Analysis Of H.G. Wells' Novella The Time Machine
Writers are often said to portray certain characters with a series of apparent biases that affect how the reader interacts with the text. In H.G. Wells' novella The Time Machine his bias towards human quality – that is, what makes one human – appears to be depicted through two caricatures of futuristic, humanoid-like creatures that are antithetical to his own ideal; thereby, influencing a response from the reader that will arrive at a particular conclusion.
During the early stages of the novella, the reader is introduced to the first of Wells' antithetical species, the Eloi, through the eyes of an eager time traveler. Within the first few moments of interaction, they appear to be a model of perfection: "…very beautiful and graceful…though indescribably frail…" like "…Dresden china…". However, their enchantment over the Time Traveller soon wears thin as he discovers they lack the quality of mature intellect and possess only childish whimsicality. Within this discovery, Wells begins to hint at human quality: that intellect is part of what makes one truly human. As the novella progresses onward, there is a continual downplay in comparison until the Eloi are no longer "…pretty little people that inspired confidence…," but "…mere fatted cattle…" whose lives are no more peaceful nor glamorous than such. And while a little more tasteful than their counterpart species, they are by no means a human equivalent. Their listless minds and instability rob them of such a dignity. Consequently, this impacts the perception of the future.
Rather than lustrous, it becomes a dull anticlimax of what humanity should become, and the reader left with a sort of hollow drone of loss all is reduced to mere vanity of the past. Yet, there is still more that adds to what one might interpret to be already a dismal tale. Remember, there is another species of human descendants that Wells introduces us to, though from the beginning they are hardly even accredited human ancestry. At first appearance the Morlocks, for that is what they are called, are described as "…white, ape-like creatures…", and, though finally recognized as descended from humanity, they continue to be described in freakish terms such as "vermin" and "whitened Lemurs". Unlike the Eloi, they must possess some form of intelligence due to the clamor of machinery below, yet what they lack in human quality produces much more repulsion than those of their dainty cousins. Where the Eloi lack mind and understanding, the Morlocks lack in physicality and resemblance. Their ghoulish eyes that peer from the darkness like dimly lit lanterns, their ghostly complexion, their stooping figure all induce a sense crawling discomfort to the reader. With such description, the text has used word connotations to influence the reader and redirect the emotions from a state of disdain to revulsion as he/she becomes acquainted with Wells' different human derivatives. And again, the resulting inclination is negative. However, the perhaps most blatant loss of human quality emerges in both of the species, that is the loss of ethics.
Wells first suggests this loss in the Eloi when the Time Traveller comes to the aid of one of their kind who gets swept off by the current of a river. Instead of doing anything to help her, or at the very least showing some distress at her peril, those around her continue idling in the shallows as if nothing amiss were happening at all. Yet, their aloofness is nothing compared to the atrocity that the Time Traveller, try as he might, cannot scientifically argue into acceptability and that is the cannibalistic nature of the Morlocks who "…preserve and prey upon…" their daintier counterparts. Both species suddenly collapse into a cesspit of nearly complete degradation with the Eloi only held in higher regard due to their appearances, for "However great their intellectual deficiency…" and ethical devolution "…the Eloi have kept too much of the human form not to claim…sympathy" at least of some measure. Which only lends to the point that the depictions of the text give sway to the reader's perception.
Suppose the Eloi too had possessed a more beastlike resemblance, would the reader be as inclined to horror? I think not. But it would seem Wells' intends horror, that those reading might be so dismayed that they vow it ought to never be. Instead, there must be a reversal of this world's instigation — which Wells suggests is "…the social difference between the Capitalist and the Laborer…" Therefore, one can conclude that Wells', in his novella The Time Machine, does indeed use his bias on human quality to direct the thought patterns of the reader to a particular conclusion.
