Questioning what "perfect" really looks like — and who gets to decide
Opening Hook — 2 Minutes
Design Your Perfect Society
Quick Poll — Show of Hands
In your perfect world, which of these matters most?
No school or work
Everyone is equal
Total safety & comfort
Freedom to create
Strong community
Personal success
Now hold that thought. The Time Traveller just arrived somewhere that has all of the first three.
His reaction might surprise you.
What We're Doing Today
Skills
Reading for what's not said
Spotting bias in a narrator
Questioning definitions of "progress"
Big Questions
Who decides what "intelligent" means?
Whose work stays invisible?
What does Wells actually want us to notice?
Scene: Arriving Among the Eloi
First Contact — Something Feels Off
What the Time Traveller notices:
They speak a language he can't understand
They touch him curiously — like inspecting something new
They show zero fear
They lose interest in him almost immediately
Think About It
You arrive at a new school. No one speaks your language. People look at you for a moment — then go back to their conversation.
What do you assume about them?
Now flip it — what do they assume about you?
The Eloi — What the Time Traveller Writes Down
Physically beautiful
Childlike behaviour
Short attention spans
Vegetarian diet
Communal living
No written language
Identical clothing
No visible work
The Hidden Question
If no one works — who built all this? And who keeps it running?
Critical Reading
The Time Traveller's Problem
He Feels Disappointed
"I had built the Time Machine in vain"
He expected... what exactly?
He Treats Them Like Children
He tests them. He lectures them. He gets frustrated when they don't focus.
He Measures by Victorian Standards
His 1895 definition of "intelligent" = uses tools, reads, competes, works.
Critical Question
What if the Eloi are exactly what they want to be? What if the Time Traveller's definition of "progress" is the problem?
Turn and Talk — 3 Minutes
Whose Definition Wins?
With a Partner
Think about a time you were judged by someone else's standards — maybe a relative, a teacher, a coach, someone online.
What standard were they using?
Was it the only valid one?
Share back one example to the class.
We'll use these to test the Time Traveller's judgement.
Who Gets to Define "Progress"?
If you value...
You might see the Eloi as...
But someone else might say...
Hard work & ambition
Lazy. Weak. Inferior.
They solved the problem of survival. That's advanced.
Competition & individual success
They gave up. No drive.
They chose community over competition. That's a different goal.
Reading & formal knowledge
Illiterate. Childlike.
They store knowledge differently. Oral cultures do too.
The Time Traveller has one column. Wells wants us to see all three.
Close Reading
"Ruinous Splendour" — What Does Wells Show Us?
The buildings were beautiful but crumbling. Stained glass — but cracked and dusty. Marble tables — fractured, but still in use.
What the Time Traveller Sees
Decay. Neglect. A civilization going backwards.
What Wells Wants Us to Ask
If no one built this — who did? And why aren't they maintaining it?
Modern Parallel
Think about the tech you use every day — internet, power, food supply. Who built it? Who keeps it running? Do you ever think about them?
The Time Traveller's Theory of Evolution
Follow his logic — then decide if you buy it.
Humanity conquers nature completely
→
No more struggle or danger
→
Intelligence becomes unnecessary
→
Physical strength becomes useless
→
Result: beautiful but weak descendants
The Victorian Bias Hidden Inside
His theory assumes that struggle, competition, and physical strength are what make humans valuable. Is that a scientific fact — or a 19th-century opinion?
Connecting to Our Essential Question
"What happens when entire groups of people are left out of visions of the future?"
Whose voices do we hear?
Only the Time Traveller's. The Eloi never speak for themselves.
Whose work stays invisible?
Someone is keeping this world running. We haven't met them yet.
Whose values shape the story?
Victorian, English, upper-class, male. One very specific lens.
What Disturbs the Time Traveller
When Equality Makes the Narrator Uncomfortable
What Wells shows:
No visible gender differences
Same clothing and appearance
Same roles and behaviours
No hierarchy based on gender
The Time Traveller's Reaction
He finds this disturbing. Unsettling. Wrong.
Why? What does that reaction reveal about him?
Flip It
If someone from the year 802,701 visited us today, what aspects of our gender norms would look strange or backward to them?
Privilege Shapes What You Can See
This isn't just about the Time Traveller. This pattern shows up everywhere.
In the Novel
A wealthy Victorian man judges a future society using only his own culture's values as the ruler.
In the Real World
Tech billionaires "visiting" developing countries. Tourists judging local customs. Generational gaps. Class assumptions about who works "hard."
Quick Discussion
Find a news story, reel, or moment you've seen online where someone judged another group by their own standards.
What assumptions were being made? What perspectives were missing?
Class Debate — 4 Minutes
Hot Take: Is the Time Traveller Wrong?
"The Eloi represent decline, not progress. The Time Traveller is right to be disappointed."
Agree — Take This Side
They can't communicate
They've lost curiosity and drive
Their world is falling apart around them
Disagree — Take This Side
They've eliminated violence and competition
They live in community, not isolation
His standards aren't the only ones
You don't have to believe your side — just argue it well. That's what good readers do.
Unit Connection
The Same Pattern, Three Different Answers
The Time Machine (1895)
Beauty hides exploitation. The labour that sustains paradise is invisible — and about to appear.
Question: Who is doing the work?
Metropolis (1927)
Workers literally underground, keeping the surface beautiful for people who never see them.
Same question. Same answer hidden.
Black Panther (2018)
A vision of the future where advanced technology is built with a community, not on top of them.
A different answer entirely.
What You Should Be Asking Right Now
Wells has been dropping clues. Here's what to hold onto:
Where do the Eloi's clothes come from? Someone is making them.
The Time Machine has disappeared. Who could move something they've never seen before?
The Eloi are afraid of the dark. What does night mean in paradise?
The real social commentary hasn't started yet. Everything so far was setup.
Discussion — Choose One
Four Questions. Pick the One That Interests You Most.
Question 1
Why does the Time Traveller judge the Eloi so harshly? What does that say about him?
Question 2
What would the Eloi think of our competitive, always-on culture? Would they pity us?
Question 3
How do our own cultural values affect how we judge other people's choices? Give a real example.
Question 4
What's the actual difference between "different" and "inferior"? Can you give an example of each?
Journal — 7 Minutes
Writing Prompt
Describe a time when you realised your assumptions about another person or group were wrong.
What were you expecting? What did you actually find?
What did that moment teach you about yourself — not about them?
This is not collected. It will not be read. It is yours.
The only person it needs to make sense to is you.
When we get to Black Panther, you'll find it useful — but that's your call.
What Wells Is Really Saying
"When the people doing the work stay invisible, the people on top can pretend the world runs by itself — and that is always dangerous."
That's 1895. But tell me a version of that sentence that fits today.
Next class: Chapter 5. The Morlocks appear. Everything changes.