The Time Machine Part Deux

In class, we seemed to come to the conclusion that by the year 802,701 A.D. the world had atrophied because the human race (and its descendants) had gone to what they considered the very end of progress and abruptly stopped. At the time when Wells' was writing The Time Machine, some believed science and technology had gone as far as it could go. But living over a century past we know this is not true. While we keep creating products beyond our imaginations ten years ago, that creative juice is still flowing. We haven't stopped striving for the easiest work-out machine or doors that go whoosh. It seems that we won't reach the peak of human invention anytime soon. Consumers demand the best products and that will keep our minds brewing. Computers are getting faster and lighter, television screens have gotten larger, iPods are smaller, and if we should complete all of this, the products will be redesigned to be more aesthetically pleasing. And with each invention comes consequences and problems we must solve. Back when Ford's assembly line was pumping out cars left and right, he wasn't thinking of how it might cause pollution. But now we must worry about problems like pollution and global warming and nuclear weapons.

Sure, necessity is the mother of invention. But what necessity was there for the Time-Traveller to build a time machine? Maybe that is why progress came to a halt. Inventing a time machine in the Victorian era when there are problems needing to be solved seems to jump ahead of itself. Did the Time-Traveller have a reason to invent a time machine other than he could?I think Wells not only presents a story warning of the finite nature of humanity but also what he believes is the finite nature of technology.

In class, the Eloi were depicted as the victims of complaceny, but aren't the Morlocks too? While the Morlocks possess some sense of survival instinct by hunting Eloi, they have done nothing to advance this. In Chapter 5 the Time Traveller first sees the Morlocks drag away one body. I might not know they're eating preferences, but it seems like one Eloi is not enough to feed a whole underground society. One Eloi for however many Morlocks once a day does not seem like a healthy diet. But the Morlocks seem fine with this arrangement. The Time Traveller believes the Morlocks to be a type of working-class, but we don't see them work. Our only evidence that they are "working-class" are the machines underground and their fascination for buffing the time machine. Complacency seems to have affected the Morlocks too because they don't try to adjust their hunting habits to produce more Eloi per nightly hunt. They seem secure with the idea that they are the top of the food chain and don't wish to change that. However, the Eloi rank #1 in terms of complacency.

Which brings me to the point of the "good" little Eloi. While reading I never saw the Eloi as good, perhaps innocent at first. When Weena was drowning, no attempt was made to save her. Their inaction seemed downright cold-hearted and evil to me. Though I can't fault them too much because their complacency was unintentional. It's not their fault they're born that way. On the other hand, the Morlocks were definitely evil, not based solely on the reason that they ate the Eloi, but they had intentions, something the Eloi lack entirely. The Morlocks tried to lure the Time Traveller into the pedestal and then attack him. It would have been an alright plan if the Time Traveller didn't have a time machine.

All in all, class was fun. I mean, how can talking about giant crabs at the end of the world not be fun?