Communism in "The Time Traveler" by H.G. Wells

1425 Words6 Pages
The Time Machine Analysis Paper The future has been a popular setting for many authors in the 20th and 21st centuries. But one of the original time travel books is that of H. G. Wells, arguably called the father of modern science fiction. In his book “The Time Machine”, he tells the story of a scientist, referred to only as the Time Traveler (or the TT) and his experience with the future of humankind in the year 802, 701 AD. It concerns with the TT’s struggle to retrieve his time machine back from a savage human derived race referred to as the Morlocks or face the possibility of death. Wells uses this book to comment on the many problems the world was facing in the late 19th century. H. G. Wells’ unique vocabulary and imagery, especially the use of the white sphinx, the white flowers, and fire reflect on the two major themes of communism and social Darwinism which are in turn heavily influenced by his life, especially his childhood. The White Sphinx is the first thing the Time Traveler sees in the future, and it's also the key to getting him out of the future (since that's where the Morlocks hide his Time Machine). The White Sphinx is extremely important to the TT and just as important to H. G. Wells. It is so important in fact, that there are two distinct ways that it can be analyzed. The first captures on Wells’s interest in mythology and the other is the common use of the word “Sphinx” to represent class struggle in the late 19th century. I will refer to each as theory number one and number two respectively. The first theory says that the White Sphinx is important because of its mythological meaning. The Sphinx is most famous for its Egyptian ancestry, but the Sphinx, Wells is probably referring to is of the Greek stories, especially since he was well educated in Greek and Roman literature. The Sphinx was the creature sent by the Greek gods to plague Thebes.

More about Communism in "The Time Traveler" by H.G. Wells

Open Document