Fear In The Time Machine

Words: 908
Pages: 4
Open Document
In H.G. Wells’ 1895 novel, The Time Machine, a time traveller travels to the English countryside of 802,701 AD, where he discovers the descendants two descendant species of humanity: the Eloi and the Morlocks. Although both species are humanoid in nature, the idyllic Eloi are hunted by the Morlocks, who are in all other aspects subservient to them. The Morlocks act as the antagonists of the book, inspiring fear in the reader in a myriad of ways.
Primarily, the Morlocks appearance is their most sinister aspect, especially in comparison to that of the Eloi. The Eloi possess ethereal, fragile beauty, graceful and gentle natures, and are adorned in soft purple robes, making them regal in appearance (Wells and Bould, 1895). This belies the Eloi’s …show more content…
Darkness to her was the one thing dreadful. It was a singularly passionate emotion.
Although her confidence in the time traveller is sufficient to lure her outside to sleep, she insists upon sleeping in the time traveller’s arms, lest she come to harm, and continues to display signs of distress even after five nights of respite outside. Although this fear is a result of the predator-prey relationship between the Eloi and the Morlocks, the implications of Weena’s distress amplifies the eeriness of the Morlocks.
Furthering the trepidation inspired by the Morlocks is their uncanniness. In Freud’s 1919 essay, “The Uncanny,” Freud defines an uncanny experience as one which (Freud, 2003): occurs either when infantile complexes which have been repressed are once more revived by some impression, or when primitive beliefs which have been surmounted seem once more to be …show more content…
Primarily, this is the result of the Morlock’s appearance; although the Morlock is distinctly “other,” they are also inherently humanoid, to such an extent that the time traveller compares them to a “human spider” upon his first sighting (Wells and Bould, 1895). As they are inherently humanoid, but also predatory, the time traveller is forced to reconcile the notion that the darkest aspects of humanity prevail in a utopic society, despite millennia of evolution. However, even more disturbing implications the Eloi and Morlock society has for the division of classes. Although the Eloi are the proletariat of the society, they remain contingent upon the Morlocks for society to function. However, the social separation in the millennia leading to 802,701 AD was such that it led to the Morlocks and Eloi evolving into two entirely separate species. Furthermore, the Morlocks, despite being forced to live below ground, had ascertained power over their Eloi overlords, who are now naught but livestock due to the extinction of other meat sources (Beaumont, 2006). The Time Traveller subsequently has difficulty reconciling the class division in the society of 802,701 AD, especially given his opposition to the consumption of Eloi due to their humanoid
Show More

Related Documents: Fear In The Time Machine

The Flying Machine Literary Devices

"Flying Machine" by Ray Bradbury is a short story that reveals that losing beauty is necessary to retain what little beauty is left and this thought is because of the fear that comes over someone. The short story revolves around an emperor in China around 400 A.D. making the decision of killing a flyer who saw that the machine would one day be used for bad things. Through literary devices used in the story, Bradbury explores the fear of others may alter their ideas, and that dark surpasses the thought…

Words 1318 - Pages 6

To A Lap-The Winter Comparison

Emily Dickinson are poems about one of the newest technological advances of their time— the locomotive. However, in each piece of writing, the subject is treated very differently. In To a Locomotive in the Winter, the machine is described in a passionate way, celebrating it as a magnificent symbol of progress. In this poem, it is clear that the speaker is both fascinated and supportive of the technologically advanced machine. Whitman describes the locomotive with words of reverence and awe, calling it…

Words 1500 - Pages 6

Essay about Fear Factory

Fear Factory “Resurrection” Charles XXXXX History of Rock and Roll Professor Erik 25 June 2013 Abstract Fear Factory “Resurrection” Fear Factory is one of my favorite bands due to their ferocious Metal sound and great bass lines. “Fear Factory is an American metal band that formed in 1989-90 and has released eight full-length albums. Over the course of their career they have evolved from a succession of styles, frequenting industrial metal with flavors of death metal, groove…

Words 720 - Pages 3

Essay on Help on Homewrok

entities in which other writers have believed. Instead, he saw human beings as essentially machines, with even their thoughts and emotions operating according to physical laws and chains of cause and effect, action and reaction. As machines, human beings pursue their own self-interest relentlessly, mechanically avoiding pain and pursuing pleasure. Hobbes saw the commonwealth, or society, as a similar machine, larger than the human body and artificial but nevertheless operating according to the laws…

Words 1197 - Pages 5

Michel Foucault and Power Essay examples

Panopticism Michel Foucault Final Draft Have you ever realized that we live in the society surrounded by panopticism? In our modern society, we live under the surveillance of the greater power, our every step and action is watched. According to Michel Foucault’s definition, panoticism is “the general principle of a new ‘political anatomy’ whose object and end are not the relations of sovereignty but the relations of discipline” (Foucault 295). It is a practice to discipline the modern…

Words 1670 - Pages 7

1984 Essay

1984 Essay: Dystopian Fiction Hailey Rutherford Mr. Chornie March 10th, 2015 Over time, there have been many different versions of dystopian fiction. Some of the most popular examples include; Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, The Time Machine by H. G. Wells, and of course, 1984 by George Orwell. Dystopian fiction It has been characterized as a type of literature that consists of an imaginary place or condition in which everything that could go wrong, goes wrong (Oxford Dictionary Reference)…

Words 1185 - Pages 5

Jackpot City Casino Review

jackpot city casino reviews How a Slot Machine Works Every casino player is interested in knowing the tricks of customers so that he can enhance his winning. A $ million question is how to differentiate between the better advice and general advice available on the Internet as the Internet has loads of information on this subject. The fact is that there are many slot machine tips, which are not working, whereas there are many, which you can start using right now. This article will tell you some…

Words 550 - Pages 3

Essay about Pro Euthanasia

her parents wanted to take her off life support but the courts denied it numerous times, she died 10 years later of pneumonia. Roman Sanpedro was a paraplegic who described himself as a “ head attached to a corpse” (Docker Internet). He was a patient who wanted the right for euthanasia and who could explain it better than a person in that situation, he stated: “Why die? Because every journey has its departure time and only the traveller has…

Words 1362 - Pages 6

Artificial Intelligence Essay

experiences have leaded me to conclude that artificial intelligence is a great thing to have but it has its flaws. In the near distance future our bodies will one day combine with these machines to create a human/ machine hybrid also known as a cybernetic organism or cyborg for short. With our bodies infused with these machines we can literally be immune to any disease, live longer, and do unimaginable things that we’ve never thought of. On the flip side, when evolution comes in play Charles Darwin stated…

Words 729 - Pages 3

The Kismet Project

additional questions, commencing with exploring the connotation of the term machine and think. Turing’s recommendations subsequently progressed into what has been call the ultimate test of Intelligent Agent, for instance, a robot, the Turing test (Friedenberg and Silverman, 2012). If a machine were capable to pass the trial in it sophisticated form, it would empower a person to make the dispute that the intelligent answer of the machine were undisguisable from those of a human being (Friedenberg and Silverman…

Words 1195 - Pages 5