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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Compared to the children the Time Traveler is used to, what does he estimate the intellectual age of the Eloi to be?

2. What do the Eloi offer the Time Traveler when he intimates that he did in fact come out of the thunderstorm?

3. What sound does the Time Traveler hear from deep within the shaft?

4. What does the Time Traveler remove from the time machine when he prepares to follow the Eloi?

5. Which battle does the Psychologist mention, when the men speak of traveling in history to see past battles?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the Time Traveler feel when he sees the decayed books in the Palace?

2. How did the Time Traveler feel when he first got out of the time machine in the far future in Chapter 3?

3. What is one possible reason the Time Traveler postulates for the physical changes from humans to Eloi?

4. What is the narrator's outlook on the future at the end of the novel?

5. Describe the historical (and technological) setting of this novel.

6. What do the people the Time Traveler meets in the far future in Chapter 3 look like?

7. What explains the fact that the time machine is in the opposite corner of his laboratory when the Time Traveler returns to his present day?

8. When the Time Traveler sees the Morlocks for the first time, what does he notice about them and what conclusions about evolution does he draw?

9. Describe the plan the Time Traveler comes up with to recover his time machine and escape back to the past.

10. Why does the Time Traveler feel instinctual hatred for and fear of the Morlocks?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

One of the most prominent symbolic systems Wells employs in this novel is the relationship between the Eloi and the Morlock. Define and describe this relationship, using examples from the text. Be sure to include the way it works on a literal level as well as on a symbolic one.

Essay Topic 2

While some critics argue that the Morlocks represent the future of the working class and the Eloi the future of the elite classes, there are also many other characters in the novel who actually are middle and upper class. Describe briefly the analysis of social power dynamics represented by the science fiction elements evidence in the Morlock and the Eloi. Then consider two or three of the characters who are middle class--the Time Traveler, the Medical Man, the Editor, or the Psychologist--and analyze to what extent these characters offer a critique of their own on the social class they represent. You may also consider, if you wish, why none of the onscreen characters are representative of the working class.

Essay Topic 3

While this novel is considered a foundational example of the science fiction genre, Wells grounds it in actual science. Interpret the various roles "real" or actual science plays in this narrative, including a discussion of both the scientific issues discussed in the beginning of the novel as well as the scientific understanding of the world the Time Traveler uses in the future and returns to his own time with. Be sure to discuss the specific ways Wells and his characters employ science in the service of fiction.

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