The Time Machine

The Time Machine is a science fiction novel written by Herbert George Wells. Mankinds have been thinking of traveling through time for many years, from the past decades until now, 20th century. Scientists who were motivated by these thoughts had come out with a lot of theories about the relativity of time. One of the most famous and renowned physicist is Albert Einstein. He is best known for his theory of relativity. This book, The Time Machine was first published in year 1895. The term “time machine” used by Wells is now universally used to refer to such a vehicle. Alongside with Frenchman Jules Verne, Herbert George Wells is known as one of the founding fathers of science fiction. Wells’s main target is the often disapproving branch of evolution, Social Darwinism. The Time Machine is a book about a man who traveled into far future in the quest of knowing what happens to the human civilization and how our civilization turns into. The theme of this novel is the fall in evolution of human species in far future. The effect brought by the advancement of science and technology to the fall of mankind in far future.

The Time Traveler whose name is never been given because the narrator wants to protect his identity strongly believes that evolution leads to perfectibility of human species in the future and the civilization will continually advance. The time machine invented by him, was a big stepping stone in human’s history of scientific invention. However, the events that he encounters in the year Eight Hundred and Two Thousand have proven him wrong. In the novel, “For a moment I was staggered, though the import of his gesture was plain enough. The question had come into my mind abruptly: were these creatures fools? You may hardly understand how it took me. You see I had always anticipated that the people of the year Eight Hundred and Two Thousand odd would be incredibly in front of us in knowledge, art, everything. Then one of them suddenly asked me a question that showed him to be on the intellectual level of one of our five year-old children – ask me, in fact, if I had come from the sun in a thunderstorm! It let loose the judgment I had suspended upon their clothes, their frail light limbs and fragile features. A flow of disappointment rushed across my mind. For a moment I felt that I had built the Time Machine in vain (Wells 25)”. This shows that The Time Traveler was frustrated because what he had expected and believed in for so long is proven wrong. He had long believed that human beings will evolve into greater species but everything is the opposite in the future.

Human species does not evolutes to the perfect in far future. Social Darwinism which is very much argued against in this novel stated that those who succeeded in this social environment are destined to do so and to continue in their march to human perfection. This means that human species becomes better in each generation. However, in The Time Machine, The Time Traveler soon discovered that the advancements of civilization have weakened the Eloi, the beautiful species which at first seem to be the perfect inhabitants. From the novel, “I thought of the physical slightness of the people, their lack of intelligence, and those big abundant ruins, and it strengthened my belief in a perfect conquest of Nature. (Wells 32)” The Eloi, without any needs for survival had become lazy, naive and weak, while their civilization seems to be a nice place to live in.

In the future, Man does not remain one species. “But, gradually, the truth dawned on me: that Man had not remained one species. (Wells 46)” The two species are The Elois and The Morlocks. The Eloi lives in the Upperworld and The Morlock lives in the Underground. The hairy Morlock, which are the evil ones, supplied the Eloi, the gentle and kind ones food, water, and clothes. The Morlock hunts and kills the Eloi. This fall in the evolution of mankind is caused by Capitalism. H.G.Wells in this novel shows that Capitalism is dangerous and harmful to the civilization of mankind. It is made connected between the Morlocks representing the late 19th century laborers and the Eloi representing the London aristocracy. Capitalism eventually leads to the fall of human civilization.

The species of mankind in 802701A.D. had descended into savagery. The place where The Time Traveler landed in the future is actually not far from his laboratory because he launched his time machine from his lab. The conditions of mankind in the far future are worse than the conditions of the people in the period of The Time Traveler. The Time Traveler turns into a near primal savage in his fight with the Morlocks to retrieve his time machine. “But as it was, I stood there with only the weapons and the powers that Nature had endowed me with – hands, feet and teeth, and four safety-matches that still remained to me. (Wells 54)” For instance, he found little use from the more advanced displays in the Palace of Green Porcelain, instead at last he chose a simple lever from his time machine as the weapon. Fire, the most primal weapon of mankind, has been used by The Time Traveler as a weapon against the Morlocks although he is in the world of 802701 A.D. where technologies of mankind suppose to be great and powerful. The Time Traveler has to devolve in order to survive in the evolved world. This clearly explains the fall in mankind’s evolution.

Human civilization eventually vanishes in far future. After The Time Traveler escapes from the Morlocks, he travels into a future of 30 million years. He found there is none of any of the mankind species around. At the Time Traveler’s very last stop in the future, he found only one form of life survives, which is a tentacled, hopping “football”.
When The Time Traveler reaches the furthest point in his voyage into the future too he finds that the sun has increased extremely huge in size, turned red and has stopped moving. This signifies that human civilization is completely wiped out and the world returns to its original state. Everything starts again from the very beginning.

H.G.Wells had spotted a hole in the theory of social Darwinism. Human civilization in the far future doesn’t evolve to perfection. “When I had started with the time machine, I had started with the absurd assumption that the men of the Future would certainly be infinitely ahead of ourselves in all their appliances. (Wells 54)” The Time Machine which was invented by The Time Traveler shows advancement in science and technology. However, this advancement will not persist into the far future. Human civilization eventually turns into its primal state. Does all of the science in 19th century end up making the world a better place in 800, 000 A.D.?