Synopsis of The Time Machine
Detailed synopsis of H. G. Wells' The Time Machine
The protagonist, known only as the Time Traveler, held a discussion session at his English home every Thursday. Participants would first enjoy a good meal and then retire to the smoking room for cigars and conversation. The unnamed narrator frequently took part in these discussions. The most recent subject was time, the fourth dimension. All things exist in space. They have length, width and height. They also exist in time. Time is not as easily recognized because our own consciousness move along it. For instance, the portraits of a man at eight, at fifteen, at twenty-three. The physical features change -- the three dimensions, but they change along with time. Take another example: a weather report: the barometer moves up and down with time. Man can move freely in space, at least in the north, south, east and west directions. In the up/down direction movement is more constrained. We generally need machines to either hoist or buoy us up or to dig or ballast us down. Mightn't the same be true of time?
After he presented his argument, the Time Traveler produced a small metal device which he placed in front of his guests on a small table. This was a model of a device which he was working on at present, a device which will allow the user to traverse time. His guests naturally were incredulous. With these levers, the driver can pass into the future or the past. He then tilted a lever and the machine faded from view. What kind of trickery was this? The guests examined the table and conjectured how the ruse could have been perpetrated. The narrator pondered. Could it be?
The next Thursday the guests arrived as usual. What new confabulation were they in store for tonight? But the Time Traveler was not home. The servants served the meal and finally he arrived, emerged rather from his laboratory. His clothes were in tatters and his unshod feet were bloodied. He made his apologies, washed and dressed and devoured his meal without a word. Finally, after he appeared satisfied, they adjourned to the smoking room and he spoke.
He had finally finished his Time Machine at 3:30 that afternoon. He sat in its seat and pushed the lever. A queasiness descended on him and the world around him seemed to fade. He saw his servant walk through the laboratory but at a high rate of speed. Then the building around him fell away. He watched the sun circle the sky until it was a haze. Night and day became one grayness. The scenery around him changed. The dials that marked days whirred faster and faster. Then a concern overcame him. What if he should stop at a time when his location was occupied by another object. Their molecules would be inextricably merged. He decided he must stop and jammed the lever back. A thunderclap rang and the Time Machine lurched and tossed him out.
After he regained his senses he righted his Time Machine and looked about him. The dials indicated this was the year 802,701. Nearby stood a tall sphinx-like shape. It appeared to be constructed of white marble and its base was of bronze panels. A bit further on were a number of large buildings. The earth was Eden-like, green and lush. The buildings were impressive but a bit under-maintained. Soon he heard voices and saw the inhabitants running up to see what had happened. They were small, frail humans, pretty and gentle, childlike. He couldn't understand their language nor they his. They looked at and touched him, apparently fearless. One put a chain of flowers around his neck. (At that point in the narrative, he took two small white flowers of unknown type from his jacket pocket and laid them on the table in front of his guests.)
They led him to one of the large buildings where large marble tables were covered with flowers and fruits. There they dined and offered him all he wanted. Their diet, he discovered, consisted entirely of fruit. There were no animals, either as pets, as work beasts or as food. And where the fruit came from was a mystery. He saw no signs of employment, no factories, no commerce.
They soon lost interest in him and drifted away, back to their play. In the eight days he was there he wandered about trying to discover how the world had come to be as he found it. Our present age's interest in reducing labor and increasing production must have culminated in achieving a world where striving was no longer necessary, where life was merely sleeping, eating, playing and making love. He also noticed that there were very few young ones and no old ones at all. And, although fear seemed to have been bred out of the race, he noticed that none ventured out at night and they all slept together in the large buildings.
One day he was by the river when one young one, he thought it was a girl but the sexual distinction of this race was small, became caught in the current. There seemed to be no concern among the others so he rushed in to save her. From that moment on, she would not leave his side. She showered him with flowers and followed him everywhere he went.
He explored all the buildings and walked far and wide. In the evenings, he came back to the buildings and slept with Weena, that was the name he discerned belonged to his young companion, cradled against his arm. More than once he woke at night and thought he saw shadows, ghosts perhaps, and felt something soft touching him but when he stood up he could see nothing. The tables were always filled with food and the Eloi, the name of this people, were always smiling.
Among the various curiosities were a number of well-like structures, circular chimneys covered with roofs. He peered down one but could see nothing but blackness. On dropping a piece of paper, the paper seemed to be sucked down rather than drifting as he had expected. And there seemed to be a low machine-like sound emanating upwards. Perhaps down below harbored the source of the upper world's bounty. Perhaps, long ago, mankind had devised machines to take care of all their needs and those machines had eliminated from man any need to strive, to evolve.
And then, tragedy: his Time Machine was gone! He ran to the spot by the sphinx where it had stood. He screamed, 'Where is my Time Machine?' But none of the pretty people responded with interest. After traveling in time, was he to be stranded here in the retrogradation of humanity. When he regained his senses he examined the ground where his vehicle had stood. Tracks indicated where it had been dragged, tracks leading directly to the white sphinx. He ran to the icon and beat his fists against the bronze panels. They appeared to be doors of some sort but showed of no handles or hinges.
That night he slept uneasily. On his fourth day he was again walking on treks of discovery. The days were very hot so he sought respite under a partially decayed small building. But there in the darkness he stopped. Ahead he saw two bright eyes. They owner of the eyes rushed away from him and quickly climbed down one of the water-less wells. He followed the albino ape-like creature to the mouth of the well. He saw that there were small hand holds down the inside. Now the chronography became clearer. Mankind devised these machines to serve itself but they had to be maintained. One genus of the species was chosen to toil below while another was destined to be served. These ape-like creatures emerged at night to replenish the food for their, now, infantine masters.
As he peered down the well, Weena, for the first time, showed signs of fear. She tried to dissuade him from following the creature but he was resolved. As he descended he dropped lit matches to light his way. At times he saw eyes peering at him but they scurried away when he lit another match. He found himself in a giant cavern. The sound of machinery surrounded him but his matches were not able to fully illuminate the hall. On a table lay an oddly shaped piece of meat -- these subterranean dwellers were not herbivores. Then he felt the first soft hand touch him. He struck another match. The creatures retreated. But when the light faded another, than another and another. One tried to pry the box of matches from his hands, others pulling, tugging, here and there. He made a dash for the well. Up he climbed, all the while the creatures hands gripping, tugging back at him. He finally reached the opening and lay gasping. The creatures did not dare venture out in the light of day. The final piece of the picture came to him by way of that oddly shaped meat. These creatures, Morlocks they were called, once slaves to the Eloi, now were their masters. The Eloi lounged like cattle. The Morlocks fed them and fed on them.
During his wanderings he noticed a green porcelain palace-like structure in the distance. It reminded him of a museum. He had used up the last of his matches down below and had no weapons with which to defend himself against the Morlocks or to pry open the bronze doors confining his Time Machine. It took more than a day to arrive at the museum. During the intervening night he and Weena slept under a bush but they saw no Morlocks. At the museum he found a sealed box of matches, a can of camphor (flammable) and an iron lever. He started back in the evening but this time the Morlocks were aware of his presence. As night fell, he heard their soft voices and the rustling of leaves behind him. He lit a fire to slow their pursuit and continued on. By this time he had been awake several days. Soon he felt the soft hands tugging at him. He lit a piece of the camphor and as it sputtered the Morlocks fled. He built another fire and sat down to rest for a few minutes.
The next thing he knew were the soft hands, again. One was nipping at his neck. He had fallen asleep and the fire had gone out. He picked up his iron bar and swung wildly. But then they began to scatter. Something else was scaring them away. He looked back toward the green palace and saw a red glow. The first fire he had set had grown and was rushing toward them. He looked for his Weena but she was gone, taken by the Morlocks. Poor, sweet child. He had planned to take her back with him but now she was either burned in the raging fire or ..., but he wouldn't think about that.
He ran all the way back to the white sphinx. It was early in the morning and he quickly fell asleep. He woke shortly before sunset. Taking up his iron bar, he headed for the bronze doors of the sphinx but found them open. And there, on a small platform inside stood his Time Machine. He realized the Morlocks were clever. They had already discerned that his matches gave him power over them and had tried to wrench them from. It was a trap, he knew, but the bait was too great. When he arrived he had unscrewed the small levers that caused the machine to move through time. He retrieved them now from his pocket and made for his vehicle. The doors closed and he heard the Morlocks murmuring, almost laughing. He hastily screwed the levers in place, not without difficulty, and pushed them forward.
Further into the future he flew. He saw the sun increase in size and slow in movement until it stood still in the heavens. Obviously, the earth was nearing the sun and had stopped spinning. The only signs of life were huge crab-like creatures. His location had become an ocean beach. He stopped finally, slowly this time so as not to again tip his carriage. This was to be the end of it. Apparently mankind had vanished and all that remained were these huge crabs. He set the lever backwards and eventually arrived back in his laboratory, to emerge as he was seen by his guests that evening during supper.
The narrator finished the tale. He returned to the Time Traveler's home the next day after spending a sleepless night going over and over the events of the night before. The Time Traveler met him and asked him to wait a half hour while he finished a certain project. He was collecting various implements: a camera, a knapsack, smoking tobacco and a lot of matches. But the narrator remembered he had a previous appointment and went back to the laboratory to make his leave with the Time Traveler. As he opened the door, he felt a flurry of wind and he saw the Time Traveler seated in his machine and as he watched, man and machine faded from his vision.
That was the last he saw of the Timer Traveler. Did he return to 802,701 to rescue the soft vestiges of the human race? Did he go back to the land of the dinosaurs? Apparently he met with some unexpected fate. We will never know. The narrator picked up and kept the small white flowers, still lying on the table from the night before, to remind him that, "even when mind and strength had gone, gratitude and a mutual tenderness still lived on in the heart of man."
? Lester L. Noll
8-Sep-2001
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