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The Dangers Of Passivity In The Time Machine By H. G. Wells

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“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it” (Martin Luther King Jr.). Passivity is employed throughout The Time Machine by humanity demonstrating its dangers. Throughout H.G. Wells novel, The Time Machine, the passiveness demonstrated by the Eloi, juxtaposed with the assertiveness of the Morlocks, illustrate the dangers of passivity in society. Overall, The Time Machine touches on a variety of ideas and themes such as, Darwinism, entropy, and relativity. The novel opens with a dinner party in which the Time Traveller describes a device he created that travels through time. To the disbelief of his guests, the small-time …show more content…

The Eloi demonstrate how passivity throughout time and the idea of living in a utopian society has created this toxic society. People throughout time have desired a utopian society but sometimes that desire is dangerous. For example, “Under the new conditions of perfect comfort and security, that restless energy, that with us is strength, would become weakness” (Wells 37). The strength that allows for people today to work and function in society is being used by the Eloi as energy to participate in leisure activities all day. In addition, Passivity leads to none of the Eloi attempting to rescue Weena when she is drowning. Evidently, “The main current ran rather swiftly, but not too strong for even a moderate swimmer. It will give you an idea, therefore, of the strange deficiency in these creatures, when I tell you that none made the slightest attempt to rescue the weekly crying little thing which was drowning before their eyes” (Wells 48). The Eloi community employs such passivity that they would rather sit and do nothing than to rescue one of their own who is

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The two themes are control and technology. The reason control fits the book is it’s about a government confining the people. Technology is one of the main themes in they this book because when this novel was written it was set in the future. Also in the book, Big Brother uses crazy technology to always know and keep track of what his party members are doing. 8.

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Differing to the societies of these ongoing “Unmentionable Times”, the world at large in the City’s time has constricting laws and controls that “bettered” the society. The inanity of the people in Ayn Rand’s Anthem shows how the whole of the laws and the controls of the City allow for the abolishment of the intellectual and psychological distinctiveness of the citizens and to replace it with a draconian net of collectivism and altruism. Throughout the story, a man named Equality 7-2521 becomes conscious of how the laws are turned against the progression that he wants. Equality grasps that loneliness is not the evil in society, but the never-ending nearness to everybody is the flaw of the society.

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In summary, our society, through standards like social media and groupthink, causes us to try to be like others, fit in with the whole, and give up different ideas just as in the collective society in the book Anthem. In conclusion, in Anthem by Ayn Rand, the word “we” served as a symbol of putting our needs behind others and serving the whole. This worship of the word “we” led to the destruction of modern society and the death of self-identity. The worship of the sense of collectivism caused an oppressive society that extinguished personal ambition, creativity, and progress, which led to stagnation and a halting of

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Overtime all things change and develop into new forms, this is even true for racism. Mark Lamont Hill’s “Nobody” takes us through the history of black Americans in the U.S in relation to state. Moreover, he reveals the storyline within the nation that has consistently marked majority of minorities as expendable, products and as nobodies. Being that the book is only around 200 pages, we only get at the surface of what Mr. Hill is analysing. Nonetheless, he expertly maneuvers through the U.S’s muddy history to display the role of the State in keeping this “nobody” identity on black Americans.

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Time is one of the most basic elements of life: Humans live in the present, dwell in the past, and fear the future. Life is just a constant and consistent march towards the end, an end that is forever unknown. Time, though, for all it dictates, is nothing more than a human construct. The idea that everything exists in a neat line and that all events happen from start to finish is nothing more than a common figment of imagination. One may argue that this linear idea is the foundational problem with humanity.

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A plethora of writings, novels, and interpretations have made H.G. Wells one of the most insightful authors in literary history. He was truly gifted in expressing revolutionary ideas in exciting and enjoyable stories, one of the most notable of which is The Time Machine. In this particular novel, Wells expresses a number of his personal opinions on controversial matters, such as the evolution of man and the idea of socialism. Reaffirming Wells’ ideas on such matters, Peter Firchow elaborates on Wells’ developments declaring, “Wells is a radical innovator. He is the first writer of Utopian fiction to argue that the achievement of Utopia will inevitably lead to stagnation and degeneration” (Firchow 3).

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