The First Men in the Moon
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| Author | H. G. Wells |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction |
| Publisher | |
| Released | 1905 |
| Media Type | Print (Hardcover) |
| ISBN | NA |
The First Men in the Moon is a 1905 scientific romance novel by the British author H. G. Wells. The novel tells the story of a journey to the moon undertaken by the two main protagonists, the impecunious businessman Mr. Bedford and the brilliant but eccentric scientist Dr. Cavor. On arrival, Bedford and Cavor find the moon inhabited by an extra terrestrial civilisation called the Selenites. The novel can also be read as a critique of prevailing political opinions of the period, particularly of imperialism. The theme of a clash between civilisations is reminiscent of Wells' earlier and more famous work, The War of the Worlds. As in The War of the Worlds, it is hinted that the non-human civilazation presented might reflect the way human society would develop in the far future. As such, the Selenite society depicted could be considered either an utopia or a dystopia, depending on which of its features one emphasizes, and it may have partially inspired Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.
The book could also be considered to have launched the Science Fiction sub-genre depicting intelligent Social Insects - in some cases a non-human species such as the space-travelling Shaara "bees" in the future universe of A. Bertram Chandler, in others (such as Frank Herbert's "Hellstrom's Hive") humans who evolved or consciously engineered their society in this direction.
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[edit] Plot summary
Mr. Bedford is a British businessman with many financial problems. He is working on a play to bring in some money. He rents a small countryside house to get some peace while writing the play. However, every day a scientist passes by his house, making odd noises. After two weeks Bedford questions the scientist, Dr. Cavor, about his odd behavior. It turns out that Cavor is developing a new material, "cavorite", which is supposed to shield off gravity.
As they discover when some cavorite is prematurely produced, it shields off the Earth's gravity from air above. making that air weightless, and then shoots off into outer space by the pressure of the air below. Cavorite is later used to build a small spherical spaceship, which they use to travel to and land on the Moon.
At the Moon the two men at first discover a desolate landscape, but as the sun rises, the (fictional) thick [[atmosphere] of the Moon, frozen out overnight, begins to melt and vaporize. Soon strange fast-growing plants start to grow in the landscape, producing a very thorny vegetation called "bayonet scrub". Bedford and Cavor leave the capsule, but they get lost in the rapidly growing jungle, where strange creatures can be seen. Growing hungry, the pair sample native flora, described as fungus. Soon after ingestion a hazy euphoric state overtakes them, and they wander drunkenly, speaking gibberish. This portion of the story is often suspected to be a description of experiences had by the author upon his ingestion of "psychedelic" mushrooms.
They are captured by the insect-like Moon men (referred to as "Selenites"), who have formed a relatively advanced society underground. After some time in captivity, Bedford and Cavor manage to flee, after killing several of their captors, due to their superior strength because of previously having lived in the Earth's gravity. When Bedford and Cavor reach the surface, they devise a plan to locate their spaceship, which involves them separating. Bedford finds his way back to the spaceship and returns to Earth; Cavor becomes injured and is unable to escape recapture by the Selenites.
Back in Britain, Bedford undertakes to publish the details of the story under the alias "H.G. Wells," including some additional material from Cavor received from one-way transmission from the Moon by radio (newly invented). Apparently, Cavor had enjoyed a period of relative freedom in the Lunar society, during which a few of their number learned English. He also managed to build or access a radio transmitter, which he uses to tell the story of his time inside the Moon using Morse code.
Cavor recounts near everything that happened to him after being re-captured, but some pieces of his story are not told due to curious "interference" with the radio signal. Through these messages, Bedford learns of Cavor's meeting with the "Grand Lunar", who is the ultimate ruler of the Selenites and the Moon. At this meeting, Cavor inadvertantly portrays humanity as predatory, delighting in war, and with little redeeming value. In response, the Grand Lunar decides to cut off all contact with the Earth. Cavor's transmissions end in mid-sentence as he is trying to say how to make Cavorite, and his fate is never revealed.
[edit] The question of Cavor's motivation
One of the most intriguing elements of the book is Cavor's motivation. Superficially, he can be seen as an extremely naive and impractical man, in anything but pure science where he is a near-genius. That is cetainly how Bedford sees him, and it is Bedford who tells the story - but Bedford's point of view is not necessarily Wells's, and in fact there is more than a hint that Cavor is more perceptive than Bedford is willing to credit.
Quite early in the story, Cavor is talking with apprehension of the possible results of their returning to Earth and making the possibility of travelling to the Moon widely known, and predicting that then the Moon, down to its deepest tunnel, would soon be filled with dead men. That seems to be a reference to the rivalry between colonial powers over the division of territory, which shortly before the book was published nearly brought about a war between Britain and France over the Fashoda Incident.
From the story, it is clear enough that Cavor was not happy with Bedford's escape from the Selenites - especially not with the exuberant violence with which Bedford killed many of them, using to the full the advantage of his coming from a world with a higher gravity.
Once back on the Lunar surface, Cavor offers that they split up in order to search better for their spaceship - but the description of his saying goodbye suggests that he did not expect to see Bedford again, and that he at least half-consciously hoped to be recaptured by the Selenites and to make contact with their Higher Intelligences which he surmised (correctly, as it turned out) to be dwelling deeper under the surface.
The later part of the book raises two related questions: Why did Cavor, in all the considerable time that he was free to make broadcasts to Earth, fail to provide fellow-humans with the formula of making Cavorite? And why did he tell the Grand Lunar in such great detail about humanity's warlike proclivities?
Under Bedford's view, this can be explained simply by Cavor's being so extremely naive, impractical and unworldly - and this is supported by Cavor's fragmentary last message which begins with "I was mad to let the Grand Lunar know...".
Still, what has gone before gives ground also to the other interpretation - namely, that Cavor did not broadcast the formula of making Cavorite until it was too late, because he did not want other humans to come to the Moon, make of it a colony, trample its natives who would be helpless against them and fight wars with each other over its natural wealth such as the abundant gold which already attracted Bedford.
By the same logic, Cavor's revelations to the Grand Lunar might be far from a naive mistake - but rather an at least half conscious desire to warn his Selenite hosts about the grave danger which predatory humanity poses to them.
This reading of Cavor's motives fits with the famous preface to The War of the Worlds in which Wells (and there, it is clearly his own voice) compares the Martians' invasion of Earth to the infamous colonial invasions of the Nineteenth Century, and specifically to the genocide of the original inhabitants of Tasmania by British settlers.
[edit] Film version
In 1964 Ray Harryhausen made a film version of The First Men in the Moon. In it:-
- In the 1960's: The USA is working towards a rocket flight to the Moon, like the real Apollo flights. Mr. Bedford is an old man in a mental hospital, and his claim to have been on the Moon are dismissed as an insane delusion. The mental hospital staff detect and prevent his attempts to warn the space flight organization about a danger on the Moon, and he is not allowed to watch television reports of space events because it "excites him". But the Earth astronauts land on the Moon and find the remains of what had happened, including a Union Jack and a note claiming the Moon for Queen Victoria. Then Mr.Bedford is allowed to describe, and the film shows, what Cavor and Bedford did in the 1890's.
- A woman comes along with the crew, and on the Moon does not leave the ship, and gets back to Earth.
- The Moon has no atmosphere and no surface vegetation.
- Cavor and Bedford use as spacesuits standard diving dresses each fitted with a big backpack cylinder (which seems to be a 1960's aqualung cylinder). The suits including their usual heavy diving weights, to offset the effect of Moon gravity being much less than Earth's. The two have no radio and must make their helmets touch each other to talk in vacuum.
- The Selenites drag the ship into their underground city while Cavor and Bedford are away from their ship exploring on the surface. The two, following the drag trail, find and enter the city. The city holds a breathable atmosphere, so (unwisely) they take off and leave their helmets. They see the city's power station. In the end they reach their ship underground. Cavor decides to stay with the Selenites. Bedford flies the ship up a vertical shaft, and through the shaft's window cover (breaking it) and back to Earth. There is no later radio message from Cavor.
- There is no big killing of Selenites.
- A Selenite uses a raygun. The only weapon that the humans have is an elephant rifle.
- The film prop 1960's astronaut spacesuits each instead of a NASA-type life support backpack have what looks like a 1960's aqualung cylinder connected to the helmet by a length of twin-hose aqualung breathing tube.
- The 1960's Earth astronauts find that Earth diseases brought by Cavor and Bedford had killed all the Selenites and the Selenite underground city is crumbling and collapsing: compare the outcome of The War of the Worlds.
[edit] Influence on C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis explicitly stated that his science fiction books were both inspired by and written as an antithesis to those of H.G. Wells. Specifically, he acknowledged The First Men in The Moon to be "the best of the sort [science fiction] I have read...." (From a letter to Roger Lancelyn Green).
The influence of Wells' book is especially visible in Out of the Silent Planet, the first book of Lewis' Space Trilogy. There, too, a central role in the story line is played by a partnership between a worldly businessman interested in the material gains from space travel (and specifically, in importing extra-terrestrial gold to Earth) and a scientist with wider cosmic theories.
Also in Lewis' book, the two quietly build themselves a spaceship in the seclusion of an English country house, and take off into space without being noticed by the rest of the world. (Both Wells and Lewis, like virtually all SF writers until the 1950s, grossly underestimated the resources needed for even the smallest jaunt outside Earth's gravitational field.) Moreover, like Wells' book, Lewis' reaches its climax with the Earth scientist speaking to the wise ruler of an alien world (in this case Oyarsa, the ruler of Malacandra/Mars) and blurting out the warlike and predatory nature of humanity.
However, in Lewis' book the businessman-scientist pair are the villains of the piece. Moreover, his scientist - Prof. Weston - has a philosophy diametrically opposite to Cavor's, being an outspoken proponent of human colonization of other planets, up to and including extermination of "primitive natives". The role of the positive protagonist is given to the philologist Ransom, a Christian believer willing to act on his beliefs - the kind of choice which Wells obviously would not have made.
[edit] Other references
Cavorite was featured as a major plot device in the first volume of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
[edit] External links
- The First Men in the Moon, available freely at Project Gutenberg
- The First Men in the Moon (1919) at the Internet Movie Database
- The First Men in the Moon (1964) at the Internet Movie Database
