Abstract
H. G. Wells categorized his classic science fiction text The Time Machine as a “scientific romance” - an “exercise in imagination” that uses elements of fantasy and invention to communicate human sympathy. While the story of the Time Traveler’s journey to the future reveals the degradation of mankind, the 1895 novella ends in a message of hope that the human race still possesses qualities of gratitude and tenderness. In this essay, I invite a reexamination of the novella and examine how Wells’s scientific perspective, critique of utopian ideals, and intersectional analysis of societal and evolutionary theory inform and support his adherence to the importance of human kindness.