Hg Wells Use Of Symbolism In The Time Machine

The book I used for my June project is H. G. Wells’ The Time Machine. My exact thesis from my term paper is: “Wells presents dystopian future society where the childish Eloi are preyed upon by inhuman Morlocks, expressing his criticism of the upper class’ abuse of the lower class in their quest to create a perfect society for themselves.” In order to produce a creative response, I tried to capture a sense of the entire thesis, but chose to focus the most on Well’s use of the symbolism of the Eloi and the Morlocks in order to communicate a message about the world of his time. Over the course of week in several two hour intervals, I used a graphics manipulation software (named GIMP) in order to create an original illustration.

In my illustration, three Morlocks are about to attack Weena, a female Eloi used by Wells in his novel to emphasize the characteristics of the

Physically, she has the likeness of a little girl with great beauty, as state in The Time Machine. She is several times smaller than each of the Morlocks and stands further from the foreground, emphasizing her small stature. She wears only white and purple, which represent purity and royalty, hinting at the fact that the Eloi are an evolution of the upper class. This connection is made clearer by the shadow she casts, which is in the shape of a Victorian gentleman or lady, depending on the viewer’s interpretation. Weena holds a handful of white flowers with one hand and anxiously grasps her wrist with the other. The white flowers, a reference to the white flowers she gave the Time Traveler in the novel, are meant to contribute to the childlike characteristics emphasized in my illustration. She stands frozen and helpless, awaiting her death as the Morlocks approach her. I chose to emphasize the Elois’ childlike characteristics in order to help the viewer arrive at the fact that Wells’ is criticizing the upper class for being naive and