Question

Many people believe that science fiction stories are tales about incredible gadgets or scientific wizardry and that they lack any serious elements of literature. What was your notion about science fiction as a literary genre before you read the excerpt from The Time Machine? Did reading The Time Machine change your opinion of the genre? If so, in what way did your opinion change? Would you classify The Time Machine as a serious literary work or a simple tale? What literary aspects lead you to this conclusion? In the end, how would you rate The Time Machine from a literary perspective? Present your response in three to four paragraphs.

Answer 1

When you described your preconceptions about science fiction as a genre, you may have brought up one of the following points:

Based your perception that science fiction seemed to appeal only to a certain audience of readers who were already enthusiastic about science, you hadn’t considered science fiction to be a literary genre.

or

You considered science fiction a literary genre based on some of your previous readings of such texts.

If you consider science fiction to be a literary genre after reading The Time Machine, you may have raised the following points:

It contains a main narrative that explores important questions about how human society is formed rather than a more shallow focus strictly on technology.

It includes the introduction of a conflict: the stolen time machine.

It has a fresh way of looking at existing social conditions and their effect on the future.

It includes seemingly logical and rational explanations about time travel and how social conditions might evolve in the distant future.

It contains some use of imagery, symbolism, allusion, and other literary devices.

If you still think science fiction is not a literary genre after reading The Time Machine, you may have discussed the following points:

It lacks any major characters other than the Time Traveller.

It contains instances of sketchy descriptions or a lack of description of the setting and of the characters.

It lacks character development.

It relies on the use of simple sentence structures.

You should have ended your answer with a conclusion about how you rate The Time Machine from a literary perspective.

Step-by-step explanation:

Answer 2

I probably associated science fiction with movies or video games; I think I did not consider it a literary genre before I read the excerpt from The Time Machine. However, after I read it, I realized that science fiction was also present in literature.

The Time Machine was not about fantastic gadgets. It did not describe the special effects I could enyoy in movies. The Time Machine was fun but also serious. It had a message. The language was complex and figurative. It made me reflect about the connection between science and adventure; and science and politcs. The author, Wells, created space adventure but also criticised The Victorian Government and Capitalism.

The Time Machine is definitely a serious literary work because it is deep. It makes the reader think about other possible worlds. It is not a simple tale similar to the movies I watch. It is a novel full of literay devices, such as personifications, metaphors and dysthopian elements. This complex language and the ideas from the plot make The Time Machine a serious literary work.

This literary work is a good and effective novel. It is good because of the ideas and the use of figurative language. It is effective because it made me see the relation between fantasy and politics.