A few notes before beginning:
Sorry this review is late! With Thanksgiving last week, I wasn't able to work on it as much as I wanted to.
The Invisible Man is free on Project Gutenberg! Click this link to check it out.
I've got a few projects I'm busy with, so I might not be able to keep up with monthly book reviews. I don't want to abandon them completely, but as of now do not plan on doing one for December. I'll keep you updated.
Introduction
When I started H. G. Wells’ The Invisible Man, I expected several things. The first was that the book, like most of Wells’ works, would be a thorough step toward a scientific “what-if”. The second was that this story would be a somewhat average (yet imaginative) horror story. The first of these assumptions were correct, the second, not entirely.
Written in 1897, The Invisible Man is Wells’ fifth novel, his first to have been written in third-person. It centers around a small village called Iping located in West Sussex. The story begins when a man, wrapped from head to toe and wearing large goggles, books a room at the local inn. This man, as the villagers soon discover, is invisible.
The invisible man, Griffin, retreated to Iping in hopes of finding a quiet place where he could reverse his condition. You see, while he did make himself invisible, it turns out it’s much more of a curse than a blessing. He hopes to do this in Iping, but is interrupted by the villager’s curiosity and fear as well as his own need for resources. Griffin does contribute to this fear, however, and the result is the tantrum of a volatile invisible man against an ordinary village.
Hunter and Hunted
When you think of a horror story, what do you picture? Haunted dolls, psychopathic stalkers, and grotesque monsters? Most of the time.
Something that almost all horror stories (both novels and movies) share in common is the perspective they take. In almost all the horror stories that come to mind, we the audience are placed in the position of the unfortunate human. We are helpless, haunted, and assaulted by the worst things our imagination can conjure. This is a very effective way to scare an audience, which of course is the point of a horror story.
Therefore, it’s rare to observe a story from the perspective of the villain in a horror story, which is what Wells does in this novel. At least, partially.
In a very masterful and seamless way, Wells transitions through several perspectives in The Invisible Man. The majority of the time we are situated with the people of Iping, uncovering the secret of a mysterious stranger and hearing of audacious deeds being done in the night. But, occasionally, we are allowed inside Griffin’s mind, where we can see that being invisible is not as freeing as we might imagine. It’s at these times that the horror aspect takes a very unique change.
Griffin's Horror
Griffin’s narrative begins when he stumbles upon his old friend Dr. Kemp. Griffin only recently escaped after being shot while trying to recover some of his research and is in desperate need of rest and sustenance when he finds Kemp. His old acquaintance helps him, and in return receives full confidence from Griffin. He shares with Kemp everything from before his invisibility up to their meeting. Through this, we learn a myriad of things regarding Griffin’s past and his invisibility.
Griffin tells Kemp his story, which is less than honorable. He confesses to thievery, arson, and violent acts. Kemp is shocked by all of these accounts, and has no intention of aiding Griffin any further, but listens as he explains other details.
As it turns out, there are many limitations to his invisibility, one being that he must be fully naked to be unseen. The majority of this book takes place in cold seasons, so Griffin is constantly hounded by frigid weather when he sets out to do something with his invisibility. Another limitation is that food doesn’t disappear until it becomes a part of him. Therefore, in order to eat without hiding himself, he has to either cover himself or hide for a while. This becomes a major difficulty for him later on when the villagers begin to hunt him.
One of the most horrifying things he faces, however, is the instant fear people express from witnessing his invisibility. There is a part in the book, early on in Griffin’s invisibility, when he is out in the street looking for a place to stay. He is met by the Salvation Army and naturally steps off the road to let them pass. But, several of the boys happen to see the imprints of his feet. They stare at his feet marks a moment and would have touched him, had he not acted:
"Then I saw what to do. I made a step, the boy started back with an exclamation, and with a rapid movement I swung myself over into the portico of the next house. But the smaller boy was sharp-eyed enough to follow the movement, and before I was well down the steps and upon the pavement, he had recovered from his momentary astonishment and was shouting out that the feet had gone over the wall.
"They rushed round and saw my new footmarks flash into being on the lower step and upon the pavement.
'What's up?' asked someone. 'Feet! Look! Feet running!'
"Everybody in the road, except my three pursuers, was pouring along after the Salvation Army, and this blow not only impeded me but them."
Griffin does make it away from the horde, but just barely. It’s strange and somewhat frightening the way they immediately pursue him and the intensity with which they do it. While reading, I couldn’t help but fear for Griffin, knowing that if he was caught, the frightened, confused, and curious mob would likely tear him apart.
But over the course of the story, Griffin definitely earns the fear and hate that the people of Iping pin to him.
Two Horror Perspectives, One Villain
If there are horror aspects on both sides, shouldn’t Griffin be just as much a good guy as Kemp and the people of Iping? No, unfortunately not. Even before he became invisible Griffin was a bad guy. He stole from his own father to finish his research and complete his invisibility. And once he had his invisibility, he didn’t stop at familial thieving. He took from anyone he needed to, believing his invisibility would cover him. And it might have if he was a more convincing actor.
You see, another one of Griffin’s flaws is that he makes no effort to control his temper. If he feels an urge to act violently, he most likely will. This ranges from bashing people in the face to murder.
If it wasn’t for this, he may have found help in Kemp and the people of Iping. After all, he was only trying to make himself visible again, which isn’t a bad thing. But instead, he is very quickly discovered, feared, and hated. And things just go downhill from there.
It’s not just his past actions that paint him as the villain, however. By the time he meets with Kemp, Griffin has been wounded multiple times by the people of Iping, and his temper is thoroughly stirred.
"And it is killing we must do, Kemp."
"It is killing we must do," repeated Kemp. "I'm listening to your plan, Griffin, but I'm not agreeing, mind. Why killing?"
"Not wanton killing, but a judicious slaying. The point is, they know there is an Invisible Man—as well as we know there is an Invisible Man. And that Invisible Man, Kemp, must now establish a Reign of Terror. Yes; no doubt it's startling. But I mean it. A Reign of Terror. He must take some town like your Burdock and terrify and dominate it. He must issue his orders. He can do that in a thousand ways—scraps of paper thrust under doors would suffice. And all who disobey his orders he must kill, and kill all who would defend them."
Understandably, Kemp rats him out and from then on Griffin embraces being the bad guy. So while there is a duality in horror perspectives, there is only one villain.
By the end, the perspective switches again and both horror factors are in play. There is a fascinating hunt played out, in which Griffin takes the place of both the hunter and hunted throughout. Yet we never return to his perspective, and instead, feel relief when he is finally hunted and stopped. I appreciate this, as it can be difficult to try and sympathize with a villain who shows no redeemable qualities.
On another note, this also does hinder the audience a little, at least, it hindered me a little. If we're thrust into both perspectives, and neither have a strong reason to cheer them on it takes me out of the story a little. I felt a little more like a distant observer rather than being beside the characters and action.
The Bottom Line
The Invisible Man is a thrilling horror story but doesn’t contain a lot of depth apart from the face-value aspects. There aren’t a whole lot of really powerful scenes (although the final scene is pretty rich) and at times it doesn’t really feel like there’s a main character. The science is intriguing (as to be expected from Wells), and told in a way that adds a level of realism despite the impossible incident taking place. Overall a very interesting read, but not a story that has much of a lasting impression.
Comments