An Analysis of The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

At the beginning of the story the time traveler explains that the time machine moves in time. He explains that the machine does not move in space which would mean it does not move in length, width, or height. The time traveler goes on to explain that time is the fourth dimension apart from the other three planes of space. “There is no difference between time and any of the three dimensions of Space except that our consciousness moves along it”.

The time traveler then explains that he had created a bigger version of his model time machine and he plans on travelling in time.

The major danger the time traveler faces when he decides to stop the machine is that he will not be able to return to the present. He is also afraid that his machine will land on a building or in the side of one and he will have imposed some sort of damage to not only the machine but himself.

Once the traveler does stop and meet the Eloi creatures his machine is moved which brings him to conclude that his machine can move in space after all because it was moved in length. This frightens the Time traveler because this means he could get stuck in the future and not be able to return to the present. Wells conveys a sense of changing time in his description of the time traveler’s transition through more than 800,000 years by describing how things around him evolve. He describes that the sun is growing dimmer and the air is getting harder to breath.

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He explains how Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution was indeed correct because he could see the evolution happening.

The time travelers says that once he reaches a stopping point he sees these huge crab like creatures and they seem to be the only creatures still alive. He explains that the green algae on rocks means that life hadn’t completely become extinct. The time travelers say he can see what could be mercury floating along the sky. The time traveler removes the levers from the time machine to reassure himself that he will not be stranded in the world of the future. He thinks removing the levers would ensure that no one could travel back or forth in time and leave him stranded. The Morlocks have moved his time machine which worries the time traveler because the machine should not be able to move in space but only in time. He eventually finds that the Morlocks have hidden his machine inside the sphinx and he must try and retrieve it if he ever wants to return to the present.

The time traveler first think the sphinx represents some riddle that must be answered. In the story of Oedipus Rex, he answers the sphinxes riddle in order to stop the plague on the city. This is possibly why the time traveler would assume such things. He is also very relieved that he has seen such a familiar stature and is amazed that even 8000,000 years into the future creatures could still worship images like the Egyptians had. He even realizes that structures such as wells along the country side still exist which is also a thought that amuses him. He later discovers that there is no water in the wells but the sounds of machine. He decides to drop a piece of paper down one and it is sucked down, he realizes that this was a ventilation system for the Morlocks. Which would than explain the lack of diseases spreading among them.