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The Time Machine
When the Time Traveler makes his journey to the distant future, he never would have expected what he found. Instead of a human race of intelligence and advanced technology, homo sapiens have ceased to exist entirely, replaced by more simple humanoid creatures. As he retells his fantastic story to several men, both prominent and plain, he prefaces it by saying that “‘I was in my laboratory at four o'clock, and since then...I've lived eight days...such days as no human being ever lived before!’” (The Time Machine, pg. 4). The story that follows is a powerful commentary on the nature of British society at the time that no man would be entirely happy about. In The Time Machine by H. G. Wells, the author appeals to the readers’ pathos to show that while science is a positive progression into the future, societal ills, including capitalism, could lead to a future where humans have become animals defined by their social class. He also shows that, in spite of all this, human emotion is a lasting condition.
Positive Progression of Science
The first appeal to pathos that shows science’s progressive potential comes in the first chapter of the book, in the very fist paragraph, which reads, “The Time [Traveler’s] grey eyes shone and twinkled, and his usually pale face was flushed and animated. The fire burned brightly, and the soft radiance of the incandescent lights in the lilies of silver caught the bubbles that flashed and passed in our glasses. Our chairs, being his patents, embraced and caressed us rather than submitted to be sat upon, and there was that luxurious after-dinner atmosphere when thought runs gracefully free of the trammels of precision” (1). This quote is a description of the atmosphere in the Time Traveller’s home. He has invited several guests, all of which are reasonably knowledgeable and intelligent men. He is getting ready to tell them about his theory of traveling through time, rather than just through space. The way the author describes the scene shows a great optimism for science. The Time Traveller is full of excitement at an amazing- even fantastical- discovery. The room itself seems to exhibit the same sort of enthusiasm with its bright fire and other objects in the room that cast a similar light and reflect it cheerfully. The chairs show an advance in science that has already been made, because of their conforming comfort, as opposed to chairs that “[submit] to be sat upon.” All of these descriptive details appeal to pathos by giving the reader a feeling of joy and enthusiasm about the scientific possibilities being introduced in the chapter.
The second appeal to pathos showing science’s forward momentum comes when the Time Traveller is in the blue porcelain palace, which he discovers to be a museum from his era. As he wanders through the various hallways and rooms in the museum, he finds several interesting artifacts, and muses on the way things work. He marvels at the complete preservation of the displays by using airtight glass. He comes across some mysterious machines, which he is tempted to investigate more but he can’t figure out how to do so. When he finds a set of perfectly preserved matches, as well as a hermedically sealed stick of camphor, he celebrates, even dancing at one point. The readers can share in the Time Traveller’s excitement as they imagine the possibilities implied in these preservation techniques, which could keep things in good condition for longer than they normally would. Wells appeals to his readers’ pathos by giving them his own thoughts about how things will last longer in the future.
Society’s Breaking Down of Humanity
The first example of the author’s appeal to pathos to show how the current society would lead to a society of brutish humanoids separated by class comes with the first appearance of the Morlocks, following the introduction of the Eloi. The Time Traveller describes the Morlocks as being “so like a human spider!” (10). They have luminous, glowing grey-red eyes, white, hairy bodies, and run like apes, in contrast to the Eloi’s soft, hairless, youthful bodies. This whole description of the Morlocks gives the reader a feeling of revulsion, especially in Wells’ age, where people weren’t as accustomed to strange creatures as we have become by watching horror movies and other films. To imagine such a creature would undoubtedly cause a shudder of sheer revulsion, and to think that this monster could be a descendent of the reader himself would be appalling. In this way, the author uses a perfect sense of revulsion to show that man has somehow split, and part of its race had become filthy creatures of the dark. At the same time, the existence of the beautiful Eloi implies that not all humans have descended so far as to become monsters.
The Eloi, however, also provide an appeal to pathos that illustrates the evils of England’s capitalism. With the discovery of the Morlocks, the Time Traveller begins to figure out how the Eloi are surviving. In his musings about his subject, he conjectures that the Morlocks evolved over years of being laborers, being forced more and more underground until they stayed there, while the Eloi are descendants of the rich “Capitalists.” Because of the nature of the laborer-owner relationship, Morlocks evolved out of the lifestyle where the laborers work and supply taxes- in this case food and clothes for the Eloi- in return for the use of the underground tunnels and their ventilation systems. The Morlock, then, becomes more or less a slave to the Eloi. While it would be hard for the reader to become attached emotionally to the Morlock, they would very well be able to relate to the poor laborers from which the Morlocks evolved. This empathy would prove to the readers the evils of their society.
The third example of appealing to pathos to show man’s degradation and separation because of a bad society comes when the Time Traveller explores a Morlock tunnel. While down there, he sees a set of glowing eyes surrounding some sort of raw meat, which he later decides is the flesh of an Eloi. This disgusting fact shows how little remains of mankind, and also illustrates the reversal of the classes. The laborers have now become the rulers, serving the Eloi out of habit, perhaps, but more likely in order to keep them alive to be eaten, much as a farmer keeps his cattle alive before they are butchered. This new perspective is so grotesque that the reader feels sick, and sees the correlation between their society in England at the time and this ugly future of the human race. Commenting on the lesson taught here, the Time Traveller states, “Ages ago, thousands of generations ago, man had thrust his brother man out of the ease and the sunshine. And now that brother was coming back -- changed!” (12). So the reader can clearly see that by separating the laborers from the aristocratic elite, they will lead themselves, ultimately, to the destruction of the human race as we know it, and the survival of a monstrous apelike species.
The Time Machine has made H. G. Wells famous for being one of the founders of science fiction, but it is clear that his intent was a more political one. His appeals to pathos are intended to prove the evils of England’s existing capitalistic society by showing the destruction of Man in the future as a result of its existence. He does, however, show that humans still maintain certain emotions. The Eloi exhibit fear and disgust when anything related to the Morlocks is discussed or shown. In addition, the Time Traveller became very close friends with one of the Eloi, a girl named Weena, and she exhibits love and appreciation for him throughout the book. The Morlocks seem to have no real emotions left, which may be in itself another commentary on the evils of the laborer-aristocrat system, by stating that those with less emotion were better able to survive such a harsh lifestyle. This final appeal to pathos gives the audience a clear connecting point to the Eloi of the distant future. Without it, it might be easy to escape the emotions that relate to the Morlock and Eloi relationship, since both would be little more than animals without human feelings. By providing this final appeal to pathos, the image is complete, and the reader can clearly feel the evils of society that Wells is implying exist.
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