# Epilogue explained — The Time Machine > Chapter companion for The Time Machine by H. G. Wells. ## What happens The narrator reflects on the Time Traveller's possible fate, wondering whether he journeyed into the distant past or forward to a more enlightened age. He contrasts his own hope for humanity's advancement with the Time Traveller's pessimistic view of civilization as a self-destructive heap. The chapter ends with the narrator finding comfort in two shriveled white flowers, tokens of gratitude and tenderness that survived even in the far future. ## Themes in this chapter ### Time and Perception The narrator contemplates the vast expanse of time—past, present, and future—and the uncertainty of the Time Traveller's location within it. ### Decadence and Decline The Time Traveller's view of civilization as a foolish heaping that will destroy its makers reflects the theme of decadence and inevitable decline. ### Humanity and Evolution The narrator wonders about the future evolution of man into a more mature race, contrasting with the Time Traveller's pessimism. ## Character check-ins ### The Time Traveller The narrator speculates on his possible destinations in time and recalls his pessimistic views on civilization. ### Hillyer The narrator, who reflects on the Time Traveller's fate and keeps the white flowers as a memento. ## Key lines > One cannot choose but wonder. Will he ever return? It is impossible not to speculate: will he ever come back? _The narrator opens with the central question of the Time Traveller's fate._ > He may even now⁠—if I may use the phrase⁠—be wandering on some plesiosaurus-haunted Oolitic coral reef, or beside the lonely saline lakes of the Triassic Age. He could at this very moment be exploring a coral reef from the Oolitic era, haunted by plesiosaurs, or walking along the desolate salt lakes of the Triassic period. _The narrator imagines the Time Traveller lost in prehistoric landscapes._ > I, for my own part, cannot think that these latter days of weak experiment, fragmentary theory, and mutual discord are indeed man’s culminating time! Personally, I refuse to believe that this era of feeble experiments, incomplete theories, and widespread conflict represents humanity's peak. _The narrator expresses hope that humanity will surpass its current flawed state._ > He ... thought but cheerlessly of the Advancement of Mankind, and saw in the growing pile of civilization only a foolish heaping that must inevitably fall back upon and destroy its makers in the end. He viewed human progress pessimistically, seeing civilization as a foolish pile that would eventually collapse and crush its builders. _The Time Traveller's bleak outlook on civilization is contrasted with the narrator's hope._ > And I have by me, for my comfort, two strange white flowers⁠—shrivelled now, and brown and flat and brittle⁠—to witness that even when mind and strength had gone, gratitude and a mutual tenderness still lived on in the heart of man. I keep two unusual white flowers as a comfort—now dried, brown, flat, and fragile—proof that even after intelligence and power faded, thankfulness and affection remained in the human heart. _The flowers from Weena serve as a poignant symbol of enduring human connection._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_time_machine_se/chapters/epilogue - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_time_machine_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_time_machine_se/chapters