Gliederung/ Plot Summary for Wells' The Time Machine

    By Andrew Trapp (2003)

    1       Introduction to concept of 4th dimension and time travel; model

      • fire--civilization
      • laying out of theory
      • (verification: theory; skeptical audience; demonstration)
    2       Dinner party
      • traveler comes back; meat hungry
    3       Frame story ends; real story begins
      • Traveler tells of arrival in future (speaker switches to TT)
      • sensations of the trip--falling down
      • arrives in a garden/ Sphinx
    4       Eloi introduced
      • beautiful, sweet,
      • Theory # 1 -- After a perfect conquest of nature, " and thus with no challenges left, "man eventually became soft and stupid and androgynous. (Darwinian:: no more survival of fittest needed because nature has been conquered)
    5       1st night: Discovers machine is lost; rescues Weena, Morlocks introduced
      • Theory # 2 -- Eloi are descendents of the aristocracy; Morlocks the descendents of the lower working class.
                      Eloi are still the master race, their material needs fulfilled by Morlocks. (classs theory:: Marxist)

    6       Discovers Green Palace; goes down among Morlocks for first time

    7       Third theory; resolves to get himself shelter and weapons
      • Theory # 3 -- Morlocks are starting to tire of their role, starting to attack the Eloi, especially for food.
    8        Explores Green Palace, finds matches/bar

    9        Night in the Forest
      • Captured/escapes Morlocks; Weena lost
    10     Escapes in time machine

    11     Describes going further into future

    12     Conclusion of dinner party frame story
      • Flower and meat

    13   Epilogue

     

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