A Guide to the Graduate School Admissions Interview

A Guide to the Graduate School Admissions Interview If youve received an invitation to interview at a graduate school of choice, congratulate yourself. Youve made it to the short list of applicants under serious consideration for admission. If you have not received an invitation, dont fret.  Not all graduate programs interview and the popularity of admissions interviews vary by program. Heres what to expect and some tips on how to prepare so you do your very best. Purpose of the Interview The purpose of the interview is to let members of the department get a peek at you and meet you, the person, and see beyond your application. Sometimes applicants who seem like a perfect match on paper arent so in real life. What do the interviewers want to know? Whether you have what it takes to succeed in graduate school and the profession, like maturity, interpersonal skills, interest, and motivation. How well do you express yourself, manage stress and think on your feet? What to Expect Interview formats vary considerably. Some programs request applicants to meet for half of an hour to an hour with a faculty member, and other interviews will be full weekend events with students, faculty and other applicants. Graduate school interviews are conducted by invitation, but the expenses are nearly always paid for by applicants. In some unusual  cases, a program may assist a promising student with travel expenses, but its not common. If youre invited to an interview, try your best to attend even if you have to pay the travel expenses. Not attending, even if its for a good reason, signals that youre not seriously interested in the program. During your interview, youll talk with several faculty members as well as students. You might engage in small group discussions with students, faculty and other applicants. Participate in discussions and demonstrate your listening skills  but do not monopolize the conversation. The interviewers might have read your application file but dont expect them to remember anything about you. Because the interviewer is unlikely to remember much about each applicant, be forthcoming about your experiences, strengths and professional goals. Be mindful of the salient facts you wish to present. How to Prepare Learn about the program and faculty. familiarize yourself with the training emphasis and faculty research interests.Review your own interests, goals, and qualifications. Note what things make you a good match for the program. Be able to explain how your goals and qualifications match what the program has to offer.Take the perspective of faculty members. What can you contribute to their graduate program and research? Why should they accept you? What skills do you bring that will help a professor advance in his or her research?Anticipate questions and rehearse potential answers.Prepare intelligent questions to ask. During the Interview Remember your goals during your interview: to convey your interest, motivation, and professionalism and to gather the information you need to determine if this is the graduate program for you.In meetings with graduate students, try to ask questions that reveal what they really think about their advisers and the program. Most students will be forthcoming especially in one-on-one conversations.Dont underestimate the potential influence of current graduate students. Present your best side because current graduate students may be in a position to help or hurt your application.Some interviews include social events like parties. Dont drink (even if others do). Remember that even though it seems like a party, its an interview. Assume that youre being evaluated at all times. Empower Yourself: Youre Interviewing Them, Too Remember that this is your chance to interview the program, its facilities, and its faculty. Youll tour the facilities and lab spaces as well as have the opportunity to ask questions. Take this opportunity to assess the school, program, faculty, and students to determine if its the right match for you. During the interview, you should evaluate the program just as the faculty is evaluating you.

Holocaust Records Archive Unveiled

Holocaust Records Archive Unveiled After 60 years of being hidden away from the public, Nazi records about the 17.5 million people - Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, mental patients, handicapped, political prisoners and other undesirables - they persecuted during the regimes 12 years in power will be open to the public. What is the ITS Bad Arolsen Holocaust Archive? The ITS Holocaust Archive in Bad Arolsen, Germany contains the fullest records of Nazi persecutions in existence.  The archives contain 50 million pages, housed in thousands of filing cabinets in six buildings. Overall, there are 16 miles of shelves holding information about the victims of the Nazis. The documents - scraps of paper, transport lists, registration books, labor documents, medical records, and finally death registers - record the arrest, transportation, and extermination of the victims. In some case, even the amount and size of the lice found on the prisoners’ heads were recorded.This archive contains the famous Schindler’s List, with the names of 1,000 prisoners saved by factory owner Oskar Schindler who told the Nazis he needed the prisoners to work in his factory.Records of Anne Frank’s journey from Amsterdam to Bergen-Belsen, where she died at the age of 15, can also be found among the millions of documents in this archive.The Mauthausen concentration camp’s â€Å"Totenbuch,† or Death Book, records in meticulous handwriting how, on April 20, 1942, a prisoner was shot in the back of the head every two minutes for 90 hours. The Mauthausen camp commandant ordered these executions as a birthday present for Hitler.Toward the end of the war, when the Germans were struggling, the record keeping was not able to keep up with the extermination. And unknown numbers of prisoners were marched directly from trains to gas chambers in places like Auschwitz without being registered. How were the archives created? As the Allies conquered Germany and entered the Nazi concentration camps beginning in the spring of 1945, they found detailed records that had been kept by the Nazis. The documents were taken to the German town of Bad Arolsen, where they were sorted, filed, and locked way. In 1955, the International Tracing Service (ITS), an arm of the International Committee of the Red Cross, was put in charge of the archives. Why were the records closed to the public? An agreement signed in 1955 stated that no data that could harm the former Nazi victims or their families should be published. Thus, the ITS kept the files closed to the public because of concerns about the victims privacy. Information was doled out in minimal amounts to survivors or their descendants.This policy generated much ill-feeling among Holocaust survivors and researchers. In response to pressure from these groups, the ITS commission declared itself in favor of opening up the records in 1998 and began scanning the documents into digital form in 1999.Germany, however, opposed amending the original convention to allow for public access to the records. German opposition, which was based on possible misuse of information, became the main barrier to opening the Holocaust archives to the public.Yet until now Germany resisted the opening, on the grounds that the records involve private information about individuals that could be misused. Why are the records now being made available? In May 2006, following years of pressure from the United States and survivors groups, Germany changed its viewpoint and agreed to a fast revision of the original agreement.Brigitte Zypries, the German justice minister at the time, announced this decision while in Washington for a meeting with Sara J. Bloomfield, the director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.Zypries said, Our point of view is that the protection of privacy rights has reached by now a standard high enough to ensure ... the protection of privacy of those concerned. Why are the records important? The immensity of information in the archives will provide Holocaust researchers with work for generations. Holocaust scholars have already started to revise their estimates of the number of camps run by the Nazis according to new information being found. And the archives present a formidable obstacle to Holocaust deniers.In addition, with the youngest survivors very swiftly dying each year, time is running out for survivors to learn about their loved ones. Today survivors fear that after they die, no one will remember the names of their family members who were killed in the Holocaust. The archives need to be accessible while there are still survivors alive who have the knowledge and drive to access it.The opening of the archives means that survivors and their descendents can finally find information about the loved ones they lost, and this may bring them some well-deserved closure before the end of their lives.

North Korea's threat to Peace and Stability Research Paper

North Korea's threat to Peace and Stability - Research Paper Example In the 1950, North Korea allied to the communist states and precisely, the U.S.S.R, then under the command of Joseph Stalin. Similarly, the republic of South Korea allied to the United States of America for protection and economic propulsion. The end of the Second World War marked the beginning of rivalry among communist and capitalist. Each group had different ideologies to development, leadership, and relations (Segell, 2005). The communist held tight fists on dictatorial regimes hoping, thus diminishing democracy to the lowest point, and undermining economic progression since most properties belonged to government, and there was no privatization whatsoever. North Korea desired to acquire the Southern country, and under the support of communist, the country invaded the South but foreign troops held it back (Kim, 2011). Thereafter, the country endeavored in militarizing the troops through the provision of mass destruction weapons, hoping to stand better chances against enemies. The following is an outline of the course to militarization, competing for supremacy, and threats to world peace in the country of North Korea. The course to militarization The family of Kim IL Sung has continuously indulged in armament of its troops through nuclear enrichments and provision of superior weapons. Further, the number of active arms total to more than a million out of a twenty two million-population count. This tally of officers represents 4.51% of the population, bearing in mind that almost all the citizens undergo military training. Therefore, North Korea is the first country in the world to militarize in relation to the population. At this point, advocacy for the acts of armament and nuclear development in the country remain a secret in the country’s heart of monarchical and dictatorial family of the Kim’s (Segell, 2005). Years after the Second World War, North Korea embarked on aggressions against neighbors, China, and South Korea. The country stands read y for any possible threats and challenges neighbors to war acrimonies by stressing on the urge to try military activities over their territories. The successions of Kim IL Sung and family lineage, over the leadership of North Korea to the current leader, Kim Jong-un tend to worsen the situation (Pak, 2000). Instead of defecting from their predecessors’ indulgence to nuclear armament, they enhance the projects. Militarization The state of North Korea produced weapons even at a time when famine befell the country for at least three years. During that famine period, estimations reveal that 800,000 to 1,300,000 citizens died of hunger whilst the country targeted military supremacy over the lives of the people. This occurred between 1994, and 1998 and the country’s leadership declined involvement of any humanitarian organization to the calamity, mentioning the strengths it had to tame the calamity. The country preferred military stability to economic, thus during the famine , the authorities did little to save the people, but ran expensive and intense nuclear programs at the time. The leader argued that, nuclear and weaponry stability was for the best interest of the entire nation. Initially, the United States of America assisted North Korea in eradication of a binding statute that deterred any nuclear operations in Korea. The US took the opportunity to acquaint southern and home country troops with nuclear weapons, while other nations declared the act as perpetrating

China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

China - Essay Example In regard to records written about foot binding in China, the first records belong to the Han dynasty. Later records on the practice are believed to have emerged a millennium later during the Song dynasty. Chen however asserts that â€Å"though popularized in the Song, legends traced foot binding back to the Shang dynasty† (14). The Shang dynasty succeeded the Xia dynasty, which is usually associated with the beginning of civilization in China. It is however not clear when the Xia dynasty came to power. The elites who ruled China during the Shang dynasty are believed to have been descendants of the Neolithic peoples of China. Among the myths formulated about foot binding in China, one of them originated from the Shang dynasty. In regard to myths on why foot binding became a national obsession in China, Robertson points out that â€Å"one legend attributed its origin to the Shang Dynasty (1700-1027 BC) that one of the daughters of the Emperor was born with a club foot and he decreed that the Court ladies should have their feet bound to reduce their size† (15). Although myths had it that women had their feet bound to be able to perform the lotus dance well, this was not the real reason behind the practice. The real reason behind the practice was to satisfy the male obsession of getting sexually aroused by a woman who swayed her hips well. According to Robertson, â€Å"the feet were bound to deliberately deform them into the shape of a ball so the woman had no choice but to sway on the deformed ball shape feet† (15). Foot binding reduced the size of the foot to only 4 inches (Robertson 15). During bedtime, the deformed feet were covered using special slippers. The erotic arousal that the bound feet gave to the men was similar to that brought about by the breasts. When foot binding began, it was only practiced by the rich families and the elite in the Chinese society

How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare: Analysis

How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare: Analysis When Joseph Beuys performed his piece, How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare (November 26, 1965 at Galerie Schmela in Dà ¼sseldorf, Germany), he presented a new way of thinking about the structure and meaning of art. Unlike traditional artists who practiced in painting, drawing, or sculpture, Beuys practiced a then new media of art called Performance Art. Like the name suggests, performance artists did not make objects to be displayed, instead they displayed themselves by creating live presentations.[1] In his performance, Beuys makes his way around a small room while whispering inaudibly to a hare carcass which he carries in his arms. Throughout the piece Beuys would have the hair burrow while holding its ears up with his teeth, he would lie down in the middle of the floor, and pose himself or the hare in different positions around the space. The audience viewed the three-hour long scene through a window of the gallery. Felt was attached to Beuyss left shoe, and steel to his right. The sound of the steel hitting the floor was the only break in the silence of the piece. Honey and gold leaf covered his head and face. Around the room, pictures hung on the walls and a dead fir tree laid on the ground. When the three hours passed, the audience was allowed into the gallery with Beuys sitting in a chair with the hare on his lap, his back facing them (see Figure 1). Every part of Beuyss performance held meaning, both his actions and the specific items he chose. The honey stood for life and the gold leaf stood for wealth. Together they also created a shaman aura for Beuys which connected him to the spiritual. The hare represented death and mortality. The felt personified spiritual warmth, and the steel stood for hard reason and a conductor for invisible energies. The materials themselves were unorthodox and were used to challenge the conventions of art. With How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare, Joseph Beuys revolutionized conceptual art. Conceptual art markedly de-emphasized or entirely eliminated a perceptual encounter with unique objects in favor of an engagement with ideas.[2] Beuys had a need to replace conventional art with a more spiritual and natural form of communication.[3] He created art that was supposed to be felt or intuited by a viewer rather than understood intellectually.[4] The concept of spirituality is the foremost subject of How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare. Even though all the afore mentioned items have their own individual meanings, they all contribute to the central demonstration of spiritual importance. An article in Phaidon describes the ending of Beuyss performance as him protectively cradling the deceased hare in a manner  akin to the Madonna in a pietà  .[5] This is a profound comparison. The Madonna in a pietà   is one of the most produced images that we see in the history of art. Before the sixteenth century, the Madonna in a pietà   was seen more than an emoji is seen today. It was the epitome of religion and devotion. In turn, comparing How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare to the Madonna in a pietà   alludes to the notion that Beuyss performance is also the picture of religion and devotion. The hare is the most significant aspect of Beuyss piece. It is seen in many other artworks by Beuys. For Beuys the hare was an integral part of the spiritual message. According to him, [The hare] has a strong affinity to women, to birth and to menstruation, and generally to chemical transformation of blood. Thats what the hare demonstrates to us all when he hollows out his form: the movement of incarnation. The hare incarnates himself into the earth, which is what we human beings can only radically achieve with our thinking: he rubs, pushes, and digs himself into Materia (earth); finally penetrates (hare) its laws, and through this work his thinking is sharpened then transformed, and becomes revolutionary. Even a dead animal preserves more powers of intuition than some human beings with their stubborn rationality. Human thinking was capable of achieving so much, but it could also be intellectualized to a deadly degree, and remain dead and express its deadliness in the political and p edagogical fields.[6] This disdain for rational thinking is why Beuys remained silent in his piece. He wanted the audience to come to the conclusion that How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare is about the spiritual connection between death and humanity and the invisible energies that guide nature and our lives by themselves. Beuys wanted an unspoken connection between him and the audience, the same connection he alluded to in his performance. He did not want to lay the meaning out in a clear and rational form such as the artists of the high renaissance. This was not a piece that the viewer should ponder and try to decipher with their head, instead it was supposed to be felt with as much natural instinct as a hare would use when burrowing and creating a home. WORD COUNT: 835 Figure 1. Joseph Beuys in his final stance of his performance, How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare. He is seen here sitting in his chair with the dead hare cradled in his arms. (November 26, 1965 in Schmela Gallery, Dà ¼sseldorf, Germany) Beuys during his Action How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare (Wie man dem toten Hasen die Bilder erklà ¤rt), November 26, 1965. Schmela Gallery, Dà ¼sseldorf, Germany. Accessed March 13, 2017. http://www.phaidon.com/agenda/art/articles/2014/march/03/why-joseph-beuys-and-his-dead-hare-live-on/. Garberich 6 Bibliography Beuys during his Action How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare (Wie man dem toten Hasen die Bilder erklà ¤rt), November 26, 1965. Schmela Gallery, Dà ¼sseldorf, Germany. Accessed March 13, 2017. http://www.phaidon.com/agenda/art/articles/2014/march/03/why-joseph-beuys-and-his-dead-hare-live-on/. David Craven. Conceptual art, Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Accessed March 13, 2017. http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T018962. Davies, Penelope J.E., Walter B. Denny, Frima F. Hofritcher, Joseph F. Jacobs, Ann S. Roberts, and David L. Simon. Jansons History of Art. 8th ed. Vol. 2. Pearson, 2015. Roselee Goldberg and Margaret Barlow, Performance art, Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Accessed March 13, 2017. http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T066355. Why Joseph Beuys and his Dead Hare Live On, Phaidon. Accessed March 13, 2017. http://www.phaidon.com/agenda/art/articles/2014/march/03/why-joseph-beuys-and-his-dead-hare-live-on/. [1] Roselee Goldberg and Margaret Barlow, Performance art, Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, accessed March 13, 2017, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T066355. [2] David Craven. Conceptual art, Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, accessed March 13, 2017, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T018962. [3] Davies, Penelope J.E., et al. Jansons History of Art. 8th ed. Vol. 2. Pearson, 2015. [4] Davies, Penelope J.E., et al. Jansons History of Art. 8th ed. Vol. 2. Pearson, 2015. [5] Why Joseph Beuys and his Dead Hare Live On, Phaidon. Accessed March 13, 2017, http://www.phaidon.com/agenda/art/articles/2014/march/03/why-joseph-beuys-and-his-dead-hare-live-on/. [6] Why Joseph Beuys and his Dead Hare Live On, Phaidon. Accessed March 13, 2017, http://www.phaidon.com/agenda/art/articles/2014/march/03/why-joseph-beuys-and-his-dead-hare-live-on/.

An Hour or Two Sacred to Sorrow Essay

In the essay, â€Å"An Hour or Two Sacred to Sorrow,† the writer, Richard Steele, explains to the reader that many unexpected and unfortunate events may occur in our lifetime; however, those occurrences should be looked back upon rather than forgotten. He writes from his own experiences of loss, but continues to include the fact that it is acceptable even satisfying to remember such events. The writer begins by reliving the day his father died. At a mere age of five he remembers knowing something was wrong because no one would play with him, but no recollection as to what was truly amiss in the situation. When he says, â€Å"I†¦fell a-beating at the coffin and calling Papa†¦Ã¢â‚¬  that statement along with, â€Å"†¦ I know not how. I had some slight idea that he was locked up in there,† explains further that he knew something was unsound about the situation just not exactly what it was. He then talks about how his mother smothers him out of her own grie f, which struck his instinct of sorrow for his mother. He then moves on to express the fact that when we’re older we obtain memory better than at a younger age; in addition, he explains that different memories cause different reactions in a person. For instance, when a person passes away all you find yourself remembering is their death not the cheerful memories they left with you. He then elaborates this point by saying, â€Å"†¦ gallant men.. cut off by the sword move rather our veneration than our pity†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Saying this he points out that when a man from the military dies we are more respectful than sorry or upset by the incident. Many people would prefer not to remember the mournful events of their lives, but rather the joyful experiences. In continuation he says that the first beauty he ever beheld was in a virgin. He describes her as ignorantly charming and carelessly excelling, which lead him to understand why death should have a right to her, but it still baffles him why death also seems drawn to the humble an d meek. He watches death become an object of little value when he states, â€Å"†¦ death become the pretty trifler.† He describes the virgins sudden death and the anguish he felt after hearing this news. He then invites friends who had known her, and they began drinking two bottles of wine apiece; however, he finds that no matter how much he drinks it can not erase what had happened the night before. Which gave them all the more reason to recollect the impact she had left on their lives. In conclusion the writer relives past dismal  experiences that stood out in his memory. In many ways life can be full of sorrow, but we must learn how to move on from these events in our lives. on to better times. He explains that many unexpected and unfortunate events may occur in our lifetime; however, those occurrences should be looked back upon rather than forgotten.

H.G. Wells’s Time Machine

The cultural and intellectual climate of the last decade of nineteenth century was dominated by the theory of evolution and socialist ideas. It was an age when aristocratic gentlemen had the time and inclination to discuss and debate upon all kinds of social and scientific things, including time travel. At the very beginning, the novel succeeds in setting a tone of passionate intellectual curiosity and open-minded enquiry.Protagonist’s Journey of Plot and Conflict The Protagonist: The novel’s protagonist, identified only as the Time Traveller, is essentially a scientist and inventor. He is very scientifically minded, and comes out as a character whose life is dedicated to scientific advancement and understanding the nature of the world and life. Reason is central to his outlook of the world. In his investigations, he has stumbled upon some radical insights in the structure of reality, which lead him to build his fantastic time machine.The initial events: The novel begin s as the Time Traveller invites his friends to inspect his new invention – a time machine. He explains the idea to them†¦There are really four dimensions, three which we call the three planes of Space, and a fourth, Time†¦ There is no difference between Time and any of the three dimensions of Space except that our consciousness moves along it. (1)Scientists and mathematicians have been talking about a possible fourth dimension before him, but our inventor rightly identifies the fourth dimension not with an extra spatial dimension but with time. He then shows his friends a small model of his invention — a metallic frame with ivory and quartz parts. One lever can propel it toward the future, and another can reverse the direction. He helps one of his friends push the future lever, and the model promptly disappears. Where did it go? It did not move in space at all; it simply went to another time, the Time Traveller explains. His friends cannot decide whether to b elieve him.Next, the Time Traveller takes his friends to his home laboratory, to see his nearly complete, full-scale model. A week later he finishes the time machine, climbs aboard, and begins a remarkable journey to the future. The narrative is recounted in flash back, after the Time Traveller is back from his adventures.Seated in his time machine, the Time Traveller first presses the future lever gently forward. Then he presses the one for stopping. He looks at his lab. Everything is the same. Then he notices the clock: â€Å"A moment before, as it seemed, it had stood at a minute or so past ten; now it was nearly half-past three!† He pushes the lever ahead again, and he can see his housekeeper flit across the room at high speed. Then he pushes the lever far forward.The night came like the turning out of a light, and in another moment came tomorrow†¦. As I put on a pace, night followed day like the flapping of a black wing†¦ Presently, as I went on, still gaining velocity, the palpitation of night and day merged into one continuous grayness†¦ I saw huge buildings rise up faint and fair, and pass like dreams. (1)Eventually, the Time Traveller brings his vehicle to a stop. The machine's dials show that he has arrived in the year 802,701. What does he find?The Conflict: In the distant future where the Time Traveller lands, the human race has split into two species: one, brutish and mean, living below ground — the Morlocks; the other, childlike and gentle, living above ground — the Eloi. The central conflict of the novel revolves around these two groups. The Time Traveller identifies himself with the Eloi, at least to a degree, and among them he finds a lovely young woman named Weena, whom he befriends. Weena can be considered as the protagonist’s love interest. But soon he discovers, to his horror, that the troglodytes living below are cannibals and prey on the Eloi. Several adventures follow. The action scene of peak importance is the Time Traveller reclaiming his Time Machine stolen by the Morlocks escaping.The Climax: The novel has a kind of apocalyptic climax/anticlimax. Escaping from the Morlocks, the protagonist pushes the lever into the extreme forward position. By the time he is able to bring the machine under control, he has moved into the far future. Mammals have become extinct, and only some crablike creatures and butterflies remain on Earth. He explores as far as 30 million years into the future, where he discovers a dull red Sun and lichen-like vegetation; the only animal life in evidence is a football-shaped creature with tentacles. Wells's Time Traveller witnesses the end of the world, and apocalyptic vision that he carries back to the present. His revelation of finiteness implies that we can expect and must accept an end to life, an inevitable doomsday.The Epilogue: The Time Traveller then returns to his own time and to his friends. As proof of his experience in the future, he pro duces a couple of flowers Weena had given him, of a type unknown to his friends. After talking to his friends, the Time Traveller departs on his time machine and never returns. The narrator wonders about his fate. Where did he go? Did he return to the future or go instead to some prehistoric realm?Narration The bulk of the story is told from the viewpoint of the Time Traveller. The substance of the story is, however, framed within the narration of one of Time Traveller’s guests. This guest, the frame narrator, introduces the Time Traveller and lets him relate his adventure in an inset narrative. The frame narrator’s outside viewpoint carries a degree of objectivity and gives credibility to the inventor's   inset narrative. He grounds the story in a reality with which the audience can identify before and after experiencing the wondrous trip in the time machine. With the return to familiar surroundings, the reader, like the Time Traveller, might question the reality of such a strange experience (â€Å"Is it all only a dream? They say life is a dream†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ), but the presence of an honorable gentleman in the form of frame narrator gives more plausibility to the narrative of the protagonist who is by nature a dreamer and a visionary.Theme and Meaning Wells's inventor's interest in time traveling seems primarily for the sake of scientific accomplishment, to gain knowledge for knowledge's sake. H.G. Wells' story begins with, and constantly refers back to, the time machine itself. However, the machine is simply a device allowing the author to present his own perspective on a possible future. The main thrust of the story lies in this form of forecasting and prediction and also in the social comment about the conflicts between different classes or kinds of society. The main intent is not so much to explore the questions of time, but to illustrate the ultimate possible consequence of social and economic divisions of humanity. Thus, this story can be seen more as a social and political criticism than science fiction.The Time Traveller does not have a definite cause and effect explanation for the Eloi's society. To shape his theories he relies on the scientific method, using empirical evidence to reach conclusion that he reformulates with the discovery of new information. However, his inconclusive conclusions are largely conjectures.   The Time Traveller bases his hypotheses on socioeconomic conditions and theories (especially socialism) prevalent in his own period of the late nineteenth century, and on a metaphorical image of the capitalist and worker.Without knowledge of some causal chain, he lacks definite information to show what other variable elements may have affected mankind to produce the bifurcation of the human species and the predator-prey relationship of the Morlock and Eloi. While such ambiguities raise many unanswerable questions, the message that comes out of them is clear: any kind of widening gap between g roups of human race can prove costly in the end. The novel also answers one thing most directly: Eventually there will not be a trace of humanity left, the earth will become desolate and barren. The vision of the end of the world is perhaps the most haunting and yet the most enlightening aspect of this work, to me. I also wonder how it would have been if the Time Traveller pushed further, if only to catch the briefest glimpse into eternity.ConclusionNo idea from science fiction has captured the human imagination as much as time travel. We seem free to move around in space at will, but in time we are like helpless rafters in a mighty stream, propelled into the future at the rate of one second per second. One wishes one could sometimes paddle ahead to investigate the shores of the future, or perhaps turn around and go against the current to visit the past. The hope that such freedom will one day be ours is sustained when we observe that many feats formerly thought impossible have now been realized and are even taken for granted.When Wells wrote The Time Machine in 1895, many people thought that heavier-than-air flying machines were impossible. But just eight years later the Wright brothers proved the skeptics wrong. Flights to the Moon too strictly belonged to the realm of fantasy – until Apollo program achieved it. Might time travel be similar? Wells's swift-paced classic science fiction tale challenges us to dare to dream the impossible. The idea of time travel gained prominence through Wells's wonderful novel. Most remarkable is his treatment of time as a fourth dimension, which uncannily anticipates Einstein's use of the concept several years later.Interestingly, the Time Machine was Wells' first novel, and enjoyed an instant popularity, rescuing its author from obscurity and poverty. Today it stands as one of the greatest pioneering science fiction tales. I would like to read Jules Verne’s A Journey to the Moon after this.References:Wells H. G . (1898). The Time Machine. Retrieved May 10 2007 from http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35/35.txt H.G. Wells’s Time Machine The Protagonist: The novel’s protagonist, identified only as the Time Traveller, is essentially a scientist and inventor. He is very scientifically minded, and comes out as a character whose life is dedicated to scientific advancement and understanding the nature of the world and life. Reason is central to his outlook of the world. In his investigations, he has stumbled upon some radical insights in the structure of reality, which lead him to build his fantastic time machine.The initial events: The novel begins as the Time Traveller invites his friends to inspect his new invention – a time machine. He explains the idea to them†¦There are really four dimensions, three which we call the three planes of Space, and a fourth, Time†¦ There is no difference between Time and any of the three dimensions of Space except that our consciousness moves along it. (1)Scientists and mathematicians have been talking about a possible fourth dimension before him, but our inventor rightly identifies the fourth dimension not with an extra spatial dimension but with time. He then shows his friends a small model of his invention — a metallic frame with ivory and quartz parts. One lever can propel it toward the future, and another can reverse the direction. He helps one of his friends push the future lever, and the model promptly disappears. Where did it go? It did not move in space at all; it simply went to another time, the Time Traveller explains. His friends cannot decide whether to believe him.Next, the Time Traveller takes his friends to his home laboratory, to see his nearly complete, full-scale model. A week later he finishes the time machine, climbs aboard, and begins a remarkable journey to the future. The narrative is recounted in flash back, after the Time Traveller is back from his adventures.Seated in his time machine, the Time Traveller first presses the future lever gently forward. Then he presses the one for stopping. He looks at his lab. Everything is the same. Then he notices the clock: â€Å"A moment before, as it seemed, it had stood at a minute or so past ten; now it was nearly half-past three!† He pushes the lever ahead again, and he can see his housekeeper flit across the room at high speed. Then he pushes the lever far forward.The night came like the turning out of a light, and in another moment came tomorrow†¦. As I put on a pace, night followed day like the flapping of a black wing†¦ Presently, as I went on, still gaining velocity, the palpitation of night and day merged into one continuous grayness†¦ I saw huge buildings rise up faint and fair, and pass like dreams. (1)Eventually, the Time Traveller brings his vehicle to a stop. The machine's dials show that he has arrived in the year 802,701. What does he find?The Conflict: In the distant future where the Time Traveller lands, the human race has split into two species: one, brutish and mean, living below ground — the Morlocks ; the other, childlike and gentle, living above ground — the Eloi. The central conflict of the novel revolves around these two groups. The Time Traveller identifies himself with the Eloi, at least to a degree, and among them he finds a lovely young woman named Weena, whom he befriends. Weena can be considered as the protagonist’s love interest. But soon he discovers, to his horror, that the troglodytes living below are cannibals and prey on the Eloi. Several adventures follow. The action scene of peak importance is the Time Traveller reclaiming his Time Machine stolen by the Morlocks escaping.The Climax: The novel has a kind of apocalyptic climax/anticlimax. Escaping from the Morlocks, the protagonist pushes the lever into the extreme forward position. By the time he is able to bring the machine under control, he has moved into the far future. Mammals have become extinct, and only some crablike creatures and butterflies remain on Earth. He explores as far as 30 million years into the future, where he discovers a dull red Sun and lichen-like vegetation; the only animal life in evidence is a football-shaped creature with tentacles. Wells's Time Traveller witnesses the end of the world, and apocalyptic vision that he carries back to the present. His revelation of finiteness implies that we can expect and must accept an end to life, an inevitable doomsday.The Epilogue: The Time Traveller then returns to his own time and to his friends. As proof of his experience in the future, he produces a couple of flowers Weena had given him, of a type unknown to his friends. After talking to his friends, the Time Traveller departs on his time machine and never returns. The narrator wonders about his fate. Where did he go? Did he return to the future or go instead to some prehistoric realm?The bulk of the story is told from the viewpoint of the Time Traveller. The substance of the story is, however, framed within the narration of one of Time Traveller’s gue sts. This guest, the frame narrator, introduces the Time Traveller and lets him relate his adventure in an inset narrative. The frame narrator’s outside viewpoint carries a degree of objectivity and gives credibility to the inventor's   inset narrative. He grounds the story in a reality with which the audience can identify before and after experiencing the wondrous trip in the time machine. With the return to familiar surroundings, the reader, like the Time Traveller, might question the reality of such a strange experience (â€Å"Is it all only a dream? They say life is a dream†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ), but the presence of an honorable gentleman in the form of frame narrator gives more plausibility to the narrative of the protagonist who is by nature a dreamer and a visionary.Wells's inventor's interest in time traveling seems primarily for the sake of scientific accomplishment, to gain knowledge for knowledge's sake. H.G. Wells' story begins with, and constantly refers back to, the time machine itself. However, the machine is simply a device allowing the author to present his own perspective on a possible future. The main thrust of the story lies in this form of forecasting and prediction and also in the social comment about the conflicts between different classes or kinds of society. The main intent is not so much to explore the questions of time, but to illustrate the ultimate possible consequence of social and economic divisions of humanity. Thus, this story can be seen more as a social and political criticism than science fiction.The Time Traveller does not have a definite cause and effect explanation for the Eloi's society. To shape his theories he relies on the scientific method, using empirical evidence to reach conclusion that he reformulates with the discovery of new information. However, his inconclusive conclusions are largely conjectures.   The Time Traveller bases his hypotheses on socioeconomic conditions and theories (especially socialism) pr evalent in his own period of the late nineteenth century, and on a metaphorical image of the capitalist and worker. Without knowledge of some causal chain, he lacks definite information to show what other variable elements may have affected mankind to produce the bifurcation of the human species and the predator-prey relationship of the Morlock and Eloi.While such ambiguities raise many unanswerable questions, the message that comes out of them is clear: any kind of widening gap between groups of human race can prove costly in the end. The novel also answers one thing most directly: Eventually there will not be a trace of humanity left, the earth will become desolate and barren. The vision of the end of the world is perhaps the most haunting and yet the most enlightening aspect of this work, to me. I also wonder how it would have been if the Time Traveller pushed further, if only to catch the briefest glimpse into eternity.No idea from science fiction has captured the human imaginat ion as much as time travel. We seem free to move around in space at will, but in time we are like helpless rafters in a mighty stream, propelled into the future at the rate of one second per second. One wishes one could sometimes paddle ahead to investigate the shores of the future, or perhaps turn around and go against the current to visit the past. The hope that such freedom will one day be ours is sustained when we observe that many feats formerly thought impossible have now been realized and are even taken for granted.When Wells wrote The Time Machine in 1895, many people thought that heavier-than-air flying machines were impossible. But just eight years later the Wright brothers proved the skeptics wrong. Flights to the Moon too strictly belonged to the realm of fantasy – until Apollo program achieved it. Might time travel be similar? Wells's swift-paced classic science fiction tale challenges us to dare to dream the impossible. The idea of time travel gained prominence through Wells's wonderful novel. Most remarkable is his treatment of time as a fourth dimension, which uncannily anticipates Einstein's use of the concept several years later.Interestingly, the Time Machine was Wells' first novel, and enjoyed an instant popularity, rescuing its author from obscurity and poverty. Today it stands as one of the greatest pioneering science fiction tales. I would like to read Jules Verne’s A Journey to the Moon after this.References:1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Wells H. G. (1898). The Time Machine. Retrieved May 10 2007 from http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35/35.txt