Humanity In The Time Machine By H. G. Wells

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“SF characteristically transforms scientific and technological ideas into metaphors, by which those ideas are given cultural relevance.”(Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, page 6). This quote exemplifies texts such as The Time Machine and Solaris as they highlight the different ideas of scientific reasoning and how future adaptations may play its part on how humanity prevails, given cultural relevance. It is natural for the reader to become engrossed within Well’s and Lem’s writing style and how as authors, they manage to incorporate the futuristic tones through their characters and settings. Although many readers believe the future seems as though it will improve the way in which mankind develops especially with technological advancements, these two …show more content…

H.G Wells’ scientific background is evident through his writings of The Time Machine and certainly manages to speculate about humanity in the future. It is through the use of the machine that allows the time traveller to come to the realization that human species in the future have evolved into two separate subspecies and gender distinctions are no longer prominent. As the protagonist stated, “where violence comes but rarely and off-spring are secure, there is less necessity – indeed there is no necessity – for an efficient family, and the specialization of the sexes with reference to their children's needs disappears. We see some beginnings of this even in our own time, and in this future age it was complete.”(Wells, chapter four). This quote …show more content…

As the time traveller was used to his own house in Richmond in the 1890’s, year AD 802,701 proved to be a shock as Eloi’s lived communally, as did the Morlocks. The societal advancements are also noticed as workers live underground and those who do not work live above ground. Some may suggest that the time traveller notices that this is in correlation with the present time as he states “Evidently, I thought, this tendency had increased till Industry had gradually lost its birthright in the sky. [...] Even now, does not an East-end worker live in such artificial conditions as practically to be cut off from the natural surface of the earth?” (Wells, chapter 5). His reference to an east-end worker can be interpreted as a hint to the reader that there were still connections between the present and the future he explored. We can also see in Hannah Trask’s article discussing Matthew Beaumont’s piece Red Sphinx: Mechanics of the Uncanny in ‘The Time Machine’ that there are connections between future and present as she states “that not only are things going to be different at some distant future time, but that there already exists something that is different.” (Trask, 2017). This allows the reader to gain a better understanding into how the future of humanity was based upon the present and was made noticeable thanks to

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