| $@%&! level: Low “Bedroom” level: None Violence level: Medium Back Cover: “When the Time Traveler crash-lands in the 802,701, he is surrounded by lush landscapes and a small, gentle people named Eloi. Amazed by their apparent bliss, he wishes to bring their secrets back to his troubled time. As the sun sets, however, all harmony is shattered when the time machine disappears and the fearsome Morlocks stalk the cowering Eloi.” |
And I have to say that he takes his time getting to the meat of the story. It's several days before he even realizes there are Morlocks, and in the meanwhile he spends his time indulging in philosophy and anthropology and making a brand new little friend. (Did anyone ever think to mention that the Eloi are the size and have the approximate mental capacity of 8 year old children in the movie or the essays? No, of course not!) I could never tell if his relationship with Weena was intended to be paternal or something more intimate, but they were certainly very attached to each other.
Once he comes to fully understand the way of the world (which he rather blunders into. What was he thinking?) things get much more exiting, but I still feel a lot of frustration. I mean, you go far forward in time and discover a race of people who are pathologically afraid of the dark...and you don't show them how to build a fire? Just that—a simple fire at night—would have solved all their problems. The Morlocks would have died of starvation within a very short time. I'm also astonished that it took him as long as it did to find any kind of weapon. I'm sure there must have been a few sturdy tree branches around. And then at the end, if he wanted to prove his story, why not let someone else have a go? Why go off after samples himself, and in secret? People who are that unprepared and lacking in imagination really shouldn't go poking about in time. It doesn't surprise me that he didn't make it back.