What Is H. G. Wells's Perception Of Time Travel?

Imagine sitting in a time machine. The machine vibrates and sways and “the alternations of night and day [grow] slower and slower, and so [does] the passage of the sun across the sky, until they seemed to stretch through centuries” (Wells 94). British Novelist, Hubert George or H.G. Wells, creates this striking feeling of time travel in his novel The Time Machine. He wrote this novel for his college newspaper to win a scholarship and ironically, it became his most famous novel. During the 19th century, the idea of time travel was unheard of and “The Time Machine” was the first novel of its kind. It sparked the transition from the genre of scientific romances to the creation of the genre which is now science fiction. Well’s life and beliefs

At age sixteen he became a student teacher at Midhurst Grammar School. He continued his job, but at age seventeen he contracted a disease which left him bedridden for several months. During this time, he read many books which sparked his interest in writing. When he was eighteen years old, he was awarded a scholarship to the Normal School of Science in London and studied biology. There he studied with T.H. Huxley who was a foremost evolutionary theorist. Huxley believed that “the ethical progress of society depends not on imitating the cosmic process, still less in running away from it, but in combating it” (British Writers 226). Huxley often discussed his views on humankind’s progression or degression in the future. This idea resonated with Wells and it is most prevalent in his first work The Time

Hardship and freedom: conditions under which the active, strong, and subtle survive and the weaker go to the wall; conditions that put a premium upon the loyal alliance of capable men, upon self-restraint, patience, and decision. (Wells 46)

Wells describes that there are many facets of human nature which include intelligence and determination; however, he is shocked that these creatures have lost any sort of humanlike qualities. After seeing these creatures, Wells discusses his shock and pessimism for the future. He says “When I started the Time Machine, I had started with the absurd assumption that the men of Future would be infinitely ahead of ourselves in all their appliances” (Wells 63). Through the character of the Time Traveller, Wells depicts a bright and optimistic future; however, what he sees is far from that. Well’s pessimism of the future also began with the advent of communism. At this time Wells was pursing writing full time. However, while he was not writing, he was developing a reputation as a reformer. He was very passionate about his Socialist views and later joined the Fabian Society which is a British socialist organization whose purpose is to advance socialism through reformist means. Shortly after his membership, Wells quit the group. He openly criticized the group as a group of middle class socialists which lacked the appetite for change