Reading and Journal Questions
on
H.G. Wells' The Time Machine
GENERAL,
OVERVIEW QUESTIONS | SPECIFIC
STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS
GENERAL,
OVERVIEW QUESTIONS
1. This is the first of what Wells called his
"scientific romances." What elements
make the story a romance?
-
a) Does the structure of the plot follow the
parabola of the romance quest as defined
by Joseph Campbell and Northrop Frye? Try graphing the plot out as you
read.
-
b) Do the characters fall into romance categories?
-
c) Is the imagery typical of romance archetypes?
Need to mark and keep track of opposing clusters of edenic and demonic
images.
2. What about the "scientific"
part of the definition? What elements of The Time Machine are scientific
(or pseudo-scientific)? What sciences are used or referred to?
-
What about the issue of "verifiablity"?
What are the mechanisms Wells uses to make his time-travel premise credible?
-
What is Well's attitude
towards science as revealed by the Time Traveller's character?
How does he do as a representative scientist? Does his behavior reveal
any flaws in the scientific perspective?
3. Social criticism is the third element seen
as essential to the mixture which finally produced modern sf. What are
the targets of Well's social criticism?
SPECIFIC STRUCTURAL
ELEMENTS
-
You need to set up a Gliederung,
a chapter by chapter anatomy of the novel. Try writing a one-sentence or
key-word summary of the main event of each chapter, or try graphing the
highs and lows as the chapters develop.
-
Here are some questions about specific elements:
-
1. Why the frame of
the dinner party? What purpose does it serve?
-
2. What is the symbolic import of the sphinx?
-
3. What are the mythic resonances of the Eloi
and Morlock? Do they wholly correspond to good and bad -- angel
and devil? Is the Time Travller more like an Eloi or a Morlock? How are
the two groups related to gender steroetypes?
-
4. What is the purpose of Weena
in the plot?
-
5. Beginning with Chapter 5, the Time Traveller
provides a model of the scientific method at work in coming up with first
one, then another, then another hypothesis
as to how the Eloi and Morlock division came about. What are these three
hypotheses? What is the social critique implied by each one?
-
6.What's the point of the extended
travel into the future in Chapter 11?
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