“The Time Machine” by H.G Wells is a classic work of science fiction which helped define the genre and also created the idea of a time machine which would appear again and again in other works of fiction. The future that Wells creates is impressively imaginative and very unique. In his creation of the Eloi and Morlocks Wells is expressing his socialist views through an entertaining hyperbole that could only exist in science fiction. The Morlocks represent the proletariat and they are forced underground to work amongst the machines. The Eloi are the simple and carefree surface dwellers that represent the bourgeoisie. In this distant future, nearly all hardships have been overcome. The lack of difficulties for the eloi resulted in a sort of de-evolution which made them completely defenseless and weak. After years of survitude the morlocks emerge from the depths of the industrial underworld and begin to feed on the Eloi as if they are cattle. H.G Wells injected these socialist ideals into a lot of his work and it is a large part of who he was as an author. The ideas he uses to express his socialist views in “The Time Machine” are very farfetched and entertaining. It is doubtful that Wells would have been able to make the story and its themes as effective as they are outside of sci fi and for this reason H.G Wells and many other authors owe a lot to the genre.
Few other genres of fiction offer the limitless possibilities if science fiction. Practically anything an author desires to create or say can easily be expressed through science fiction. This aspect of the genre make it a particularly useful medium for making social commentary in an entertaining way. H.G Wells mastered this aspect of science fiction and that is part of the reason why his works are so memorable.
