Wells and Darwin
Herbert George Wells was born in Bromley, Kent, a suburb of London, to a lower-middle-class family. He attended London University and the Royal College of Science where he studied zoology. One of his professors instilled in him a belief in social as well as biological evolution which Wells later cited as the important and influential aspect of his education. This is how it all began. Maybe without this professor Wells wouldn't be the famous author he is today. Most of Wells novels are science fiction and have a great deal of some kind of human society theme, or Darwinism in mind. It is a theme that is seen in his most famous science fiction writings. H.G. Wells seems to convey a sense of Darwinism and change in the future of society in his major works. Wells has been called the father and Shakespeare of science fiction. He is best known today for his great work in science fiction novels and short stories. He depicted stories of chemical warfare, world wars, alien visitors and even atomic weapons in a time that most authors, or even people for that matter, were not thinking of the like. His stories opened a door for future science fiction writers who followed the trend that Wells wrote about. His most popular science fiction work
Doctor Moreau wants to play the creator and eliminator, and bring it together in his own survival of the fittest game. "The criterion of the prophecy in this case is influenced by the theory of "natural selection. In the story The War of the Worlds, Wells describes in details how a Martian will eat up a human being, and we read on in disgust. " (McConnell, 439) I'm not saying Wells was some kind of great prophet or a Nostradamus of his time, but it is something that sounds like a prediction for what is to come and what must be done to avoid and/or overcome the differences. "From The Time Machine on, it was generally recognized that no writer had so completely or so perceptively taken Darwin to heart. Wells presents to us an image of human society as the victim to aliens that are encountered by humans. The theme of the story has been said to be "Physical destruction of society or dissolution of the social order. He toys with how evolution has made humans the cream of the crop, and the top of the food chain. " (Huntington, 443) He's telling us to think about ethically the meaning to even the most simplest evolutionary situation. Among his predictions were the use of armored tanks in war. "The meaning of the novel is found in Darwinism" (Bergonzi, p. Wells predictions were not only for the social classes, but also in the field of warfare weaponry and new innovations not yet seen or heard of in his time. "That the human race, thanks to its inherited prejudices and superstitions and its innate pigheadedness, is an endangered species; and that mankind must learn-soon-to establish a state of worldwide cooperation by burying its old hatreds and its ancient selfishness, or face extinction. The little excerpts I have been given to read, and the critics choice parts of his stories give the examples of this theme.
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