The Time Machine

"The Time Machine" is Wells's Socialist warning of what will befall mankind if capitalism continues to exploit workers for the benefits of the rich. As the Time Traveler theorizes, the working class has been pushed underground for so long that it has evolved into a distinct, nocturnal species. The upper class has remained above ground, and their advanced civilization, stocked with amenities, has turned them into weak, lazy, and dependent creatures. But at some point …

…faces the rising sun god Ra each day in worship. The TT, on the other hand, must in some ways defy God by embracing rational science as he gains mastery over time, and he must also break into the sphinx to escape from the future and go back in time. An additional irony of the sphinx is that the future inhabitants of 802,701 AD still seem to worship an idol as they did in ancient Egypt.