The Time Machine

This is a foundational work in the science fiction genre. It expresses topics of progress, human identity, politics, and decay. Progress is not inevitable and the future is not guaranteed to be positive.

The Time Traveler goes to the year 802,701 and finds two species that have split off from the current human race, the Eloi and the Morlocks. The Eloi, descendants of the elite, seem to live in an idyllic garden, but the Traveler soon learns about the relationship between the Eloi and the underground dwellers, the Morlocks who are the descendants of the working poor. It is a relationship of farmer to livestock. The farmer is the Morlocks and the livestock is the Eloi. Society has flipped.

The Traveler has many misadventures. One of which is setting a large forest fire as a means of escaping the Morlocks. The Traveler eventually returns to his home time and tells his story to his companions.

This novella is quite enjoyable. Lessons can be learned from this work.