H.G. Wells uses extensive imagery to convey the foreign landscape and environment of the distant future to which his protagonist travels. This facility with imagery is also used to convey the Traveller's perception of the Eloi and Morlocks, the two strands of humanity's descendants. Wells uses words like "delicate," "graceful," and "innocent" to describe the Eloi, creating an image of a childlike and naive people. When depicting the Morlocks in Chapter 6, on the other hand, he deploys words like "foul" and "sickening," creating an image of a brutish and animalistic people:
Their eyes were abnormally large and sensitive, just as are the pupils of the abysmal fishes, and they reflected the light in the same way.
The Traveller describes the eyes of the Morlocks in detail, noting their insect-like qualities and crafting an image that conveys the divergence from humanity that is present in both their behavior and their appearance.
A bit later in Chapter 6, the imagery of the underground world of the Morlocks— with its dimly light, narrow passageways and grotesque occupants—creates a sense of danger and unease:
You can scarce imagine how nauseatingly inhuman they looked—those pale, chinless faces and great, lidless, pinkish-grey eyes!
In contrast, the Eloi are depicted as almost child-like in Chapter 4:
I saw some further peculiarities in their Dresden-china type of prettiness. Their hair, which was uniformly curly, came to a sharp end at the neck and cheek; there was not the faintest suggestion of it on the face, and their ears were singularly minute. The mouths were small, with bright red, rather thin lips, and the little chins ran to a point. The eyes were large and mild; and—this may seem egotism on my part—I fancied even then that there was a certain lack of the interest I might have expected in them.
The Eloi's appearance denotes the ease and charm of their lifestyle, but also the cost that that ease has demanded of them; they are no longer curious creatures, and display a "lack of interest" in the Traveller from another world. This apathy, combined with the delicacy of their "Dresden-china" features, is the first evidence the Traveller uncovers of the deterioration that humanity has undergone.
H.G. Wells uses extensive imagery to convey the foreign landscape and environment of the distant future to which his protagonist travels. This facility with imagery is also used to convey the Traveller's perception of the Eloi and Morlocks, the two strands of humanity's descendants. Wells uses words like "delicate," "graceful," and "innocent" to describe the Eloi, creating an image of a childlike and naive people. When depicting the Morlocks in Chapter 6, on the other hand, he deploys words like "foul" and "sickening," creating an image of a brutish and animalistic people:
Their eyes were abnormally large and sensitive, just as are the pupils of the abysmal fishes, and they reflected the light in the same way.
The Traveller describes the eyes of the Morlocks in detail, noting their insect-like qualities and crafting an image that conveys the divergence from humanity that is present in both their behavior and their appearance.
A bit later in Chapter 6, the imagery of the underground world of the Morlocks— with its dimly light, narrow passageways and grotesque occupants—creates a sense of danger and unease:
You can scarce imagine how nauseatingly inhuman they looked—those pale, chinless faces and great, lidless, pinkish-grey eyes!
In contrast, the Eloi are depicted as almost child-like in Chapter 4:
I saw some further peculiarities in their Dresden-china type of prettiness. Their hair, which was uniformly curly, came to a sharp end at the neck and cheek; there was not the faintest suggestion of it on the face, and their ears were singularly minute. The mouths were small, with bright red, rather thin lips, and the little chins ran to a point. The eyes were large and mild; and—this may seem egotism on my part—I fancied even then that there was a certain lack of the interest I might have expected in them.
The Eloi's appearance denotes the ease and charm of their lifestyle, but also the cost that that ease has demanded of them; they are no longer curious creatures, and display a "lack of interest" in the Traveller from another world. This apathy, combined with the delicacy of their "Dresden-china" features, is the first evidence the Traveller uncovers of the deterioration that humanity has undergone.
