pedestal, and the panels slide shut behind him,
just as he had suspected. He confidently begins to strike a match, but realizes he has nothing to strike it
against. The Morlocks pounce, and he desperately struggles onto the saddle of the machine, barely
screwing in the forward lever. He pushes it forward, and escapes into the future.
Commentary
With this chapter Wells finishes his tale of the year AD 802,701. Having sketched out the structure of that
society and thus implicitly made his political points, he moves on to conclude the adventure story. Fire,
which was originally a source of wonder to the Eloi, now becomes a dangerous weapon. It is a weapon that
would not be powerful in contemporary times, but which seems like terrible magic in the future. It is a
common feature of time travel stories to allow the hero to escape from troubles with some kind of weapon or
skill he brings from his own time. It is exciting; it communicates a certain loyalty to the time of the reader.
Another common element of the time travel story, or of any story where the hero travels to a fantastic place,
is that some kind of violence or trouble forces him to leave quickly. Otherwise, the character might forever
stay in the fantastic place, and never return to tell about it. Also, because the hero has to leave quickly, he
does not have time to fully explore the world or to bring back much evidence of his travels, lending the story
a sense of mystery and ambiguous credibility.
Chapter 11, 12 and Epilogue
The Time Traveller flies into the future with a greater velocity than before. Although he is travelling
thousands of years per second, he begins to notice day and night again. The sun grows larger and redder.
Finally, it seems that the earth has stopped rotating, and is circling the dying sun as the moon used to circle
the earth.
When he brings the machine to a stop, he finds himself on a sloping beach. Vegetation covers every
surface facing the unmoving sun; the air is very thin. Behind him he sees a huge white butterfly in the
distance, and slowly a red rock begins to move toward him. It turns out to be a giant crab. While he is staring
at it, he feels something brush his neck. It is the antenna of a second giant crab, right next to him. He
hurriedly skips a month into the future to escape, but finds the beach covered with more crabs. He goes on,
stopping every hundred years or so, watching the "old earth ebb away." Finally, thirty million years into the
future, he comes to a stop. The air is bitter cold, and the only sign of life is lichen on the beach. Small flakes
of snow float in the air. A large disc begins to eclipse the sun; the Time Traveller suspects that some inner
planet, perhaps Mercury, which is now much closer to Earth, is passing in front of the sun. An incredible
darkness and blackness follows. On the verge of fainting, he climbs back on the machine, and as he does
he notices a black blob with tentacles flop over in the distance. It is the only evidence of animal life.
As he travels back in time, he is eventually able to breathe with ease. He sees the dim outlines of buildings,
and as he slows down, the walls of his laboratory again surround him. He sees his maid walk backward
across the room. He stops the machine, stumbles out to check the date, and enters the dining room where
he finds his guests.
The guests are speechless, and apparently very skeptical. For a moment, the Time Traveller's memory
seems to falter, overwhelmed. He rushes to look at the time machine, and there it is, covered with dirt and
grass. The next day, the narrator returns, eager to speak to his host in the clarity of daylight. The Time
Traveller is about to leave on another journey, and promises to be back in half an hour, with hard evidence.
But at the time the narrator is telling the story, three years have passed, and the Time Traveller has never
returned. The narrator wonders where he could be, and knows only that he has two very brittle, alien flowers
to show that time travel ever happened, proof that the human spirit of tenderness lives on even after
strength and mind have decayed.
Commentary
Having finished the adventure tale of the Eloi and the Morlocks, Wells now turns his Time Traveller to
adventures more directly related to time travel. Wells delights in discussing the future in terms of astronomy
and evolution. His imagery is closely related to the theory of entropy, the theory that the universe will
ultimately decay into a state of inert uniformity.
The specific of Wells pessimistic view of the future is admirable, but the fact that he includes science in his
adventure tale is remarkable in itself. Today, science fiction is a well-established genre, but in his day Wells
was one of its first practitioners.
Analysis
The Time Machine has two main threads. The first is the adventure tale of the Eloi and Morlocks in the year
802,701 AD. The second is the science fiction of the time machine.
The adventure story includes many archetypal elements. The Time Traveller's journey to the
underworld, his fear of the great forest, and his relationship to Weena, mirror imagery prevalent in earlier
literature, imagery strongly associated with the inner workings of the human psyche.
The tale of 802,701 is political commentary of late Victorian England. It is a dystopia, a vision of a troubled
future. It recommends that current society change its ways lest it end up like the Eloi, terrified of an
underground race of Morlocks. In the Eloi, Wells satirizes Victorian decadence. In the Morlocks, Wells
provides a potentially Marxist critique of capitalism.
The rest of the novella deals with the science fiction of time travel. Before Wells, other people had written
fantasies of time travel, but Wells was the first to bring a strong dose of scientific speculation to the genre.
Wells has his Time Traveller speak at length on the fourth dimension and on the strange astronomy and
evolutionary trends he observes as he travels through time. Much of this was inspired by ideas of entropy
and decay promulgated by Wells's teacher, Thomas Henry Huxley.