Synthesized answer
The provided passages do not contain the text of Arthur Rimbaud's poem "The Sleeper in the Valley" beyond its title [1], so no thematic or narrative parallels or contrasts between that poem and H. G. Wells's *The Sleeper Awakes* can be drawn from the given material. The passages focus entirely on Wells's novel, describing a man who sleeps for over two centuries and awakens as the world's richest man in a dystopian London [3].
Regarding the "sleeper" concept in Wells's work, the passages show a stark contrast between the protagonist Graham's claim to be the Sleeper and the old man's disbelief. The old man insists the real Sleeper is being held captive and cannot wander freely [4], and he rejects the possibility of such longevity, saying "Men don't live beyond ten dozen" [5]. This creates a narrative tension around identity and public perception, but no comparison to Rimbaud's poem is possible from these excerpts.
Synthesized from the book passages below. Chat with the book on Feynman for follow-up.
From the book
Title: The Sleeper in the Valley by Arthur Rimbaud
urned suddenly to the old man with a question and left it unsaid. But his motion moved the old man to speech again. "Eh! but how things work together!" said the old man." This Sleeper that all the fools put their trust in! I've the whole history of it—I was always a good one for histories. When I was a boy—I'm that old—I used to read printed books. You'd hardly think it. Likely you've seen none—they rot and dust so—and the Sanitary Company burns them to make ashlarite. But they were convenient in their dirty way. One learnt a lot. These new-fangled Babble Machines—they don't seem new-fangled…
For other versions of this work, see The Sleeper Awakes . ← The Sleeper Awakes ( 1921 ) by H. G. Wells → The Sleeper Awakes is a dystopian novel by H. G. Wells about a man who sleeps for two hundred and three years, waking up in a completely transformed London, where, because of compound interest on his bank accounts, he has become the richest man in the world. The main character awakes to see his dreams realized, and the future revealed to him in all its horrors and malformities. The novel was originally serialized in The Graphic from 1898 to 1903, titled When the Sleeper Wakes and…
a time like this," said the old man. Graham, slightly dashed, repeated his assertion. "I was saying I was the Sleeper. That years and years ago I did, indeed, fall asleep, in a little stonebuilt village, in the days when there were hedgerows, and villages, and inns, and all the countryside cut up into little pieces, little fields. Have you never heard of those days? And it is I—I who speak to you—who awakened again these four days since." "Four days since!—the Sleeper! But they've got the Sleeper. They have him and they won't let him go. Nonsense! You've been talking sensibly enough up to…
y life I've been in London, hoping to get my chance." "But you don't know that the Sleeper died," said Graham, suddenly. The old man made him repeat his words. "Men don't live beyond ten dozen. It's not in the order of things," said the old man. "I'm not a fool. Fools may believe it, but not me." Graham became angry with the old man's assurance. "Whether you are a fool or not," he said, "it happens you are wrong about the Sleeper." "Eh?" "You are wrong about the Sleeper. I haven't told you before, but I will tell you now. You are wrong about the Sleeper." "How do you know? I thought you…
More questions about this book
- How does the description of the protagonist's "dreams realized" as "horrors and malformities" in *The Sleeper Awakes* immediately establish the novel's central conflict or message, and what does this suggest about Wells' view of progress?
- Explain the significance of H.G. Wells rewriting *When the Sleeper Wakes* into *The Sleeper Awakes* in 1910, given the novel's themes, and what does this process reveal about an author's relationship with their work?
- Beyond the plot, what specific societal concerns or technological anxieties might Wells have been critiquing or forecasting by having his character become the richest man in the world due to "compound interest" after two centuries?
- Considering the broad range of H.G. Wells' other works listed, from "fantastic and imaginative romances" to "social, religious, and political questions," how does *The Sleeper Awakes* exemplify or complicate his overarching literary and intellectual interests?