An Analysis of The Time Machine from Eco-critical Perspective 以生态批评的角度分析《时间机器》 Purpose and Significance of the Study Hebert George Wells is a famous British novelist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He has created more than 100 works in his life, covering science, literature, history, society and politics. He is one of the most prolific writers in modern times. His science fiction novels have far-reaching influence on the field, such as "time travel", "alien invasion" and "anti-utopia". These themes are the mainstream topics in the 20th century science fiction. His work has profound scientific knowledge and future predictions as well. The Time Machine is the best-known work of Herbert George Wells. The story tells the time traveler invented a time machine that can ride anywhere in the past and the future at any time latitude. When he came to AD 802701 by the machine, what he showed in front of him was a strange and fearful scene: humanity is divided into two races, the Iroy and the Morlock. In addition, the Earth's environment has also undergone a sharp deterioration, suggesting the author's deep consideration of the sustainable development of the Earth. This book mainly reflects the thinking of evolution and class opposition. However, from the perspective of eco-criticism, we can also see that H. G. Wells predicted the collapse of human ecology, social ecology and spiritual ecology, which has another research significance. Since the 1960s, mankind has faced a serious ecological crisis: environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, species extinction, climate warming and a large population explosion. Faced with these disturbing and shocking ecological crises, some scholars from different fields such as economics, philosophy and culture began to search for and study the root causes and corresponding solutions that led to this ecological crisis. In this context, the basic theories of ecological criticism including land ethics, ecofeminism and postcolonial ecological criticism came into being. Based on previous studies, this thesis mainly focuses on the analysis with the perspective of eco-criticism. Not only will the thesis develop the researches into The Time Machine, but also will bring a new way of interpretation of these ideas. Literature Review As the most famous work of Hebert George Wells, The Time Machine involves not only science fantasy and thrilling elements but also profound themes. The novel has attracted the eyebrows of readers, scholars and critics since its publication in 1895. Studies on eco-critical analysis and The Time Machine have been conducted by many researchers from their own perspectives like class opposition, evolution theory, feminism and psychoanalysis. Eco-criticism is a wave of criticism in the 1990s. It examines the relationship between civilization and nature through literary texts. It aims to not only save nature, the living environment of human beings, but also restores human nature to the problem of human alienation. Professor Hu Yuanjiang's research on eco-criticism is very thorough. He pointed out that eco-criticism focuses on the overall interests of the ecosystem. In addition, he also insists that eco-centrism philosophy is the main idea in this theory. Dou Ruijie analyzed the The Time Machine with socialist Darwin. In his A Social Darwinist Analysis of H. G. Wells#8217; The Time Machine, he pointed out that Wells made use of Social Darwinist#8217;s standpoint to construct a time machine and a future world, in which the dependence and struggle between the social classes were assembled on the Eloi and the Morlocks. So according to Dou Ruijie, human evolution caused by ecological environment should be paid more attention, which emphasizes the influence of natural ecology and social ecology. Hu Xiaojuan has the similiar ideas in her An Analysis About The Time Machine in the Light of Darwinism. Besides, the importance of female image in The Time Machine has been deeply dug by Chen Yingwen. Feminism in Wells#8217; works can be increasingly found. But she only analyzed the role of Wella, and did not related the role with nature. With eco-criticism, we can find another way to combine female image and natural development together, in order to deeply analyze the relationship between female#8217;s spiritual ecology and natural ecology. Liu Xiao has analyze the ethical impact in The Time Machine. As for human alienation, Wells expound the alienation in human activity and human relationship. Science and natural destruction make people polarized, Which suggests the social ecology can be affected by natural ecology. In the literature using the perspective of ecocriticism, there are one document about the doomsday science fiction and three documents about the early English science fiction Frankenstein. Xu Pengyun and Xu Xian's research on Frankenstein has helped me a lot. They analyzed Frankenstein through ecological ethics, which gave us inspiration for the study of the social ecology and spiritual ecology of time machines. The doomsday movie and the traveller#8217;s travels have similarities. Wu Guanghao's research on the doomsday theme pays more attention to the comprehensive causes, which makes us understand that we should analyze The Time Machine with a comprehensive ecological criticism, including nature ecology, social ecology and spiritual ecology. To be able to better have a comprehensive study of The Time Machine, we still have to analyze the novel in more sustainable way with eco-criticism. Methods and Procedures of the Study To analyze the famous science fiction, the most fundamental step is to read the novel text again and analyze it according to the different time and space of the time travel in the novel. In addition, I went to the library to access information from different sources and to follow other eco-critic works. Among them, the ecological criticism of science fiction is most concerned. For example, many scholars criticize Frankenstein, the world's first science fiction novel, and I have learned how to use eco-criticism to analyze the relationship between the natural environment and the role in the novel. In order to let myself better understand the concept and application of eco-criticism, I also paid attention to Professor Hu Zhihong's research on ecological criticism theory, and fully grasped the connotation and academic significance of Western ecological criticism. This thesis consists of four parts. The first part is an introduction to H. G. Wells and his works, as well as the rise and content of eco-criticism. The second part is the literature review of both The Time Machine and eco-criticism, where summaries of previous studies will be made. The third part comes to the detailed eco-critical analysis of The Time Machine . And it will discuss the roles, the relationships among natural ecology, social ecology and spiritual ecology, which also reveals how these identities influence human development. Part four will draw a conclusion of the study. Conclusion In conclusion, The Time Machine is a revelatory novel full of abundant ecological thoughts, the study of which shows great practical significance in awakening the ecological consciousness of contemporary and future people. Through the ecocritical analysis of the novel, this thesis finds that H. G. Wells goes against anthropocentrism. To achieve harmony between natural ecology, social ecology and spiritual ecology, he urges to combine the regretful history, present development and incoming future of mankind with sustainable nature. To achieve harmony between natural ecology, social ecology and spiritual ecology. Nowadays, people live in an era of rapid development and fast pace. People often ignore the destruction of nature while natural resources are at their fingertips. In recent years, there have been a lot of consequences after human#8217;s greed: global warming, nuclear radiation, pollution, bird flu, the extinction of species, the ozone hole and so on. This article aims people to understand the importance of harmony between ecology and science, and to inspire people to take the initiative to solve ecological crisis. At the same time, this thesis has its shortcomings. Ecocriticism is a newly rising critical angle. Applying ecocriticism to the study of The Time Machine is a new insight, which excavates the hidden ecological thoughts in the novel. However, it is not enough to understand Wells' ecologicalism by simply studying The Time Machines. This novel is just a debut of Wells in 1895, unable to comprehensively study the ecologicalism of Wells in the early twentieth century. Many science fiction novels, such as The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds, also have further research values.