The Time Machine -- H.G.Wells

          In The Time Machine, H.G. Wells, like many other authors, uses the “under world/upper world” metaphor to create symbolic meaning for the Eloi and the Morlocks.  Traditionally, the Upper world is seen as utopian and the underworld as hellish. Authors sometimes use this metaphor to produce an evangelical emphasis, wanting to persuade readers to strive for goodness and avoid evil.  This metaphor has religious meaning because to be “good,” in a Biblical sense, one must be both productive and obedient.  In the story of the Garden of Eden, the inside of the garden is Utopian, much like the Eloi’s world. In both stories though, the inhabitants do not behave as they should and evil enters their Elysium.  Adam and Eve follow God’s instructions and work in their garden:  “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it” (Genesis 2:15, King James Bible).  However, even though Adam and Eve keep busy and husband their garden, they disobey God’s instructions about avoiding The Tree of Knowledge and they eat the forbidden fruit.  As a result, they lose their Paradise and are cast out of the Garden of Eden.  Since they have never seen the real world, it appears to them as a type of Gehenna.  In The Time Machine, the Eloi never disobey anyone, but they have no responsibilities and do no work.  They are not productive and as result, they become imbecilic.  To the time traveler, this fate seems like a type of hell itself and he theorizes that being productive may be what keeps people human.  At the same time, that can be taken too far.  The Morlocks, who do nothing but work, live underground and Wells depicts that as hellish.  This ruins the Utopian world of Eloi because they must live in fear that their slaves will eat them alive.  This novella was written in the time of the industrial revolution, so perhaps H.G. Wells is warning others that if the poorer classes are enslaved in dark, dank factories and the wealthy are lazy and unproductive, the poor will rise up and fight back.