The Victorian era. Darwins The Origin of Species and The Time Machine by H. G. Well - Research Paper Example

?H.G. Wells, The Time Machine and the qualities needed for evolutionary success The Victorian era in literature saw a major transformation in the literary world. Fiction and romantic stories were some of the popular genre in that period. The Victorian Era covers a period of writing from the year 1837 to 1901. It is to be noted that it is this period when Origin of Species by Charles Darwin came out. The book got appreciation from all spheres and the impact that it created in the nineteenth century writing is tremendous. Many contemporaries of those days became very much interested in this particular genre of science writing. In years following after that, a lot of books on human race, how they came about and many more such scientific analytical question where raised and answered in the books. One of the most prominent books of the Victorian time that was very much influenced by Darwin’s The Origin of Species is that of The Time Machine by H. G. Well. This paper will deal with the important aspect, the influence of the Darwin’s evolutionary theory in Victorian period and how it slowly changed over the genre from that of romantic fictions to that of scientific genre. Also the paper will deal with The Origin of Species and the influence it had over The Time Machine by H. G. Well. The Time Machine by H. G. Well that released in 1895 is a science fiction that dealt with some of the most important subjects such as theory of evolution and the mechanics that are related with the theory. It was considered that this book had a very direct connection to the Darwin’s theory. The Time Machine is a scientific fiction that has the time traveler as the base in order to travel to some selective place in order to achieve some specific purpose or subject matter. This Time Machine concept is widely accepted and used all throughout the world now as an indication of the possibility to move forward and backward in time. This science fiction by Well, though not considered to be a major investigation on Science, has definitely been the early risers to the scientific writing. The book attained wide popularity all over the world and there are a lot of comic series that are coming out on this idea even now. H. G. Well’ story also reflects his views and ideas on life, society and also politics. There is also a great dose of dislike shown towards the industrial relation as well. Protagonist of the book was a scientist in Time Machine and there is no specific name given to him in the book and he just referred to the character as the Time Traveler. The impact that Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species has on the literature of the coming ages is remarkable and it opened up a new area for writing. Though, the book gained popularity, it did so in a slow yet stronger way in due course of time. It was contended that the book is the master for all the scientific genre books that came about after that. It not only captivated the writers and literature of that period but the common people and readers were captivated by its new theme and genre. It is to be noted that one of the major social problems of the 19th century such as the division between the rich and poor is effectively addressed by Darwin. The social stratification of the rich and poor is given in the book through a good amount of explanation by Darwin which opened up the interest of many readers to a great extent. It is to be noted that it was one of the burning issues of those period and exploitation of resources was the cause of concern for many people in many parts of the world. Even though the crux of the book is of similar line to the fictions that came across at that time period such as the exploitation of the resources for the cause of industrial revolution, the book has successfully managed to include the nuances of science to the whole story line and taking it off from there in a great way. The central plot of The Time Machine is about the exploitation that has been carried over on the poor for the benefits of the rich in the name of the industrial revolution. Thus the author has managed to put forth the political, social and economic ideas to a great dose. At many instances, the inspiration drawn from the Darwin’s story was obvious and the author managed to put across his view points in an acceptable form of story all throughout the book. A great part of the book, keeps the reader alongside with the scientific explanations which are done in a more concrete and understandable way. The argument of Darwin through the Origin of Species is that the environment is the main cause for the different change that is found among the species. The species are produced in different environment and their life is molded based on the survival of the species as well. The different environment will make the species adapt as per the survival and the off springs of those species are born with a better advantage of survival. Thus, this will pass on to the generations to come. A famous quote, the survival of the fittest is provided through this book of Origin of Species. The theory of evolution also opened up a new area of understanding that evolution does not increase the efficiency of the species by making it perfect for the living condition rather it makes it more complex in many forms as the evolution continues. Evolution over a period of time will increase the complexity of the species that is involved due to the changes that has been happening for generations through the concept of evolution. It is just that the species will become more adaptive to the changes and accept its current form of change, which cannot be called as perfection rather it will result in many difficulty as it simple form is changed to a more complex means (Darwin, 1958). Social Darwinism did not accept this concept that was put forth by Darwin’s Natural Selection. It contended that it is not adaptability rather those species are destined to be born that way. Well in his book, The Time Machine would have portrayed that those who are part of the elite class behave in a stupid and dumb way as they are not opened up to any of the tough tasks at hand thus they do not know the real essence of life. There were many supporters for the theory that was brought forth by Darwin. It is not that people accepted that instantly as soon as it got released rather it took some several years together for the thing to set in and change into acceptable form. For all those who supported Darwin’ stand especially those who were in the writing sphere could not resist themselves from inculcating there version of understanding in their own book as well. It definitely marked a new sphere in the Victorian era and changed the subject or genre on which a lot of books were churned out at that point of time. It is to be noted that there were a lot of oppositions to the stand of Darwin and it was never devoid of controversies as it was the first path breaking book that gave a scientific account for human life in a more elaborate manner. The Origin of Species book has also been ranked across as one of the top books of those time and the opinions from different class of people was summed up in which Darwin’s book found place. It is to be noted that Darwin’s theory had both positive as well as negative impact on Wells. In the book The Time Machine, the author Wells manages to bring in the fact of evolution and ties it across beautifully to that of the capitalism concept. He manages to bring forth the exploitative mode that was in practice at that point of time through a well narrated story line and uses a great dose of the evolution theory in order to make his argument or understanding more concrete. The main theory of the author seems to surround the areas with regard to capitalism, socialism and one could also make out a great dose of impact is derived from the book of Darwin. Even today Wells’ work could be easily associated with that of the work of Darwin and it was one of the earliest works that was based on the theory of evolution. If some deep research is applied to the standing of the authors, there seems to be a logical connection made to the way things were going on. Social and economic status has already become one of the most important aspects in those times. People have come out of the set backs and came to realize the importance with regard to that of attaining social as well as economic position but it turned out to be something that is impossible as there were a lot of discrepancy in the way the industrial affairs have been going (Ruddick and Well, 2001). The author H. G. Wells had succeeded in bringing together the evolution of theory in order to make the central theme of the story to the highlight. It is a well known fact that there were several issues and concerns with regard to the misuse of labor power, the over exertion of work over the labor class, the suppression of the people and also the autocratic behavior of the elite class. All of the major social issue gave rise to a lot of uprising and saw some of the finest writers coming open about the kind of exploitations that has been thrown over the elite class that owned industries over the poor class or the working class people on the whole. He gave a detailed account of all of the social problems through the narrations in the book and also made sure to pass it on in the right manner through an interesting story line. It mainly laid its foundation on something called Time Traveler and there was no mentioning of the lead character name in that particular book though the sequels that were attempted by the other authors provided a name for the character. One of the main points that the author wanted to deliver through his writing in The Time Machine is the impact that capitalism will have on the theory of evolution. There is a wide sort of correlation that has been made to that of the book and its concept to that of the theories in relation to evolution. There is also a great dose of relation that is made on the part of the theories of relativity as well and the author has managed to put across the theory of relativity in a understandable way as the subject matter of the book is relation to time machine and how its impact on human life. If a deeper look is taken on the books then one could find out that it is one of the finest books of that period though it is has few downs to it as well. In case of the explanations that are given to some areas with regard to theories of evolution the author has made sure to provide a concrete and clear cut stand on it all through the way. The author Wells has also exhibited a great deal of understanding of the concepts and the standings in relation to that of the theory of evolution as propagated by that of Darwin. In Origin of Species, the author Charles Darwin has provided the best possible explanations with regard to his finding and has also given some of the best examples in order to prove his standings on the same. In all ways it is very much clear that the Victorian era is very much in association with that of the theory of evolution which brought in a sea of change to the way the things were being looked out as (Scheibel and Schopf, 1997) The Time Machine comes out with the contention as to what will happen to human beings and their life if the current industrial system is carried across for more generations like that of this. Now and then the author manages to include a great dose of his reading from the evolution of theory and properly links it along with that of the story line. He has shown in the book a detailed account of research on the scientific aspects that the narration requires. As per the concept given in this book, the mankind or human being will be separated into two different kinds of class and that will mark the beginning of the complexities. The mankind will be divided up into that of a working class as well as the owing class that rules all the affairs with regard to industries. The novel has also gone ahead with naming the two classes of people who have been divided for this purpose. The ruling class is named as that of the Eloi and the working class is named as Morlocks that the distinction is made in a clearer manner. The author has also linked the theory of the natural selection alongside with that of capitalistic stand (Wells and Adam, 2003). Wells properly puts across through the book of his acceptance that the passing off of the acquired skill for the generations to come through evolution does not mean that perfection will be attained in such cases. He has made use of the Darwin’s stand that the passing on of the newly acquired position for the future generations and the continuation of it will not amount to perfection or that of efficiency rather it will bring in a lot of complexities. Complexities and problems will arise more in such cases as there will be no more options left open. Darwin has provided in the book The Origin of Species, that those species that attained the field of advancements will pass it on to the other generation and this will cause the coming generation to be weak, lazy and also stupid on the whole. The author links this stand of Darwin in a very nice way to the belief that the existing of these two different classes of people will bring in a great amount of change to the evolution as a whole. In the book it is provided that the Eloi which is the elite class of people are prone to be more careless, weak and also lazy to a great extend as there is no necessity for them to strive in life (Hubert, 2006). On the other hands, the Morlocks who had to strive for their life exhibits a great deal of zeal and enthusiasm for life thus providing the stance of Darwin that those species with advancements need not necessarily be talented and perfect as they already have the privilege of the creamy layer. He puts across the stance on the contention that only the fittest will be able to survive through all the problems. Since the elite class of Eloi did not require any sort of striving to be lively or fit they are not ready to make any sort of effort in order to sustain their position. Thus the future owners from Eloi will lack in leadership qualities and will not be able to provide with the required results that will save the people as well as the industry as a whole. Thus it slashed across the view that only the elite class will be able to provide with the best of results as it is moving towards the perfection category. The Time Machine also effectively addresses the stand on the perfection class belief of the elite people who are strong advocators of this principle. In many of the books and also in today everyday parlance utmost importance is given to the fact that only the fittest will survive and come over all sorts of difficulties on the whole. When there a lot of options then people will generally opt out for the easiest ones and thus will lose out on the ability to think over and innovate. This is perfectly what the stance that is taken over in the book over the elite group of people that was termed as Eloi. If a more analytical look is taken in this stance, it is understood that it is absolutely true all the way. Only when there is a necessity will a species will strive to get it and if there is no necessity then there is any reason to be bothered about it on the whole. H G. Well also tries to bring in other supporting evidences for his stand that the advancements that are made to the future generations need not necessarily amount to getting tuned up and or that of attaining perfection rather he puts across beautifully that over the generations, the capacity degenerates to a great extent. In order to prove his stand, the author makes use of the second law of thermodynamics or entropy which provides that with the passing the system will lose the energy and will attain problems in due course of time. The author has made a clean attempt to put forward the theory of evolution in a clearer manner through a good concept. It is very much clear that the theory of evolution brought about by Charles Darwin has had a greater impact on the Victorian period which could be made out through a lot of writings of that period. Thus, H G. Wells accounts for the evolution theory to a great extent in his writing and puts across with regard to the evolutionary success in the book, The Times Machine. Literature definitely saw a new phase of writing in the Victorian period and the writing also opened up the next level of science in literature sphere. Reference: Wells, Herbert and Nicholas Ruddick. The Time Machine: an Invention, Broadview Press, 2001 Wells, Herbert and Alfred Mac Adam. The Time Machine and the Invisible Man, Spark Educational Publishing, 2003 Darwin, Charles. The Origin of Species, 1958 Scheibel, Arnold and William Schopf. The origin and evolution of intelligence, Jones & Bartlett Learning, 1997 Yockey, Hubert. Information theory, evolution, and the origin of life, Cambridge University Press, 2006 Read More