Reports for the Invisible Man

While I was reading, I was looking for what it would feel like to be invisible. This quote was a little after the invisible man arrived in Iping. He wears bandages on his face, a hat, and a coat, no matter where he is. He never even talks to anyone either. Because of this, people start getting suspicious. I believe the man now sees invisibility as a problem, rather than a convenience. He has the need to keep his invisibility a secret for some reason. I think this was important because it is sort of ironic. He has to cover up his invisibility by trying to make himself look even more invisible. He was trying to blend in by becoming invisible, but instead it caused more people to wonder about him. Maybe he has a shy personality. Or maybe he was sick of attention.

I think later on in the book, he might go crazy or mad because his plan didn’t work out the way he hoped. He seems to have a short tempered personality. In the real world, everyone has fantasies of what it would be like if you were invisible. They think it would be so cool. You could sneak around, play pranks, and steal things. You would never get caught. What people don’t realize is that there could be complications. What would happen when you touch things, or when you eat? I think eventually, invisibility would make everyone go mad. You would want to try and become visible again. Throughout the majority of the book, the man stays in the shadows trying to hide. Yet I believe the invisible man made every little kids fantasy a reality. I am wondering if and when the invisible man is going to lose his mind.

Page 167: “He has cut himself off from his own kind. His blood be upon his own head.” Towards the end of the book, I have been looking for what others thought that Griffin’s actions meant. I also tried to see how others feel about him. I have been mainly focusing on Kemp, Griffin’s friend from the university and the only person he actually trusts. At first, when Griffin sought help from him, Kemp helped him because he thought that Griffin was sane. This is because he was acting like a normal person and seemed to have some compassion left. He was still partly connected with his own type, the human race. Now he realizes that Griffin has gone crazy and is murdering people. This is what he is telling the police. During what Kemp calls his “reign of terror,” he has become “inhuman” and totally oblivious to other people’s feelings. He also “cuts himself off from his own kind” by becoming invisible, which is making him go insane. It was a very important line because it is the first time that someone who knows Griffin explains why he is going mad.

I think that Kemp is actually a very caring person. He is worried for Griffin and is telling the police this thinking they might be able to help him. In the real world we have people who make mistakes. Some are big and some are small. We have everything from stealing, which is what Griffin did in the beginning, to murdering, like Griffin did towards the end. From this book and watching some TV shows, all criminals have someone they can go to. Sometimes that person turns them in, sometimes they do not. Whether they do or not, that person stills cares about them. The reason they turn them is because it is what they think is best for them. They care about them. Even though it seems like they are all a little scared of the person, they still care for them. It is the same situation for Kemp and Griffin. Before he gets the police to come and get Griffin, he tries to reason with him. Griffin just won’t listen. So in the end Kemp realizes he has to turn him in. Now I am wondering what the people who the criminals go to think about them. Also why some of them do not feel the need to turn them in.

Mariah Dittmore
Quote Analysis 3
Page 117: “…all that invisibility meant to man- the mystery, the power, the freedom. Drawbacks, I saw none.” As I was reading, I was trying to figure out how Griffin felt about being invisible. I also tried to see how Griffin personality wise. This is the part where Griffin pretty much explains how he feels. It was right after he explained to Kemp how he achieved his invisibility. It seems that even though he has to cover his invisibility, he stills loves the fact he has achieved it. He also seems not to care what other people think, since everyone else thinks he is completely mad. I thought this was important, because it shows that Griffin was an independent thinker, and did not care what other people thought about him, even before the invisibility. I also do not think that science was appreciated in this book, since it was sent in the past. Now, if someone was able to achieve invisibility, they would be considered a genius, but everyone thinks of Griffin as a fool or outcast. When Griffin talks about “the mystery, the power, the freedom,” I think he is not only talking about invisibility, but also science.

This passage really helped me find a theme; your own interests can lead to your own destruction. It showed how Griffin loved science. His love and interest of science led to him becoming invisible. And that slowly led to him going mad and eventually getting killed. He thought invisibility was great. It gave him “mystery, power, and freedom.” His flaw was when he thought there were no “drawbacks.” He was already going mad, but he was so amazed by the fact he was invisible he thought nothing was, and could ever go, wrong. Real world people can get so distracted by their own goals and interest they make mistakes that impact a lot of people. It can be an innocent thing, like Griffins was at first, but turn out to be something that goes terribly wrong. I think that most people just get so focused on what they are doing they do not realize that it affects people around them. As I read further, I am going to look for more quotes and actions that support this theme. I am wondering why people get so focused on their interest and why they do not realize they are hurting the people around them.

Mariah Dittmore
Quote Analysis 4
Page 156: “The more I thought it over Kemp, the more I realized what a helpless absurdity an invisible man was in a cold and dirty climate and a crowded civilized city.” In the middle part of the book, I was looking to see if Griffin had any thoughts of sanity left. This was when Griffin went to Kemp. He had already stolen goods and money from the other villagers. I believe this is one of the last sane thoughts that Griffin has. As the conversation goes on, he explains how he thought being invisible was a good idea at first. He thought he could be “wild and wonderful” and “magnificent.” He believed being invisible was “transcend magic.” Now he realises all of the disadvantages, one of them being it is slowly starting to make him go mad. He also realises that he never made a cure and regrets it. This was important because it was not only the last sane thought Griffin had, but also the first time he actually states that he regrets turning invisible. Before this, he had always loved the idea. He had “dreamt of a thousand advantages. I think that now he is getting tired of people looking at him funny and talking about him behind his back. I think even before his invisibility he had this problem.

He told Kemp he was albino, and he had gone to the University College. In the olden days, when this book was set in, being educated was not appreciated. I believe that the time era and place the book was set in did not have people who were accepting to these rarities as we are now. Being albino is rare now and especially rare in the time this book was set in. Being two rare things would draw some looks and whispering behind the back. When asked at first why he would not take off his bandages, he said “I am disfigured.” He got “a curious look” from the inn keeper. Then she went and told everyone how weird he was. After that, whenever he talked to someone, I think Griffin felt like he was being inspected and interrogated, which made him angry. This quote supports the theme that I stated for the book: You own interest can lead to your own destruction. It is pretty much exactly what Griffin is saying in this quote.

He talks about making the experiment and “dreaming of thousands of advantages.” Then he says “that afternoon it seemed to all disappointment.” He is slowly realising all of the flaws in his experiment that he did not realise before he tested it on himself. Now that he is aware of this fact, it is driving him crazy. I can connect Griffin’s feelings with the real world. Many people have diseases or injuries. Sometimes, people are not respectful to them and tend to judge them. It can lead those people getting angry and doing bad things, like Griffin, when he started stealing things from the villagers. People also do things without taking time to fully think it through. Then after it is too late, they realise all of the flaws. Griffin turned himself invisible, then realised it was turning him mad. I think people do this because of their emotions. They could be like Griffin and simply be excited, or like other people, and do things rashly out of anger. As I continue reading, I am going to look for more examples of Griffin’s sane thoughts and feelings.

Mariah Dittmore
Quote Analysis 5
Page 138: “To have told my secret would have given me away- made a mere show and rarity of me.” During the whole book, I was wondering why Griffin told no one except for Kemp about being invisible. This quote told me he was scared of being found out. He thought that if people knew he was invisible, they would think he was some type of freak show. He actually cared about what other people thought of him. This was important to me because earlier on, he did not seem to care at all what other people thought. He was very rude to all of the villagers. When Mrs. Hall came in to tell him he was making a mess, she was very polite and knocked before entering. But Griffin rudely responded “I wish you wouldn’t come in without knocking.” Mrs. Hall then went and told many people in the village, yet Griffin made no effort to change his attitude. He was still rude to people who were kind to him. When Mr. Henfrey came to fix the clock, he tried to have a nice conversation by saying “The weather-“Griffin rudely interrupted him by saying “Why don’t you finish and go?” Within a few days, everyone in town knew that Griffin was a rude person. He never seemed to care. Now he tells Kemp how he is actually caring about what the villagers think about him. In either situation, being rude or found out he was invisible, he was thought of negatively.

So I believe that when the villagers thought he was rude, he did care. He was just too busy trying to keep his invisibility a secret to show that he cared. In the real world, most people care about what people think about them. People crave other people’s approval. Take high school for example. There are different cliques. The people in those cliques crave other member’s approval and admiration. For example, pretty much everyone in the popular clique wear brand name clothes to get each other’s approval. In Griffin’s situation, instead of trying to fit in and look for other villager’s approval, he is just trying to not stand out and keep his secret.

In order to fit in with the other villagers, he first has to lose his problem of invisibility, which is not that easy. I think that even before the invisibility, Griffin was never one to try and fit in with the ‘popular’ group. He was albino, which probably made people think he was weird. He was also probably made fun of. So when he turned invisible, he did not mind that he was still not popular. He probably did mind that people thought he was rude. I think that part of his attitude came from his background of being made fun of his whole life. As I continue reading this book, I want to find out more about Griffin’s past, before he became invisible.

Mariah Dittmore
Review 1
“I thought Wells did a good job build¬ing up the eerie atmos¬phere that is promi¬nent through¬out the story. Actu¬ally, the atmos¬phere is the star of the book as none of the char¬ac¬ters res¬onated with me and the sto¬ry¬line, which mainly con¬sisted of wreck¬ing havoc for havoc’s sake, was not very inspired. The story itself is also quite funny, I thought and many of the scenes played in my mind as slapstick.” Even though I enjoyed this book very much, I do have to agree that none of the characters stood out to me. We had a villain, who “wrecks havoc for havoc’s sake.” There are a few so called heroes, who pretty much run around like chickens without a head, carrying out plans that fails (hence the name of chapter 24: “The Plan That Failed”).

Then there are all of the villagers, who play only small parts in the book. There is Mr. Cuss, the man whose nose Griffin tweaks, Mr. Henfrey, who fixes the clock, Mr. Marvel, the first visible person to help him, and many others. None of them seemed to have much of a personality besides getting angry a lot. I also must agree with the fact that the whole book sort of revolves around the atmosphere and setting. Wells starts out the book by saying “…early in February one wintry day, through a biting wind and a driving snow…” It shows how all of the characters were