Time Machine

Concepts

COMMUNISM and CAPITALISM: • Wells' Socialist warning of what will befall mankind if capitalism

continues to exploit workers for the benefits of the rich

Karl Marx• concerned ultimately with human freedom

– ancient concept of Communism• human beings could fulfill their cooperative roles within

society without fear of exploitation– Capitalism = "insidious“ (dangerous) antagonist of such freedom

• insidious because unlike serfdom capitalism was (is?) able to perpetuate the illusion of freedom – its justification relies on those who have nothing to sell

but their labor and those, who through the power of capital and property, exploit such labor for profit

Utopia and DystopiaUtopiaAn ideally perfect place, an impractical idealistic scheme

• Council (or similar) whose members who work for the "greater good“

• Equality• Integrated and communal

society• Underlying message of hope

DystopiaAn imaginary place or state in which the condition of life is extremely bad, as from deprivation, oppression, or terror.

• Big government ant• military, evil government leader• Inequality• Segregated and oppressed

society• Underlying message of despair

and warning

Utopia Dystopia

Society Equality of all people Classes, caste system

View on future Optimistic, upbeat Pessimistic, downbeat

Form of government Democracy Regime

Education Equal and advancing education Propaganda

Economy No money, equal distribution of goods

Rich and poor people, no middle class

Legislation Fair system of punishment Unfair and excessive punishment

Atmosphere Happy, harmonic families Unfortunate, unlucky people

Utopia Vs. Dystopia

Utopia and Dystopia IN TM

• Class distinction • Dichotomizes the future society – Utopian and a dystopian – Reflect the class struggle in contemporary England• The ruling class leads a utopian life on the surface• poor class leads a dystopian life in the underground

The gist of the novel is the struggle between these two species and these two modes of life

Social Darwinism and Evolution• "Origin of the Species“• Darwin - different environments encouraged the

reproduction of those species whose varying traits best suited them to survive– Their offspring, in turn, would be better adapted for

the new environment, as would their offspring, and so on

– Evolution does not lead to the "perfectibility" of any species but to the increasing adaptability and complexity of a species

Social Darwinism and Evolution

• Major social theories of the late 19th-century: Edward Spencer– Adapted Charles Darwin's theories on evolution– Justifies 19th-century social stratification between the rich

and poor– Social Darwinism frequently abused this concept of "natural

selection" – Contended that the social environment was much like the

cutthroat natural environment• Those who succeeded were biologically destined to do so and to

continue in their march to human perfection• On the flip side, those who failed had inferior traits and deserved to

do so

EVOLUTION and MAN IN THE NATURAL WORLD:

Steady tension between these positions: • Either humans are just another part of the natural

world (just another animal), or they're special. • There are arguments for each of these positions in

this book: – Both increasing human control over nature and nature's

continued control over humanity. – Does not mean the surviving members of an

environment are the "best," but merely the best fit for their specific environment • man’s control over nature alters that nature – man needs to

adapt to this alteration by evolving

SCIENCE: • TT uses scientific ideas about time and relativity that were

circling around the 1890s– Albert Einstein would later draw them together for his

groundbreaking 1905 paper on relativity• TM ultimately not a deep scientific investigation into

relativism and time– Wells completely ignores one of the paradoxes of time travel

that many believe prohibits its existence: that of cause-and-effect

• This is about a way of thinking– You start with an observation, come up with a theory, test that

theory, and repeat as necessary until you're reasonably sure you have the right answer.

– Social as well as natural science is explored here.

TECHNOLOGY:

This isn't a catalog of cool new gadgets!• What Wells describes most is the effect this

technology has had on people• Not technology for its own sake– but how humans adapt to using that technology

and how we're changed by it• This includes when society loses technologies

White Sphinx

• "What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening?“ – Man: You crawl as a baby, walk on two legs as an

adult, and use a cane when you get old. • Connection between the riddle of the Sphinx

(about the aging of man) and the Time Traveller observing the aging and decaying of the human race.– "It seemed to me that I had happened upon humanity

upon the wane. The ruddy sunset set me thinking of the sunset of mankind" (4.24).

ENTROPY and PASSIVITY:

• Lack/loss of energy and mass over time– Opposite of Evolution– Similar to the stages of man’s development as we

age, we lose mass and energy over time – the concept is applied cosmically

– Think about the Eloi, the dinner guest and on the cosmic scale