The Openings Of The Time Machine Essay

, Research Paper

The openings of the Time Machine and Lord of the Flies seem like a description of paradise. In what ways does this turn out to be deceptive.

The Time Machine is about the possibility of time travelling. In the story, one man succeeds in building a fully working time machine, and he uses it to travel into the future. The story was written during the Victorian times (1895), by H.G. Wells.

Lord of the Flies involves a group of boys who crash land on an island, in the middle of nowhere. It begins as paradise, but as the story goes on it turns out differently to what they expected. William Golding wrote the story, during the Cold War era. It was written after the Second World War. The times, in which wells and Golding lived in, reflected on what was written in each of their stories.

Wells lived in a time of peace and stability, as there hadn t been a major war for 30 years, which was in 1865. This had an impact on what Wells wrote about in his story. There was an influence on who and what the characters were in the story, and how they lived and did things. The Morlocks are very similar to the miners of the Victorian times. The Morlocks lived underground and in the dark. The miners didn t live underground, but they did spend most of their time working there. I would have thought that the Morlocks would be like slaves to the Eloi, because that s what the miners were like to the upper class people. However, this wasn t so, the Morlocks were in complete control of the Eloi, who were just food for them. The Morlocks were the more intellectual out of the two species, and had power over the Eloi. The Morlocks worked underground and were clever enough to work the complicated machinery. The Morlocks were a lot stronger than the Eloi, which gave them more authority over the Eloi. Wells wrote the Time Machine in a similar time to what we are living in at the moment. We are both very near to the turn of a new century, which involves new beginnings and new achievements in life. Wells wrote his story just before the turn of the 20th Century, in 1895. And we are about to go into the 21st Century. In 1985 they weren t even thinking about the things which we have achieved today. Back then, disease affected many people, but treatments for all these diseases were beginning to be created. Some of these common diseases were beginning to be wiped out, but nowadays, in the 1990 s, nearly every disease and illness has got a cure. Wells though that every disease will be wiped out in the future, and this is shown in his writing. In the story all weeds have been eliminated, and only beautiful flowers and exotic fruit trees exist, a long-neglected and yet weedless garden .

Golding wrote Lord of the Flies in 1954. This was during the Cold War era, and after the Second World War. The Cold War brought fear to everybody, as they thought that the world was going to be destroyed. The Cold War was between America and Russia, and everybody thought that the world was going to be annihilated by nuclear weapons. This influenced Golding to include something about a war in his story. First of all, the time at which they crash land, a war is going on. Also, the thing they thought was a beast, on top of the mountain, actually turned out to be a pilot. His plane must have been shot at, and he was forced to eject. But by the time he parachuted down, he was already dead. Wells himself was involved in warfare, as he took part in World War II. His war experiences changed his views about the nature of mankind. Because of the atrocities Wells witnessed, he believed that there was a very dark and evil side to man. These thoughts were shown in his writing. On the island were the boy s crash landed, Piggy described one side of the mountain dark and unfriendly. Looking down the unfriendly side of the mountain . There was also an influence on the characters in the story. Jack and Roger represented the dark and evil side to man. In comparison to them, Ralph and Piggy were more civilised, and were not savages. Jack and Roger also represent Hitler, who was obsessed with dictatorship and power. The fascism in the Second World War, brought out the worst in people. The Nazis influenced Golding to create some characters in the story who portrayed this dark and evil side to man. These characters were Jack and Roger. Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Jack and Roger also represent Hitler, who was an evil man obsessed with dictatorship and power.

In both stories the opening descriptions are made to sound like paradise by the writers. This is the description of the island (Golding), and the land of the Eloi (H.G. Wells). Both writers use good descriptions to convey this idea of paradise.

In the Time Machine the land of the Eloi is described as calm and peaceful, and like a summers day. The intense blue of the summer day , everything was calm and peaceful . It is a perfect world to live in, The air was free from gnats, the earth from weeds or fungi; everywhere were fruits and sweet delightful flowers . The place where the Time Traveller first encounters the Eloi, the whole location is full of beautiful and exotic fruits. There seems to be an unlimited supply of fruit, showing that the place is like paradise, and they will never go hungry, the fruits were very delightful, and seemed to be in season all the time I was there .

The island in Lord of the Flies