Summary “The Time Machine” by Wales
The heroes of the novel are mostly not named by their names. Among the listeners of the Traveler’s story are the Psychologist, A very young man, the Provincial Mayor, the Doctor and others. They are present at the return of the Traveler from the future, which appears in front of his guests not in the best possible way: limps, his clothes are dirty, the car is bent. And no wonder – for the past three hours he lived for eight days. And they were full of adventure.
Going on the road, the Traveler hoped to get into the Golden Age. Indeed, before him flashed millennia of the heyday of mankind. But it flashed through. The car stopped at the moment of decay. From the past there were ruined palaces, excellent plants cultivated for centuries, juicy fruits. One misfortune – humanity, as we imagine it today, completely disappeared. Nothing remains of the old world. It is inhabited by the charming “Eloi”, the underworld – brutal “morlocks”.
Eloi
However, all this is open to the Traveler not at once. Its appearance in 802801 was preceded by a journey itself, during which years merged into millennia, constellations moved, the sun described a continuous visible circle.
Fragile, unviable, but in their own way beautiful Eloi first appeared to the eyes of the Traveler, However, he still had to unravel the complex puzzle of this incomprehensible society. How do you get countless waterless wells? What is this noise of cars? Why are the eloi so well dressed, though not capable of any work? And is there not a clue to the last (and many other circumstances)
Moreover, on the Traveler, a blow hits the second day. He is horrified to discover that the time machine has disappeared. Is he destined to remain forever in this strange world? Despair has no limits. And only gradually he begins to make his way to the truth. He still has to get acquainted with another human species – the Morlocks.
This is also not easy.
When the Traveler just landed in a new world for him, he drew attention to the colossal figure of the White Sphinx, standing on a high bronze pedestal. Is his car hidden there? He begins to beat the Sphinx with his fists and hears a giggle. He remains four days in full ignorance. When suddenly he sees in the dark a pair of brilliant eyes, obviously not belonging to any of the eloi. And then he is a small white creature, obviously not accustomed to daylight, with a strangely lowered head. This is the first he saw the Morlock. It resembles an anthropoid spider. Following him, the Traveler discovers the secret of waterless wells. They are connected in a single ventilation circuit, making up the outcrops from the underworld. And, of course, it was the Morlocks who hid, and, as it turned out later, they disassembled, studied,
Since then, the Traveler is only thinking how to return it. He dares to venture a dangerous enterprise. The staples along which the hiding from. his navy, too thin for the Traveler, but he risked for life still grabs them and penetrates the underworld. Before him open long passages where creatures with inhumanly pale faces without chins, with eyelids of reddish-gray eyes and tables with chopped meat, live. One salvation – the Morlocks are afraid of light and a lit match discourages them. All the same it is necessary to run and begin searches anew; especially since now he knows – you should get into the pedestal of the White Sphinx.
To do this, you need to acquire a suitable tool. Where can I get it? Maybe there’s something in the abandoned museum? This is not easy. For so many millennia, the exhibits have turned into dust. Finally, you can find some rusty lever, but on the road you have to endure a fight with the Morlocks. In the dark they become dangerous. In this battle the Traveler loses the only human being to which he has become attached. At his appearance, he saved a small Wyna, who was drowning with total indifference of others. Now she’s gone forever, stolen by the Morlocks.
However, the trip to the museum turned out to be in vain sense of the word. When the Traveler, holding his club in his hands, approached the White Sphinx, he found that the bronze doors of the pedestal were open and the two halves were pushed into special grooves. In the depths there is a time machine that the Morlocks could not use because the Traveler prudently unscrewed the levers at the very beginning. Of course, in any case it was a trap. However, no obstacles could prevent the Traveler from moving in time. He sits down in the saddle, fixes the levers and disappears from this total dangers of the world.
But ahead of him are waiting for new tests. When the car, for the first time braked, fell to one side, the saddle shifted and the Traveler turned the levers in the wrong direction. Instead of returning home, he flew into an even farther future, in which predictions of changes in the solar system, the slow decline of all forms of life on Earth and the complete disappearance of mankind are coming true. At some point the Earth is inhabited only by crab-shaped monsters and still some huge butterflies. But then they disappear.
It goes without saying that the story of the Traveler is hard to believe. And he decides, capturing the camera, once again “run through” for millennia. But this new attempt ends in a catastrophe. It is foreshadowed by the sound of broken glass. The traveler no longer returns. But the novel ends with a phrase full of enlightenment: “Even at a time when the strength and intelligence of a person disappear, gratitude and tenderness continue to live in the hearts.”
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)