The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds H. G. Wells

1. The Time MachineandThe War of the WorldsH. G. Wells Menu Introduction Background Discussion Starters

2. The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds: Introduction Is space the final frontier?

3. The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds: Introduction What about time?

4. The Time Machine: Introduction In The Time Machine a man known only as the Time Traveller, a brilliant scientist and inventor, believes humans can travel through time in the Time Machine he has invented. His friends are skeptical.

5. The Time Machine: Introduction He tells them of his rush forward in time—to the year 802,701. The world is in ruins. But the people he meets—the Eloi—seem happy and healthy, although small.

6. The Time Machine: Introduction But the Eloi are afraid of something: the Morlocks, pale, apelike creatures who live underground.

7. The Time Machine: Introduction Determined to learn the secrets of this strange place, the Time Traveller climbs down a mysterious, well-like shaft and is nearly captured by the Morlocks.

8. The Time Machine: Introduction Can a simple thing like a match save the Time Traveller? What will happen to his Eloi friend Weena? And who are the real descendants of the Time Traveller’s era—the Eloi or the Morlocks?

9. The War of the Worlds: Introduction In The War of the Worlds, the narrator watches strange flashes of light emerge from the planet Mars, night after night. They’re probably meteors, right? But “the Thing” that lands near London one Friday is no meteor—it’s the beginning of a Martian invasion of Earth.

10. The War of the Worlds: Introduction Earthlings are powerless to defend themselves against Martian technology. There is panic in the streets as the people flee. By Tuesday, the Martians control London.

11. The War of the Worlds: Introduction Cylinders carrying Martians continue to fall from the sky. In hiding, the narrator observes the conquerors through a peephole. How strange they are! How weak and clumsy compared to their sleek, amazing machines!

12. The War of the Worlds: Introduction Finally, less than two weeks after the first Martians arrived, the narrator emerges from hiding. The stillness is eerie. Has human life been erased from Earth?

13. The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds: Background Herbert George Wells (1866–1946) was a biologist, a teacher, a historian, and a social critic—as well as a writer of novels and short stories. After earning his degree in 1889, Wells went to work as a college biology teacher. Soon, inspired by the science fantasies of Jules Verne, Wells decided to try to write his own scientific romance.

14. The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds: Background Intrigued by the possibility of time travel, Wells reworked an earlier essay into The Time Machine (1895). It was an immediate success. • Other popular fiction followed quickly: • The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896) • The Invisible Man (1897) • The War of the Worlds (1898) • The First Men in the Moon (1901)

15. The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds: Background Success freed Wells to write fulltime—and, ironically, to abandon science fiction. Millions read his best-selling history of the world, The Outline of History (1920) and other works. Wells became increasingly pessimistic. He died a year after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, discouraged about the future of humanity.

16. The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds: Background In 1877, the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli observed a complex system of canali—Italian for “channels”—on Mars. Schiaparelli thought the canali were natural, but he left open the possibility that they might be artificial.

17. The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds: Background Later, the American astronomer Percival Lowell numbered and mapped the canali. When Lowell published his first work about Mars in 1895, he translated canali as “canals”—fueling the popular idea that the channels had been built by an advanced civilization.

18. The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds Discuss (1) H. G. Wells was interested in the impact of scientific and technological advances on human behavior and society. • How does technology benefit individuals and society? • Are there downsides to rapid advances in science and technology?

19. The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds Discuss (2) What if time travel were actually possible? • What dangers might time travel present for the traveler? • Would there be dangers for the people in the periods the traveler visits? If so, could those dangers be avoided, and how?