PLOT STRUCTURE ANALYSIS

The Time Machine follows the pattern of many of WellsÂ’s novels, with a narrator beginning the story, creating a frame, for the other, more important story. In The Time Machine, the narrator is at the Time TravellerÂ’s house, and the scientific ground is being laid for the rest of the story. The narrator, Hillyer, is named, but this is not used much as it is unimportant who the narrator is. His most important function is to suspend his disbelief of such a fantastic concept as time travel, and provide a measure of realism to balance the unreal nature of the rest of the story.

On the night of the second dinner, the novel shifts into the Time Traveller’s point of view, as he begins the story of his eight-day journey. This continues uninterrupted until the seventh chapter, in which the Time Traveller offers further evidence for his tale, in a handful of flowers that had been placed into his pocket by Weena. This break allows for a pause in the rising action, building suspense somewhat, but more importantly, reminds the readers that the story they are reading is being told “in person” by the person who experienced it, looking back on his adventures, rather than being constructed by an author spinning a tale just for the enjoyment of his readers.

After the Time Traveller ends his story, the narrator resumes his role as interpreter for the reader. As the narrator sympathizes with the Time Traveller, and believes that it might be possible, in light of the evidence--the flowers, the wear and tear of the machine--the Time TravellerÂ’s observations are given a weight that might not have occurred otherwise. The readers of the novel, whether in WellsÂ’s time or ours, most likely will not take his novel for fact, or for possibility even, but the structure of the novel adds to the realistic portrayal of the information, which gives validity not to the actuality of time travel, but the potentiality of class differences increasing. Time travel may not be possible, but understanding the nature of oneÂ’s society and the ills of a strict class hierarchy, are possible, and a focus of the novel, in its content as well as its structure. Reading the first hand account of the future society allows for a greater sympathy with Weena and the other Eloi as well as a greater understanding of the horrors of the future, which, for Wells, are directly related to the evils of the present. The Time Traveller, when he is the narrator, is given free reign for his musings, and then, in the Epilogue, the narrator is given the same, allowing for a bit of hope, and a warning, for the readers as they complete the novel.

THEMES - THEMES ANALYSIS

The Themes found in The Time Machine reflect WellsÂ’s continued displeasure with the policies created by the British government of his time. His later novels would engage with the problems of his society more fully, but his consciousness of the ill effects of capitalism and the blind trust placed in unchecked industrialization clearly shape the Themes of this, his very first novel. Even though the novel emphasizes the wonderful things possible through the advances of science and the popularity of the book was most likely the result of WellsÂ’s imagination rather than his interpretation of London society, the novel still focuses on Themes warning the reader of trusting the status quo of the present social hierarchy without thinking of the consequences of continuing with the same social irresponsibility. WellsÂ’s first novels are considered to be overwhelmingly optimistic in the possibilities of science, but there is a note of pessimism to how he imagines the future might be.

But, the pessimism is restricted to the effects of society, not science itself, which is pure, and separate from the Time TravellerÂ’s experience in the future. Science is the means for him getting there, but not the cause of the future society, aside from its contribution to EnglandÂ’s increased industrialization. There is optimism in his view of science and how technology might be used and developed.

Likewise, WellsÂ’s views of the constancy of human feeling offer a positive view of the future. WeenaÂ’s unrestricted affection for the Time Traveller, across a language barrier and without any shared history, demonstrates the way in which human emotion might continue even when all other similarities to life as we know it have been gone for centuries.

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