H.G. Wells thought and wrote extensively about the social problems of the world of his day. He often struggled with his optimistic, utopian vision of the future and his more darkly pessimistic fears. Certainly tumult filled the world he lived in. The Time Machine neatly encompasses some of his thoughts about mankind's future. In this vision the social split that he saw (and lived--see his biography) between the leisurely wealthy upper class and the working lower class is realized in the Eloi and Morlock. Although the Time Traveller is careful to tell his audience that he is not sure how the society he found came to be, he is willing to speculate at length. As he says of the soft, indolent and intellectually incurious Eloi,
"Seeing the ease and security in which these people were living, I felt that this close resemblance of the sexes was after all what one would expect; for the strength of a man and the softness of a woman, the institution of the family, and the differentiation of occupations are mere militant necessities of an age of physical force; where population is balanced and abundant, much childbearing becomes an evil rather than a blessing to the State; where violence comes but rarely and off-spring are secure, there is less necessity there is no necessity an efficient family, and the specialization of the sexes with reference to their children's needs disappears. We see some beginning of this even in our own time, and in this future age it was complete."
Later he says of the ape-like, underground dwelling Morlock,
"At first, proceeding from the problems of our own age, it seemed clear as daylight to me that the gradual widening of the present merely temporary and social difference between the Capitalist and the Labourer, was the key to the whole position. No doubt it will seem grotesque enough to you–and wildly incredible!–and yet even now there are existing circumstances to point that way. There is a tendency to utilize underground space for the less ornamental purposes of civilization; there is the Metropolitan Railway in London, for instance, there are new electric railways, there are subways, there are underground workrooms and restaurants, and they increase and multiply. Evidently, I thought, this tendency had increased till Industry had gradually lost its birthright in the sky. I mean that it had gone deeper and deeper into larger and ever larger underground factories, spending a still-increasing amount of its time therein, till, in the end–! Even now, does not and East-end worker live in such artificial conditions as practically to be cut off from the natural surface of the earth?"
This 1890's social and economic Darwinism is fascinating considering the ongoing struggles with the labor movement and the turmoil that would soon reshape Russia. Surprisingly considering Wells' beliefs, the novel strikes a resoundingly nostalgic note about the world Wells lived in. His Time Traveller finds the competitive, often dangerous world of 1895 to have more of what makes a human a human than the existence he found in the far future. He says, "I came out of this age of ours, this ripe prime of the human race, where fear does not paralyze and mystery has lost its terrors."
Although many students (and history teachers!) give the years between the American Civil War and World War I a quick glance, mentioning the Industrial Revolution, which accelerated during this time, and the unification of Germany, much of it is only seen as a prelude to World War I and not as a significant time in itself. However, as the historian J. Kim Munholland says in Origins of Contemporary Europe 1890-1914 (Harcourt Brace & World, 1970),
"In 1890 the Europeans were in the midst of an era that was bringing revolutionary changes to their ways of life. Because no cataclysmic event marked this transformation, some historians have insisted that the growth of an industrial society in Europe was not a revolution in the sense of causing a sudden and drastic change in society. Yet, in the broad perspective of history, the rise of an industrial, technological society in the nineteenth century equals and possible surpasses the agrarian revolution of around 10,000 B.C. as a development that gave men the poser and skill to exploit their environment to their own advantage."
As John Calvin Batchelor says in his interesting and spirited introduction to the Signet Classic edition of The Time Machine (1984),
"The genius of The Time Machine is that the answers to all these questions are also a working out of Wells' own beliefs concerning his own world of 1895. Wells was a socialist in the 1890's, and saw the industrialized world dividing itself into the Haves and the Have-nots. The former were blessed, beautiful, careless, benumbed people to Wells, aristocrats at the opera sipping champagne cocktails. The latter were the working class, from whom Wells himself had come. The workers lived in hovels, were dirty and disease-ridden, and died unnaturally early–pale, broken, violent, hatefilled and frightened."
Wells stood in the middle of these changes as an astute observer. The Time Machine, his novel of ideas, reflects some of the hopes and fears that were a part of his time. As an introduction to a thoughtful and philosophic view of world in flux, it has no peer. J.V.P., 2000
A Time Machine as Metaphor in the History Classroom
Many students have a hard time getting "into" history classes. In my own experience, I found that about the best I could hope for as a history teacher was a neutral audience. Always there was a group of students openly hostile to studying history, just as there were almost always one or two enthusiasts (future history teachers maybe?).
Convincing a class that studying history was a worthwhile pursuit proved overwhelming. This is why I eventually decided to be an English teacher. Even the most apathetic English student will grudgingly admit the importance of reading, writing and speaking. This is often not the case in the history class, so that special breed of teachers who must imbue their subject with the enthusiasm and liveliness it deserves look for ways to engage their students. The time machine metaphor can help personalize history.
To use the metaphor best, the novel should be taught early in the course. After that, lessons can use the idea of a time traveler to personalize the times being studied. What would a time traveler see if she arrived in the middle of the Battle of Trafalger? What were people wearing? What kind of food would they eat? How was their health care? What could your time travelers find out about key historical figures by jumping in time to various points in their lives?
The Time Machine personalizes history. The Time Traveller didn't just meet the Eloi and the Morlocks as abstractions. He landed in a specific place--near the Thames in the far future--saw specific, interesting structures, and met a person, Weena. The social and technological changes he saw were demonstrated in the lives of individuals. Their lives impacted him, another individual. And what happened to the Time Traveller seems to me to be what a good history class does: personalize the times and emotionally/intellectually involve the student.
Discussion and Writing Topics1) What motivates the Time Traveller to go to the future rather than the past? If you were able to travel in time, would you go forward or back? Why?
2) What do you see changing in our world ten years from now? Twenty? One-hundred? How will social/political/economic or technological trends that you see now effect our futures?
3) What was high school like for your parents? What changes have occurred in the world since then? What historical events or technological changes would have surprised them? When they were in high school, what political or social concerns bothered them most? What music/movies/celebrities were popular then? How about the same set of questions for your grandparents?
4) H.G. Wells was a socialist when he wrote The Time Machine. What is a socialist? What conditions existed at that time to make socialism attractive as a philosophy? What is a communist? What did the Time Traveller see in the future that made him think "Communism" when he first stepped from the machine? From 1895 to 1945, what happened in the world to produce so many successes for communism? What was America's attitude toward Communism from 1945 on?
5) Do you think H.G. Wells would have been surprised by the fall of the Soviet Union and the weakening of its devotion to Communism? Why?
6) There is a brief discussion early in the book on the traditional roles of men and women in the family. What does what he says reveal about attitudes in the 1890's? How have these attitudes been discussed since then?
7) The Time Traveller believes the Eloi have become the way they have because they eliminated threats and conflicts. Eliminating threats and conflicts seems like a good thing. Can you think of ways that humanity might continue to challenge itself if it could achieve the very pleasant lives the Eloi seemed to live (if you don't count their relationship with the Morlocks!)?
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