H.G. Wells' Purpose. Why did he write this novel and how does he connect with it?
- H.G. Wells' Life at the time
H.G. Wells wrote The Time Machine in order to show what life could be like and what kinds of advancements could be made in a dystopian future. Thus allowing for H.G. Wells to base the theme off of a future that was threatening our survival or didn't co-allign with our current beliefs. He popularized this novel theme since The Time Machine became so popular and because many other science fiction books and movies were later based on these ideas. The novel itself was the inspiration for many other dystopian future based films and books such as; Metropolis (1927), Looking Backward (1888), and Vril (1871). It also seems as though the novel was taken in perspective from one person, possibly meaning that H.G. Wells was trying to invoke a sense of scientific curiosity within the reader not by just progressing through the story but by involving the reader with the story as well.
- The Characters of The Time Machine
H.G. Wells was always a curious child, boy, and man. He questioned everything and he made his own judgments about the world. I think that he would've personally identified with the Time Traveler because of their common sense of exploration and need to make the world better. It's also interesting to note that in his field the Time Traveler is considered a genius, but this contraption of his is bound not to work according to his acquaintances & friends we meet in Chapters 1 & 2. This is probably much like how H.G. Wells felt in the publishing and creation of this novel because at first sight, who would want to write a novel about a dystopian future when one would appear to have little to no use in society today? You see, H.G. Wells had that spark of ingenuity that allowed for him to create such a fantastic novel, much like the Time Traveler and his machine.