Class Struggle
In Western society before the 1700s, people were born into a specific caste and remained there for their entire lives. However, after the 1700s, as literacy spread and currency became standardized, a class system began to emerge. This shift enabled more individuals to pursue traditional careers like medicine and law, as well as new areas such as writing and psychology, as illustrated by the Time Traveller's companions. With the onset of the industrial revolution and the significant migration of rural workers to cities, the gap between the rich and the poor widened. Wells delves into this conflict in his portrayal of a civilization set 800,000 years in the future. At first, the Time Traveller perceives the Eloi as embodying a communist society. However, as he uncovers more, he realizes that the class struggles of the 19th century continue, as seen in the dynamics between the Eloi and the Morlocks.
Science
During the nineteenth century, science emerged as both a tool for understanding the world and a means of salvation. Scientific theories and inventions began to supplant religion as the primary way humans engaged with their surroundings. Marx's labor and capital theory, along with Darwin's theory of evolution, portrayed humans in a relentless struggle for survival. Meanwhile, innovations such as electricity, the telephone, and subways promised to simplify and manage daily life.
The Time Machine captured the public's interest in technology and its possibilities. However, the Time Traveller's use of the machine did not make life simpler or provide transformative insights into the future. Instead, his experiences uncovered a bleak future, intensifying the struggles of the 1890s. His further travels into the future revealed a world where humanity had disappeared from the earth.
Evolution
The theory of evolution, which describes the origins of life and the progression of humanity, was a groundbreaking idea in the nineteenth century that deeply transformed how people viewed themselves and their role in the world. Biological evolution studies how groups of organisms change over time. Wells helped popularize Darwin's theory by presenting it in an engaging and accessible way through his fiction. The Eloi and the Morlocks in his stories demonstrate how humans might genetically evolve in the future, depending on their ability to adapt—or fail to adapt—to their surroundings.
The Morlocks, representing a mutated version of the working class from Wells's time, have evolved to resemble apes with large eyes and pale skin, adaptations suited for their underground lifestyle. They avoid light and flourish in the dark. In contrast, the Eloi are fragile, weak, and afraid of the dark, a result of many generations living without the necessity to work for survival. They represent the owning class. Ironically, the Morlocks hold dominance over the Eloi. Wells's genius lies in his ability to "translate" complex concepts like natural selection by bringing them to life in his fiction.
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