The wondrous adventure tale is a fundamental part of the Western literary tradition. The earliest literary works known are tales of mythic magic and wondrous events. In the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh (c. 2000 B.C.), the adventures are part of a quest. In the Odyssey (c.1050-850 B.C.), they are part of a lost warrior's wanderings. The Time Machine presents a great traveler's journeys, from the 1890s all the way to the end of the world.

The Time Traveller is also for a time stranded in the land of the Eloi after the Morlocks take his time machine.

This has been a popular convention of fiction since the publication of Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719). In The Time Machine, the convention forces the Time Traveller to make some difficult choices between Eloi and Morlock, between courage and cowardice.

The Time Machine is also an important "seminal...