Disussion Post: The Time Machine by HG Wells.
Good afternoon! My name is KL and I'm going to be heading the discussion post for The Time Machine. What follows is a mixture of notes and questions I took down while reading the book, and interesting questions I found on the internet. I don't expect anyone to answer all of the questions, I just wanted to give you a large spread so you could discuss what interested you. Please feel free to agree or disagree with my assumptions of the text and offer up your own questions in the comments.
* Why do you think Wells chose not to give most of the characters names? Do you think this is meant to be an affectation of the narrator, or a noted disinterest from the time traveller?
* Before the time traveller comes upon the morlocks he seems to assume his future-present as some type of utopia formed by lack of necessity. He says: Humanity had been strong, energetic, and intelligent; and has used all its abundant vitality to alter the conditions under which it lived. And now came the reaction to the altered conditions. Do you think that even then, his judgments of the age are negative? Is it possible to form positive judgments on an age so far removed from our own if we only have our own time to compare it to?
* Do you think that the time traveller took advantage of Weena in an emotional way?
* The time traveller first concluded that the race of above ground people and the race of below ground people must be a widening of his contemporary social construct and assumed that they must be the descendants of the Capitalist and Labourer in his society respectively. When you first encountered the two groups in your reading, were your assumptions colored differently by our own time? Did you have a projection in mind that you could readily ascribe to their differences?
* What did you think of the commentary of the museum? Do you think the fact that the books were rotted away entirely while the machines and bones still stood was a deliberate message to Wells' contemporaries? If so, do you think that message is still relevant to us?
* Why do you think the time traveller decided to go so far into the future? Do you think that it would have been more beneficial if he had decided to stick closer to his own time?
* In a related tangent, do you think the final conclusion by the narrator that in the end 'gratitude and mutual tenderness still lived on in the heart of man' could have been reached if the time traveller had only traveled a few thousand years into the future?
[Bonus Question of Slight Ridiculousity.] What do you wish the time traveller had found in the museum? What would it hearten you to know had survived the ages?
Hey mods! Let me know if you want more or if anything needs to be changed.
* Why do you think Wells chose not to give most of the characters names? Do you think this is meant to be an affectation of the narrator, or a noted disinterest from the time traveller?
* Before the time traveller comes upon the morlocks he seems to assume his future-present as some type of utopia formed by lack of necessity. He says: Humanity had been strong, energetic, and intelligent; and has used all its abundant vitality to alter the conditions under which it lived. And now came the reaction to the altered conditions. Do you think that even then, his judgments of the age are negative? Is it possible to form positive judgments on an age so far removed from our own if we only have our own time to compare it to?
* Do you think that the time traveller took advantage of Weena in an emotional way?
* The time traveller first concluded that the race of above ground people and the race of below ground people must be a widening of his contemporary social construct and assumed that they must be the descendants of the Capitalist and Labourer in his society respectively. When you first encountered the two groups in your reading, were your assumptions colored differently by our own time? Did you have a projection in mind that you could readily ascribe to their differences?
* What did you think of the commentary of the museum? Do you think the fact that the books were rotted away entirely while the machines and bones still stood was a deliberate message to Wells' contemporaries? If so, do you think that message is still relevant to us?
* Why do you think the time traveller decided to go so far into the future? Do you think that it would have been more beneficial if he had decided to stick closer to his own time?
* In a related tangent, do you think the final conclusion by the narrator that in the end 'gratitude and mutual tenderness still lived on in the heart of man' could have been reached if the time traveller had only traveled a few thousand years into the future?
[Bonus Question of Slight Ridiculousity.] What do you wish the time traveller had found in the museum? What would it hearten you to know had survived the ages?
Hey mods! Let me know if you want more or if anything needs to be changed.