The Time Machine Group

Question:

baboolal
baboolal
Student
High School - 12th Grade

What type of diet did the people of the future have "The Time Machine"?

In chapter 4 of The Time Machine by H.G. Wells.

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Posted by baboolal on Wednesday September 3, 2008 at 3:58 PM and tagged with chapter 4, characters, diet, eloi, morlocks, plot, the time machine.

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  1. sullymonster Teacher
    Community / Jr. College

    eNotes Editor

    The diet of the Eloi - one of the races of the future - is fruit.  Here is what Wells says:

    “Fruit, by the by, was all their diet. These people of the remote future were strict vegetarians, and while I was with them, in spite of some carnal cravings, I had to be frugivorous also. Indeed, I found afterwards that horses, cattle, sheep, dogs, had followed the Ichthyosaurus into extinction. But the fruits were very delightful; one, in particular, that seemed to be in season all the time I was there—a floury thing in a three-sided husk—was especially good, and I made it my staple.

    It would appear that animals have, at this point, become extinct.  However, while this group of future people eat fruit, the Morlocks - their alteregos - are actually cannibals.  The Eloi sleep all together at night in order to protect themselves from the Morlocks, who come out to feed upon them.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/time-machine/other-characters

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    Posted by sullymonster on Wednesday September 3, 2008 at 4:31 PM