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The Time Machine

H. g. wells.

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Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on H. G. Wells's The Time Machine . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

The Time Machine: Introduction

The time machine: plot summary, the time machine: detailed summary & analysis, the time machine: themes, the time machine: quotes, the time machine: characters, the time machine: symbols, the time machine: literary devices, the time machine: quizzes, the time machine: theme wheel, brief biography of h. g. wells.

Historical Context of The Time Machine

Other books related to the time machine.

• Full Title: The Time Machine
• When Written: 1894-1895
• Where Written: England
• When Published: 1895 as a serial novel
• Literary Period: late Victorian
• Genre: Science Fiction
• Setting: Victorian-era England, and England in the year 802,701
• Climax: When the Time Traveller escapes the Morlocks by taking the time machine into the future
• Antagonist: The Morlocks
• Point of View: Though the book has a first person narrator who is not the Time Traveller, the story is mostly told as the Time Traveller’s first person account of his voyage.

Extra Credit for The Time Machine

Science Fiction or Breaking News? In 1938, filmmaker Orson Welles adapted H.G. Wells’ novel The War of The Worlds into a radio drama that was broadcast across the United States. The radio drama, about aliens invading earth, inspired widespread panic across the country, since many listeners did not realize they were listening to a drama rather than a news bulletin.

Social Justice. Among Wells’ social commitments was antiracism, and in 1906 he wrote a book called The Future in America that contains a chapter, called “The Tragedy of Colour,” about the struggles of black Americans. In order to write the book, he met with Booker T. Washington. Wells also condemned ideas of racial purity, the death sentence of the Scottsboro Boys (African-Americans accused of raping a white woman), and racism in South Africa.

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The Time Machine Essays

“The Time Machine,” first published in 1895 by H.G. Wells is a classic science fiction novella that has captivated the hearts of young readers since its publication. It has spawned numerous films and television adaptations, but the most iconic contribution this book has given to the literary world...

1 402 words

Let me start off this essay by saying that I believe H. G. (Herbert George) Wells is one of the most intelligent writers of his time: a true futurist. Obviously, I read The Time Machine by H. G. Wells and I would like to say that it was extremely well written and sounds as though it was written...

1 145 words

There are numerous people in society who lack certain skills that they need for survival. These people may lack intelligence and depend on other human beings to help them get through life. However, most of the time, it is there fault that they lack these necessities. In "The Time Machine" by H. G...

chapter 1 The book The Time Machine by H. G. Wells consists of a story within a story. The first two chapters make up the outer story, the frame, that leads the reader into the main story. This main story is the tale of the TT, which he recounts to his audience. In my opinion this special...

H. G. WellsThe Time MachineMischel Figusch Englisch-LK Jg. 13 plot Summary The novel begins with a dinner meeting at the Time Traveller's house. The present intellectual group, consisting of the narrator, a Psychologist, a Medical Man and a Provincial Mayor are discussing the theme of the fourth...

Mischel Figusch About The Time Machine: "The Time Machine" is primarily a social critique of H. G. Wells's Victorian England projected into the distant future. Wells was a Socialist for most of his life with Communist leanings, and he argued in both his novels and non-fiction works that capitalism...

Character List: By Mischel Figusch The Time Traveler (TT): The Time Traveler is the protagonist of the story, and he takes over the narration from Chapter III until Chapter XII. He is a scientific man, schooled in contemporary theories about relativity and an able practitioner of the scientific...

Tomorrow The Time Machine written by H. G. Wells is metaphorically describing humanity as being peaceful on the surface, but under hidden depths there is a desire to be destructive. In the early chapters of the book, the time traveller expects the descendants of mankind to be super-intelligent...

English Discussion Discussion Topic: Imaginative journeys are exciting and potentially dangerous. They can take you to exotic and mysterious places, where if you are perceptive, you can grow in maturity and wisdom. This is a true statement that can only be discussed fully with reference to The...

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...

2 006 words

The poor get poorer and rich get richer. In The Time Machine by H. G. Wells, that statement is true due to the way society has seemed to devolve, at least in the eyes of an unnamed Time-Traveler, by the year 802,701 CE. To convey his message of how humans will be driven apart by social class...

Literary Culture of The Time Machine Our culture imagines the branding of the genre “sci-fi” as having content that is relevant towards a futuristic setting that involves science, super powers, innovations, aliens and also space and time travel. According to Samuel Johnson, “The idea of time...

1 756 words

Sabique Islam Professor Douglas Com 122 The Time Machine and Our World By Sabique Ul Islam The Time Machine, written by H. G. Wells, focuses on contemporary social questions. Through the progression of the story Wells delineates various interrelated social issues that existed in Victorian England...

1 253 words

The Time Machine is a Science-Fiction book by H. G. Wells, first published by Penguin Books in 1895, about the adventures of an unnamed Time-Traveler through time. After reading this book, I find that the book is relatively easy to understand, save for the introduction of the book, which is a...

The Time Machine by H. G. Wells Analysis Paper “Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite,” – a rather bold quote by John Kenneth Galbraith to begin with, serves as a great taste into what H. G. Wells is trying to convey in his novel, The Time Machine. While Wells...

1 793 words

“Nature never appeals to intelligence until habit and instinct are useless. There is no intelligence where there is no need of change.” — — “We should strive to welcome change and challenges, because they are what help us grow. With out them we grow weak like the Eloi in comfort and security. We...

1 163 words

H. G. Wells's, "The Time Machine," is a classic work of science fiction, based on the linking criteria of the term megatext. This justification is validated based on the core of the term megatext as awareness, identity, fear and survival. These four points are a clear illustration of science...

1 156 words

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Related Essays on The Time Machine

“The Time Machine” by H.G. Wells is a novel published in 1895, it spawned multiple film adaptions including the 1960 version directed by George Pal. Although they are essentially the same story, the film adaptation took multiple [...]

Time travel, a concept that has long fascinated humanity, has found a unique place in the world of literature and storytelling. Originally categorized as science fiction, time travel story was perceived as an unrealistic and [...]

In H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, the unnamed narrator, commonly referred to as the Time Traveler, creates a device that is capable of time travel, and proceeds to meet two humanoid species of the far distant future. The Time [...]

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The Time Machine , first novel by H. G. Wells , published in book form in 1895. The novel is considered one of the earliest works of science fiction and the progenitor of the “ time travel ” subgenre.

SUMMARY: Wells advanced his social and political ideas in this narrative of a nameless Time Traveller who is hurtled into the year 802,701 by his elaborate ivory , crystal , and brass contraption. The world he finds is peopled by two races: the decadent Eloi, fluttery and useless, are dependent for food, clothing, and shelter on the simian subterranean Morlocks, who prey on them. The two races—whose names may be borrowed from the biblical Eli and Moloch—symbolize Wells’s vision of the eventual result of unchecked capitalism : a neurasthenic upper class that would eventually be devoured by a proletariat driven to the depths.

DETAIL: The Time Machine , H. G. Wells’s first novel after teaching science and writing science journalism for several years, is a “scientific romance” that inverts the nineteenth-century belief in evolution as progress. The story follows a Victorian scientist, much like Wells himself in background and manner, who, at a gathering of friends, claims that he has invented a device that enables him to travel through time and has visited the future, arriving in the year 802,701 in what had once been London . There, he finds the future race, or, more accurately, races, because the human species has “evolved” into two distinct forms. Above ground live the Eloi—gentle, fairy-like, childish creatures, whose existence appears to be free of struggle and who are complacent , incurious, and physically soft. However, another race of beings exists—the Morlocks, underground dwellers who, once subservient, now prey on the feeble, defenceless Eloi for food. The Morlocks, the Time Traveller assures his dinner guests, are inhuman and “damned,” but they are also more adaptable and capable in many ways than the Eloi. By setting the action nearly a million years in the future, Wells was illustrating the Darwinian model of evolution by natural selection , “fast-forwarding” through the slow process of changes to species, the physical world, and the solar system .

The novel is a class fable , as well as a scientific parable , in which the two societies of Wells’s own period (the upper classes and the “lower orders”) are recast as equally, though differently, “degenerate” beings. It is notable that the Narrator, who appears several chapters after the Time Traveller, is the only one among the learned audience who believes the Traveller’s story, although, a believer in progress, he does not accept a central point of the book, for “degeneration” is devolution, or evolution in reverse. In that regard, Wells’s dystopic vision in The Time Machine is a deliberate debunking of the utopian fictions of the late nineteenth century, in particular William Morris’s News from Nowhere . Where Morris depicts a pastoral, socialist utopia , Wells represents a world in which the human struggle is doomed to failure.

The Time Machine has spawned countless kindred stories and novels, serious and parodic, as well as several film versions and homages, from the straightforward 1960 George Pal adaptation to the 1979 Wells-meets- Jack the Ripper vehicle Time After Time , the sweetly fun spinoff Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure , and the long-running British television series Doctor Who .

The Time Machine

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Discussion Questions

Besides a box of matches , what other items from 1895 might the Time Traveller have brought with him to make his visit to the future less dangerous and stressful?

The Time Traveller finds a beautiful world of plenty in 802,000 AD. Explain why this upsets him.

Why do the Eloi and Morlocks evolve differently from one another?

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The Time Machine was the first novel by English author H.G. Wells . It was published in book form in 1895. The Time Machine is considered one of the earliest works of science fiction and of the “time travel” subgenre. It was made into a movie of the same name in 1960 ( see The Time Machine ).

Wells advanced his social and political ideas in this story of a nameless Time Traveller who is hurtled into the year 802,701 by his elaborate ivory, crystal, and brass contraption. The world he finds is peopled by two races: the decadent Eloi, fluttery and useless, are dependent for food, clothing, and shelter on the simian subterranean Morlocks, who prey on them. The two races symbolize Wells’s vision of the eventual result of unchecked capitalism : an (aboveground) upper class, weak and lethargic because of their privileges, would eventually be devoured by the (underground) lower classes, which bonded together to overcome their oppression.

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Essay on Time Machine

Students are often asked to write an essay on Time Machine in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

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100 Words Essay on Time Machine

Introduction to time machine.

A time machine is a concept from science fiction, where a device can allow people to travel through time. This idea has fascinated people for centuries.

Concept of Time Travel

Scientific possibility.

Although time travel sounds exciting, scientists are not sure if it’s possible. It challenges the laws of physics.

Impact of Time Travel

If time travel were possible, it could change history. But it might also create paradoxes and problems.

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250 Words Essay on Time Machine

The concept of time machine.

The idea of a time machine, a device capable of transporting an individual or object backward or forward through time, has been a captivating topic for centuries. This concept, largely popularized by H.G. Wells’ novel “The Time Machine,” has been a subject of scientific speculation and a common plot device in various forms of media.

Scientific Possibilities

In the realm of physics, the notion of time travel is not entirely dismissed. Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity suggests that time dilation could occur under specific circumstances, such as high-speed travel or in the presence of a strong gravitational field. However, practical application of these theories to construct a working time machine remains a daunting challenge.

Temporal Paradoxes

One of the most intriguing aspects of time travel is the potential for temporal paradoxes. The grandfather paradox, for instance, poses the question of what would happen if a person were to travel back in time and prevent their grandfather from meeting their grandmother. Would they cease to exist? Or would an alternate timeline be created?

Implications for Humanity

500 words essay on time machine, the concept of a time machine.

A time machine, as conceptualized in various literary and scientific discourses, is a device that allows for travel into the past or future. The idea, though primarily a science fiction trope, has been explored in countless books, movies, and scientific theories. The concept of a time machine has often been linked to the theory of relativity by Albert Einstein, which posits that time and space are interconnected in a four-dimensional space-time continuum.

Historical and Literary Context

The term “time machine” was first coined by H.G. Wells in his 1895 novel “The Time Machine”. Wells’ protagonist invents a vehicle that can move through the fourth dimension, enabling him to visit different epochs. This concept, previously unexplored, sparked the imagination of readers and writers alike, leading to a proliferation of stories centered on time travel.

Stephen Hawking, in his ‘Chronology Protection Conjecture’, argued against the possibility of time travel to the past on the grounds that it contradicts the fundamental laws of physics. The concept of ‘wormholes’, another theoretical passage through space-time, has been proposed as a method for time travel, but these remain purely speculative.

Implications of Time Travel

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The Time Machine H.G. Wells

The Time Machine essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Time Machine by H.G. Wells.

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The Time Machine Essays

Chronotopic shaping and reshaping in h.g. wells' the time machine and octavia e. butler's kindred hadas elber, the time machine.

Mikhail Bakhtin, in his essay "Forms of Time and Chronotope in the Novel," argues that the "chronotope" of a literary work – the configuration of time and space in the fictional world that the text projects – is inextricably connected with its...

On the Novum and the Dangers of Humanity’s Pursuit of Scientific Advancement Anonymous

The concept of the novum is a central theme to science fiction as a whole. It represents something new and different from the world as we know it. The novum usually functions as the impetus to the science fiction story, guiding the motivations of...

The Time Machine: When Progress Becomes Destructive Alexandra Best College

In his early novel, The Time Machine, H. G. Wells is critiquing the Victorians’ fears of evolution. Charles Darwin’s theories were cutting-edge in Wells’ time, and they terrified many of the upper class. What if humans devolve to the point where...

The Time Machine and the Protocols of Science Fiction Timothy Sexton College

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells features horrific creatures from beneath the earth that enslave helpless humans, yet it is rarely if ever described as a horror novel. The tale features an adventurous leading character who manages to find a little...

Marxist Criticism of The Time Machine Dessi M. Gravely College

The Time Machine is a 1960 science fiction film that was produced and directed by George Pal. Based on an 1895 novel of the same title by H.G. Wells, the film portrays an inventor’s journey into the distant future and his findings. As George, the...

The Disadvantages of Capitalism Minkie Shadow College

In H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, the unnamed narrator, commonly referred to as the Time Traveler, creates a device that is capable of time travel, and proceeds to meet two humanoid species of the far distant future. The Time Traveler’s adventure...

The Rise or Fall of Humanity: Comparing 'The Time Machine' in Fiction and Film Anonymous 9th Grade

In The Time Machine, H. G. Wells takes on the impossible task of imagining the future of our world. The story features the Time Traveler (George), the main character of the story, and his many adventures in the year 802,701 A.D. Later in 1960...

The significance of scientific investigation within the works of H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein Eleanor Merry College

Scientific investigation as a motif in Victorian literature served as both a source of inquisitiveness and terror in its youth as an ideological school of thought. Both Mary Shelley and H. G. Wells take time to scientifically dissect these facets...

The Eloi Paradise Versus the Morlock Underworld: Imagery and Symbolism in The Time Machine Eric Seamans College

In The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, the Time Traveler travels from the late 19th century to the future–802,701–to find both heavenly and hellish, both beautiful and sickening environments. The earth at that time is inhabited by the Eloi,...

The Time Traveller: A Singular "Mad Scientist" Alejandro Martínez Fernández College

Mad Scientists in Literary History

The figure of the ‘mad scientist’ is present in many literary works, and its influence as an irresponsible character with an uncontrollable intelligence can be found in many others. But before explaining its...

100 Words Essay On If I Had A Time Machine In English

If I had a time machine, I would do so many things!

Next, I would go back to when things weren’t as costly as today. I would treat myself to hordes of cheap chocolate and ice cream! 

However, if possible, I would return to my childhood days and try to be stuck there!

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Gdp up by 0.3% and employment up by 0.2% in the euro area, announcement.

Following recommendations for a harmonised European revision policy for national accounts and balance of payments , EU countries are carrying out a benchmark revision of their national accounts estimates in 2024. The purpose of this benchmark revision is to implement changes introduced by the amended ESA 2010 regulation , and to incorporate new data sources and other methodological improvements. Most of the revised quarterly and annual country data are expected to be released by Eurostat between June and October 2024, and will be progressively integrated in European estimates. The impact of these revisions is expected to be limited, but still noticeable for some European aggregates and more pronounced for certain Member States. For further details, please consult the available documentation on Eurostat’s website .

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In the second quarter of 2024, seasonally adjusted GDP increased by 0.3% in both the euro area and the EU , compared with the previous quarter, according to a flash estimate published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union . In the first quarter of 2024, GDP had also grown by 0.3% in both zones.

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, seasonally adjusted GDP increased by 0.6% in the euro area and by 0.8% in the EU in the second quarter of 2024, after +0.5% in the euro area and +0.6% in the EU in the previous quarter.

During the second quarter of 2024, GDP in the United States increased by 0.7% compared to the previous quarter (after +0.4% in the first quarter of 2024 ). Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, GDP increased by 3.1% (after +2.9% in the previous quarter).

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The number of employed persons increased by 0.2% in both the euro area and the EU in the second quarter of 2024, compared with the previous quarter. In the first quarter of 2024, employment had grown by 0.3% in both zones.

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, employment increased by 0.8% in the euro area and by 0.7% in the EU in the second quarter of 2024, after +1.0% in the euro area and +0.9% in the EU in the first quarter of 2024 .