Elois, Morlocks, and Weena, Oh My!

The Time Machine

Have you ever dreamed you could travel through time? In H.G.Wells science fiction novella, The Time Machine, the time traveler does just that. In this forerunner and herald to the science fiction age, the main character simply known as, The Time Traveler, leaves the end of the 19th century and travels through time to the future world of 802,701.

The story is being told to a group of friends and social elite who are quite skeptical and think the Traveler might be just a tad eccentric. He relates the feeling of traveling through the fourth dimension, meeting the delicate descendants of the human race, and discovering the mysterious and filthy Morlocks. When his time machine goes missing, how will he return home? How is he able to travel through time? I'm not going to tell you!

While it is a forerunner to many of our modern science fiction, it also supports many naturalistic ideas. H.G.Wells uses the time machine to show what human progress can do and what it has done. The Time Traveler is quite suppressed to arrive in a future that is very primitive. He says, "I grieve to think of how brief the dream of the human intellect had been. It had committed suicide." Wells seems to be giving the message that human progress will not last and that mans existence is in fact, pointless. I wont spoil it for any of you that haven't read it, but I will say that his naturalist views are plain to see at the end of the story.

The Time Machine, is definitely a worth while read. It is only a few chapters, so it does not take long at all to read. For science fiction geeks the is a must read. Even if you do not prefer that genre... Give it a try!!! Who knows you might find it a new favorite. It is also a great book for a book club or group. The short, yet thrilling plot is fun to study and discover new aspects. I give The Time Machine, by H.G.Wells, 5 out of 5 stars. So why are you still reading? Go get a copy!!!

Lance Fillmore