Work record

The First Men in the Moon

Name: The First Men in the Moon
Author: H. G. Wells

H. G. Wells

1901 (serialized 1900-01) · Early 20th Century · Novel · English

Public domainlow medical relevanceRead full text Download EPUB Five-minute digest

Abstract

Written: Serialized 1900-01; book 1901
Setting: About 1899-1900; Lympne, Kent; the moon's surface and interior
Author: H. G. Wells
Country: United Kingdom
Language: English
Genre: Science fiction and satire
Form: Novel narrated by Bedford, with Cavor's radio messages
Recommended: Grades 7–12 (Some violence against moon creatures; a satirical ending.)

Premise. A failed speculator hiding from creditors in a Kentish village befriends an eccentric inventor. The inventor creates a metal that blocks gravity, and the two build a glass sphere with movable shutters to fly to the moon.

Arrival. They land at lunar dawn and watch frozen air thaw and plants spring up. Dizzy from eating a strange fungus, they lose their craft and are taken underground by insect-like inhabitants.

Escape. The narrator panics, fights his captors, and finds the sphere. He flies home alone with gold, while the scientist remains behind.

Messages. Radio reports reveal a society in which each creature is shaped for one job. The scientist meets the ruler of the moon and describes human war, and then his messages cease.

For students. Wells satirizes greed, imperialism and the dream of a perfectly efficient society. Contrast the two travellers and compare the book with Verne's moon voyage.

Publication. The story ran in a popular illustrated magazine in Britain and America in 1900 and 1901 before book publication. Its comic opening in a quiet English village contrasts sharply with the strange underground world of the second half, and the radio messages anticipate later science fiction. The narrator is vain, impatient and often unreliable, while the scientist is absent-minded and gentle. Much of the humor comes from the gap between what the narrator thinks of himself and what his actions reveal.

Main characters

Mr. Bedford: bankrupt narrator
Mr. Cavor: eccentric scientist
Selenites: insect-like moon dwellers
Grand Lunar: ruler of the moon

Portrait of H. G. Wells. Source · Public domain

Summary

The First Men in the Moon is Wells's comic and satirical account of the first journey to the moon. Its narrator, Mr. Bedford, is a bankrupt businessman who has retired to the Kentish village of Lympne to write a play and avoid his creditors. Every afternoon he sees a strange little man, Mr. Cavor, walking past and humming; they meet, and Cavor, a scientist, explains that he is trying to make a substance opaque to gravity. When the substance, Cavorite, is finally made, an accident blows the roof off his laboratory and causes a small hurricane. Bedford sees money in it. Cavor sees knowledge and proposes building a glass sphere with Cavorite blinds that can be opened and shut to steer by the attractions of other bodies. Bedford goes along. They reach the moon at dawn of the long lunar day, watch frozen air melt and strange plants spring to life, and, intoxicated by eating a lunar fungus, lose their sphere. They are captured by the Selenites, insect-like beings who live in vast caverns inside the moon. Bedford panics, kills several Selenites with his fists and a crowbar, and drags Cavor into flight; they become separated, and Bedford finds the sphere and returns alone to earth, landing in the sea at Littlestone with a store of lunar gold. A boy who climbs into the abandoned sphere vanishes with it into space. Months later, Bedford learns that an Italian scientist is receiving radio messages from Cavor on the moon. Cavor describes Selenite society: each individual is shaped from birth for one task, kept in a jar, drugged when not needed, entirely specialized for the good of the whole. At last he is taken to the Grand Lunar, the moon's ruler, a vast brain, and tells him of earth's wars. The messages stop abruptly; Cavor, it seems, revealed too much. Wells uses the moon to satirize human greed, war and imperialism, and the ant-like efficiency of a planned society. The contrast between greedy Bedford and unworldly Cavor shapes the whole book.

Virtues in this work

Prudence: Cavor's fate warns against careless disclosure; Bedford's against greed.

Plot or Argument

Chapters 1-5: Cavorite
Bedford meets Cavor, the gravity-blocking substance is made, and they build a sphere to travel to the moon.
Chapters 6-12: The lunar day
They watch the lunar dawn, lose the sphere, and are captured by the Selenites.
Chapters 13-19: Escape
Bedford fights his way out, loses Cavor, and returns to earth alone with gold.
Chapters 20-26: Cavor's messages
Cavor sends radio reports of Selenite society and meets the Grand Lunar before the messages end.

Characters

Mr. Bedford, narrator
Bankrupt businessman motivated by money.
Mr. Cavor, scientist
Unworldly inventor of Cavorite who cares only for knowledge.
Selenites, moon creatures
Insect-like beings shaped from birth for one role.
The Grand Lunar, ruler
Huge-brained master of the moon.

Lessons

Greed and curiosity
Bedford and Cavor go to the moon for different reasons. Wells contrasts love of money with love of knowledge.
- What does each man want from the journey?
- Whose motive is better?
Related across the library
- Heroides, Full Text
  the bulls and the dreadful harvest before my eyes the unsleeping serpent On the one hand was love on the other fear and fear increased my very love Morning came and my dear sister admitted to my chamber found me with loosened hair and lying prone upon my face and everywhere my tears She implores aid for your Minyae What one asks another is to receive what she petitions for the Aesonian youth I grant There is a grove sombre with pine-trees and the fronds of the ilex into it scarce can the rays of the sun find way...
- Candide: Or Optimism, Lesson: Satire as moral argument
  Satire as moral argument. Through exaggeration and speed, Candide exposes war, slavery, religious persecution and imperial greed. Comedy becomes a way of saying what direct protest could not.
- The River War, Chapter VII: The Recovery of the Dongola Province
  Cholera creeps up the Nile from Cairo; case-fatality near 80 per cent among the first thousand cases; detailed casualty figures; profound depression across the army.
- The Underdogs, Lesson: War damages moral perception
  War damages moral perception. Repeated violence changes what characters notice, excuse and desire. The book's brevity intensifies its sense that people become accustomed to brutality before they can interpret it.
- The River War, The Soudan
  existence of a vast head reservoir and several areas of repose and annually flooded by the accession of a great body of water with which its eastern tributaries are flushed' ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA but all who have drunk deeply of its soft yet fateful waters--fateful since they give both life and death--will understand why the old Egyptians worshipped the river nor will they even in modern days easily dissociate from their minds a feeling of mystic reverence South of Khartoum and of The Military Soudan' the lan...
A society of specialists
The Selenites are shaped for single tasks. Wells asks what is lost when persons become functions.
- How are Selenites trained?
- Why might this be frightening?
Related across the library
- The Grapes of Wrath, Lesson: Conversion
  Conversion. Casy and Tom move from personal concerns to concern for all.
- The Monroe Doctrine, Lesson: Neutrality and its limits
  Neutrality and its limits. Monroe says the United States declared neutrality between Spain and its former colonies and will keep it unless a change requires otherwise. He leaves the government room to act while promising restraint. Careful wording, the message shows, can keep options open.
- Second Inaugural Address, Lesson: Wartime speech and its temptations
  Wartime speech and its temptations. The second half denounces British conduct in heated terms, including charged language about Native warriors common in American war rhetoric of 1813. Students can separate documented grievances from rhetorical heightening and ask how a careful constitutionalist speaks when rallying a divided country.
- The River War, Chapter VII: The Recovery of the Dongola Province
  Cholera creeps up the Nile from Cairo; case-fatality near 80 per cent among the first thousand cases; detailed casualty figures; profound depression across the army.
- Candide: Or Optimism, Ch. 22
  In Paris Candide falls ill; doctors and others descend on him and his health worsens under their care.
Explaining ourselves
Cavor's account of war appalls the Grand Lunar. The story invites us to see ourselves through strangers' eyes.
- What does the Grand Lunar think of humanity?
- Why might the messages have stopped?
Related across the library
- Destruction and Creation and the OODA Loop Briefings, Lesson: Stress reveals system design
  Stress reveals system design. Conflict exposes whether a person or institution can process ambiguity. Under pressure, rigid systems fail faster than adaptive ones.
- Journey to the Center of the Earth, Lesson: Courage can be learned
  Courage can be learned. Axel begins as a nervous young man who fears heights and the dark and hopes the voyage will be cancelled. Through the climb on the Copenhagen spire, the descent of the crater, the ordeal of thirst and his solitary wandering in the tunnels, he learns to master his fear. By the end Gräuben can call him a hero.
- Destruction and Creation and the OODA Loop Briefings, Lesson: Orientation is the hidden center
  Orientation is the hidden center. Boyd's loop is often reduced to speed, but orientation is the crucial interpretive layer. What actors notice and imagine determines what choices exist.
- The Grapes of Wrath, Lesson: Conversion
  Conversion. Casy and Tom move from personal concerns to concern for all.
- Just So Stories, Full Text
  the Camel and the Horse went away and told the Man Presently the Dog came to him with a stick in his mouth and said Camel O Camel come and fetch and carry like the rest of us Humph said the Camel and the Dog went away and told the Man Presently the Ox came to him with the yoke on his neck and said Camel O Camel come and plough like the rest of us Humph said the Camel and the Ox went away and told the Man At the end of the day the Man called the Horse and the Dog and the Ox together and said Three O Three I m ver...

Context

Written at the turn of the century, the novel echoes Verne while satirizing the British Empire and imagining radio communication with space.

Composition

Serialized in The Strand Magazine and Cosmopolitan in 1900-01; published in book form in 1901.

Reception

Admired for its humor and its Selenite society; influenced later science fiction, including C. S. Lewis's space novels.

Science / Knowledge Travel Journey Satire Folly Technology Modernity War Violence Utopia / Dystopia

Comparisons

From the Earth to the Moon
Verne's cannon voyage, which Wells answered with antigravity.
The Time Machine
Another Wells romance that uses a strange society to satirize human life.
Gulliver's Travels
Swift's satire, in which a traveller explains human war to horrified listeners.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

Bedford's reasons for going.
The lunar dawn and the plants that spring up.
Bedford's violence against the Selenites.
Cavor's description of Selenite society.

Key terms and names

Cavorite: Fictional substance opaque to gravity.
Selenites: Inhabitants of the moon.
Grand Lunar: The ruler of the moon and its Selenites.
Satire: Writing that uses humor to expose folly.

Seminar Questions

Comprehension How does Cavorite work?
Comprehension How does Bedford return to earth?
Interpretation How does Wells contrast Bedford and Cavor?
Interpretation What is Wells satirizing in the Selenites?
Interpretation Why does the Grand Lunar fear humanity?
Big Question Should scientific discovery be limited when it might be misused?

Faith Connections

1 Timothy 6:10 (Scripture)
The love of money is a root of evil; Bedford's greed shapes his choices.
1 Corinthians 12:17-20 (Scripture)
The body has many members; Paul's vision of differing gifts in love contrasts with the Selenites' forced specialization.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: Discovery reveals human nature as well as nature; greed and war travel with us wherever we go.

Rhetorical device: unreliable narrator. Bedford's selfishness colors his account, inviting readers to judge him.

Debate: Resolved: that Cavor was right to tell the Grand Lunar about human war.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Explain what the Selenite society reveals about human ideals of efficiency.

Comparison with From the Earth to the Moon: Compare the motives and science of Verne's and Wells's travellers.

Medical Lens

Bedford and Cavor eat a lunar fungus that intoxicates them, leading to their capture.

Hallucinogens

Ch. 9
The travellers eat a lunar fungus and become giddy and reckless.
Hallucinogens

Creative Prompts

Fiction
Write Cavor's final, unsent message from the moon.
Essay
Compare Bedford and Cavor as heroes.
Classroom
Draw the Selenite society as Cavor describes it.