The Invisible Man

Hi, this is Heather! Sorry for not posting in a while, we've all been rather busy with the start of summer :) 

Author: H.G. Wells

Published: 1897

Publisher: Originally, it was published in Pearson's Weekly, but Penguin published my copy!

My rating: 4/5

Strangely enough, it took until chapter four that I was certain the main man in the story, Griffin, was (spoiler alert for those that never think of the obvious reasons, like myself) invisible. I was sure at first that the invisibility was simply a metaphorical idea, or perhaps that the man was so grotesque that he wanted to be invisible. For those unfamiliar, the plot is quite basic – Griffin is an invisible man, at first he seems to be struggling yet succeeding in concealing this, but later the invisibility is revealed and he goes a little bit crazy. ‘A little bit’ being an understatement since he wants to kill any human that disobeys him. My query to other readers is to consider what is worse: being looked at with disgust due to how you look, or fear due to not being seen? This concept really intrigued me as I progressed through the book, particularly as I have recently read Frankenstein with my fellow bloggers in class. Humanity is so used to being prepared for situations and taught what to do that when something peculiar or abnormal appears; they sometimes panic and lose all rationality.

I found the last few chapters especially enthralling and was disappointed when the book ended. If I am honest, some aspects of the start of the book were confusing – for instance, having the protagonist referred to as ‘the stranger’, making the reader feel distant instead of close to them. These questions were answered later on though and made the explanation behind them all the more curious, so I can see why Wells did this. I did not look very favourably on any of the characters, or get to really know any of them all that well! One of my teachers once remarked how the best authors can make the reader enjoy a novel despite hating the characters within it and that is certainly true for this book. In the world created by Wells, kindness is scarcely seen and hence no one seems to have any sympathy towards the invisible man, and he does not appear all too capable of being nice himself.

Understanding the motives of Griffin in more depth would have made this book peek to five stars; I felt as though his hatred for humanity was a bit random. At first, he was content to rob a little but not kill or hurt anyone severely, yet this changed drastically when his invisibility was exposed. Granted, the isolation and insecurity of having others judge you harshly for literally nothing would provoke anger, but surely Griffin could empathise with visible humans, having been one previously: it struck me as odd that he did not consider their perspective. Maybe the experiment altered him mentally, or the lack of human contact made him go a little crazy, but nevertheless I would have liked to have been in Griffin’s head a bit more in order to have understood him. 

Another concept of the book I’d like to discuss is power. To Griffin, having the ability to dance around the other humans without the acknowledgement of being there has the same affect as some find in a shot of vodka – he feels confident, invincible and mighty, ready to initiate the ‘reign of terror’. He was like a poltergeist in a horror film, the ease to provoke fear in others only further inflating his ego. I found myself pitying the victims that had had the misfortune of coming across him. Even before becoming invisible that poor kitty is tested on with a horrendous lack of mercy, which made me lose any sympathy I had for him earlier.

I did really enjoy reading this book and found it a good size for storing in my handbag to read whilst on the train or waiting for appointments. The science-fiction with horror combination is not appealing to everybody, but for those that do like an action-packed story I would certainly suggest reading it. I can definitely see some inspiration from Shelley the way that Wells put scientific explanation to fantasy ideas to evoke themes of horror.