The Time Machine 6
Study Guide Questions for Chapter Five (Second Half)
If you are looking for the beginning of the study of H. G. Wells’ The Time Machine then you can go HERE for a brief introduction. At the bottom of the introduction you will find the links to each section of the study guide as it becomes available. If you would like to see the growing list of available book studies available for free on this site you can go HERE. Enjoy!
Virtues/Vices/Great Ideas: (Find them in the Text)
Indifference, Expectation vs. Reality, Home, Light vs. Darkness, Fear
Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)
What occurred which caused the Time Traveller to gain a friend among the little people (Eloi)?
What was “the one thing dreadful” to Weena and the other Eloi?
What unfamiliar figures did the Time Traveller see in the very early morning?
What theory of Darwin did the Time Traveller suggest as a possible reason for the warmer temperatures on earth in its latter years?
What did the creature do, and how did it behave, when the Time Traveller tried to touch it?
What “truth dawned” on the Time Traveller after considering this new creature he had encountered?
What three reasons did the Time Traveller give for drawing the conclusion that this species lived almost entirely underground (subterranean dwellers)?
What problem(s) did the existence of this other species solve for the Time Traveller (which had previously confounded him)?
What theory did the Time Traveller propose to explain the emergence of these two separate humanoid descendents of earlier man?
What new questions were now plaguing the Time Traveller’s mind after the discovery of the Morlocks?
Logic Questions: (Interpreting, Comparing/Contrasting, Reasoning)
Why might none of Weena’s fellow Eloi have made any attempt to help her?
What could we infer about the Eloi from the fact that Weena did show appreciation to the Time Traveller after he saved her?
What connection should be made between Weena’s (and the other Eloi) fear of the dark and the Time Traveller’s discovery of the Morlock species?
The Time Traveller gives an inductive argument in favor of the conclusion that the Morlocks had long been a subterranean dwelling people. Try to develop another theory that could explain all his premises while leading to a different conclusion. Which theory is more probable, the one you came up with or the Time Traveller’s theory? Explain why.
Evaluate the Time Traveller’s theory of what led to two distinct species of men in these latter years. What are the strengths and weaknesses of his explanation?
How does the Time Traveller’s new theory of the way things are contradict his earlier theory in chapter 4 where he thought Communism sufficiently explained the way he found things?
What are your thoughts about the relationship of the Eloi and the Morlocks at the end of this chapter? What is the social dynamic between the two?
Rhetoric Questions: (The Analysis of Ideas in the Text)
The Time Traveller noted, “There is a tendency to utilise underground space for the less ornamental purposes of civilisation.” What are some modern day examples which seem to affirm this claim? Why do you think it is that we tend to do this and what does that communicate about what people value? Are there any potential negatives that might come from man’s tendency to do this? How important is it for our cities and homes to be beautiful? Why do you think as you do?
The Eloi fear the dark. Offer a definition for the concept of fear. Why do we fear some things and not others? In what cases is fear a good and legitimate part of our lives (how does it serve us well)? In what way is fear a bad thing and something we should seek to remove from ourselves? What in your opinion constituted the difference between good and healthy fear versus bad and harmful fear? Explain your answer thoughtfully.
Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)
Consider Exodus 20:20. How is the term “fear” being used in two different senses here and how does this impact your thinking on the second Rhetoric questions?