Characters and Characterization: The Functions of Homo Sapiens in the Narrative of H.
While reading The Time Machine, I was struck by Wells's use of the seven characters in the first dinner scene (Chapter 1). What, I asked myself, were their functions? This essay is a preliminary attempt to address that issue and to look at each of the seven characters in light of their functions in Wells's story.
The frame tale of The Time Machine consists of the Narrator's encounters with the Time Traveller and his guests. For the most part, the tale takes place in the home of the Traveller, with the Narrator recording the tale told by the Traveller á la Shelley's Frankenstein. One might then break up the frame tale into three parts: the first dinner (Chapter 1), the second dinner with subsequent tale (Chapter 2-11), and the final meeting between the Traveller and the Narrator. .
Present in this part of the story are seven in all: the Time Traveller, the Narrator, Filby, the Psychologist, the Medical Man, the Provincial Mayor, and the Very Young Man. Each have different roles in this drama, and each represents something different.
To begin with, we should look at the role of Filby in the scheme of Wells's story. He is described by our narrator as being "an argumentative person with red hair" (1). It's not clear what the link is between his argumentativeness and his hair coloring, but one might conjecture that the association is with temper and anger. Indeed, while Filby's responses do not seem violent in the least, they are indicative of one who believes that reason should overcome emotion. Filby even says as much; at one point he notes that the Traveller's story is "against reason" (6). Could this, then, be the voice of reason and fil-osophy in a tale described as "fantastic and incredible" (90)? Indeed, Filby is the one suspicious of the Traveller's intent. As opposed to pure philosophy, whose reasoning moves toward Truth, Filby suspects the Traveller of deception: "'You can show black is white by argument,' said Filby, 'but you will never convince me.
The Inheritors exemplifies a scenario in which the last eight members of a tribe of Neanderthal men meet a tribe of Homo Sapiens and later are destroyed. ... In the novel,The Inheritors, the overall effect portrays human's as being innately barbaric due to the novels anthropological perspective, characterization and symbolism. ...
At first glance, Neanderthal remains appear primitive and crude, rather like Homo erectus and quite different from modern humans. ... Homo sapiens sapiens sites present overwhelming evidence of pervasive cultural practices. ... The artifacts of Homo sapiens sapiens are at first indistinuishable from Neanderthal (Mousterian) tools. ... The elaborately carved bone batons (left and center) found all over Europe are somewhat of a mystery whose function is not clear; these strange cultural objects are usually fashioned from reindeer antler and elaborately decorated. ... It is assumed that such cave...
Although the exact reason why our primates' species adapted from being quadrupeds is not yet known, this is the closet link we have in comparison with the only two legged walking Homo sapiens. ... In the case of Homo sapiens, males are typically taller and more robust than females and stop growing at a later period. ... Because of this, our dentition began to change sort of like Homo sapiens teeth because we hardly ever used sharp incisors to slice through things. ... Because of our smaller sized brains, this means that our species was able to hold less knowledge thus brining down our int...
Homo erectus had speech. ... Homo Habilis Homo erectus Homo Neanderthal Homo Sapiens The last but not least point about how man has evolved is the body structure. ... Homo erectus evolved from the Homo habilis. ... Homo Neanderthals were basically specialized Homo erectus. ... Us today, Homo sapiens is very unique. ...
Homo erectus had speech. ... Homo Habilis Homo erectus Homo Neanderthal Homo Sapiens The last but not least point about how man has evolved is the body structure. ... Homo erectus evolved from the Homo habilis. ... Homo Neanderthals were basically specialized Homo erectus. ... Us today, Homo sapiens is very unique. ...
Animalia, Chordata, Mammalia, Primates, Hominidae, Homo erectus The appearance and body structure of the Homo erectus is very similar to present humans. The skull of the Homo erectus, however, is noticeably smaller. ... In contrast, the Homo erectus is more robust. ... Homo erectus existed approximately between 1.8 and 100,000 mya. ... The Homo erectus reproduce sexually. ...
Those three species are divided into: Homo Habilis, Homo Erectus, and Sapiens. Homo Habilis: They are the earliest Genus Homos known. ... Homo Erectus: This specie of Genus Homo is known for having a significant larger brain (900 to 1200cc) than the Homo Habilis; it means that they were smarter, and they could develop more advanced tools to survive. ... Homo Sapiens: Homo Sapiens evolved after the Homo Erectus about 300,000 to 400,000 years ago in Africa. Homo Sapiens are known to be much smarter than the Homo Erectus; their brains were quite bigger, so that they had the ability to make...
The first species of the genus Homo was the Homo habilis. ... The second species of the genus Homo was the Homo erectus. ... Homo erectus had a brain size larger than Homo habilis by smaller than our own. ... The ending phase of the development of the genus Homo occurred some 40,000 years ago when the Cro-Magnons, a subspecies of Homo sapiens and Homo sapiens sapiens, replaced Homo sapiens neanderthalensis in Europe. ... Today, Homo sapiens sapiens is the only existed of the genus Homo. ...
