Invisible Man
By: Jessica
Mariah
Book Info.
• Title: Invisible Man
• Author: H.G Wells
• Publishing Info: Dover Publications INC
• Date: First Edition was published in 1897
This edition was published in 1992.
• (Wells III)
Setting
•Iping, England in the 1890’s.
Character Descriptions
• Griffin:
– He is the main character in this story. He is
described to be an albino college student who
majored in physics and medicine. During his
expirements he came across formulas that
causes himself to turn invisible. He ends up
becoming the burglar in the story.
Character Description
• Mr. Marvel:
– This is the first man that Griffin attempts to
make his accomplice. He is described to be
short, fat and un liked by all. Also the area
tramp. He betrays Griffin.
Character
Description
• Dr Kemp:
– Used to go to university with Griffin. He is
interested in the bizarre aspects of science.
Griffin comes Dr. Kemp in attempt to make
him his accomplice, and even though Dr. Kemp
acts as though he is agreement with Griffin, he
still betrays him.
Character Description
• Teddy Henfrey:
– Teddy Henfrey is a clock repairman who Mrs.
Hall uses in attempt to find out more about
Griffin. But because Griffin doesn’t speak
much, Teddy begins rumors about Griffin
stating that he is wanted man.
Literary Elements
• Tone: Throughout the novel, you get a
sense of mystery, suspense and often a
bit of arrogance when the author was
speaking of Griffin.
Literary Elements
• Theme: Corruption of Morals in the Absence
of Social Restriction
– For example: For everything that Griffin
did, he had an excuse for it. When he
killed his father he excused it by saying
that he was a “sentimental fool”.
Literary Element:
• Conflict:
– Throughout the novel many people are trying to
figure out Griffin in a whole. Why isn’t he showing
himself? What does he have to hide? Griffin shows to
have no compassion for anyone in his attempt to
survive invisible without others finding out. His main
conflict is finding an antidote to become visible. The
society’s conflict is finding out who is the burglar
that is breaking in and stealing.
Literary Element
• Point-of-View:
– In the first half of the story, it is told through third
person. Giving us the opportunity to meet and get to
know the characters and their inner personality.
– The second half Griffin takes over and gives us a
taste of his inner side, and his history. After chapter
25, the story returns third person.
Quotes (Jessica)
• “He rarely went abroad by daylight, but at twilight he
would go out muffled up invisibly, whether
• the weather were cold or not, and he chose the
loneliest paths and those most over-shadowed by trees
and banks.”
– This quote reflects the irony that Griffin must cover
up invisibility by becoming invisible and blending into
his surroundings. (Page 21)
Critical Analysis (Jessica)
• This story reflects a strong message. There are
decisions often that need to be made. But when in
the process of deciding on your actions you must
weigh the advantages as well as the
disadvantages of your decision. You also must
see how it will affect those around you. In the
novel Griffin didn’t think of the consequences of
turning himself invisible not only for himself as
well as the society.
Biography
• Sometimes called the father of modern science
fiction, H.G. Wells was born on September 21,
1866 in Bromley, Kent, England. His father, a
professional cricket player and shopkeeper, and
his mother, a former lady's maid, raised Wells
with the idea that he would find a place in the
work world that they were accustomed. He
aspired to a different place in society.
Biography
• When he was thirteen, he left school to become a
draper's apprentice, a job his family expected would be
proper for a boy of his station. Then H.G. Wells finally
found a job as a teacher's assistant in a grammar
school. Education and academia suited him well. In 1884
he entered college with a scholarship to study biology.
He was able to study under one of the great biology
teachers of the time, Thomas Henry Huxley, and Wells
graduated in 1888.
Biography
• The writings of Jules Verne undoubtedly influenced
Wells, and he wrote his first novel, The Time Machine,
partly in response to this new kind of literature that
Verne produced. The story appeared in various forms
in magazines from 1888 to 1894 and was released in its
current form in 1895. The book was successful, and
Wells did not need to teach or worry about money from
that time on.
Biography
• Wells' early novels continued in the science fiction mode of The
Time Machine. The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896), The Invisible
Man (1897) and The War Between the Worlds (1898) cemented
his position within the genre. For many readers, these early
novels are the extent of Wells' writing. He's the "time machine
guy" or the "Martian guy." Wells, however, wrote short stories,
mainstream fiction and non-fiction essays his entire life, most
of them espousing in some form or another his views on
humanity, society and the direction he saw the world going.
Some of these works were also science fictional in nature.
(The Time Machine)
Plot Summary
• It begins with a mysterious man walking into a small
town’s bed and breakfast. This stranger wears a long,
thick coat, gloves; his face is hidden entirely by
bandages, large goggles, and a wide-brimmed hat. The
stranger is extremely reclusive and demands to be left
alone, spending most of his time in his room working
with a set of chemicals and laboratory apparatus, only
venturing out at night. He quickly becomes the talk of
the village as he unnerves the locals.
Plot Summary
• Meanwhile, a series of mysterious burglaries occur in the
village in which the victims catch no sight of the thief. One
morning when the innkeepers pass the stranger's room, they
enter in curiosity when they notice the stranger's clothes are
scattered all over the floor but the stranger is nowhere to be
seen. The furniture seems to spring alive and the bedclothes
and a chair leap into mid-air and push them out of the room.
Later in the day Mrs. Hall confronts the stranger about this,
and the stranger reveals that he is invisible, removing his
bandages and goggles to reveal nothing beneath. As Mrs. Hall
flees in horror, the police attempt to catch the stranger, but he
throws off all his clothes and escapes.
Plot Summary
• The Invisible Man flees to the downs, where he
frightens a tramp, Thomas Marvel, with his invisibility
and forces him to become his lab assistant. Together
with Marvel, he returns to the village where Marvel
steals the Invisible Man's books and apparatus from the
inn while the Invisible Man himself steals the doctor's
and vicar's clothes. But after the theft, Marvel attempts
to betray the Invisible Man to the police, and the
Invisible Man chases after him, threatening to kill him.
Plot Summary
• Marvel flees to the seaside town of Burdock where he
takes refuge in an inn. The Invisible Man attempts to
break in through the back door but he is overheard and
shot by a black-bearded American, and flees the scene
badly injured. He enters a nearby house to take refuge
and dress his wound. The house turns out to belong to
Dr. Kemp, whom the Invisible Man recognizes, and he
reveals to Kemp his true identity — Griffin, a brilliant
medical student with whom Kemp studied at university.
Plot Summary
• Griffin explains to his old friend Kemp that after leaving
university he was desperately poor. Determined to
achieve something of scientific significance, he began
to work on an experiment to make people and objects
invisible, using money stolen from his own father, who
committed suicide after being robbed by his son. Griffin
experimented with a formula that altered the
refractive index of objects, which resulted in light not
bending when passing through the object, thereby
making it invisible.
Plot Summary
• He performed the experiment using a cat, but when the
cat's owner, Griffin's neighbor, realized the cat was
missing, she made a complaint to their landlord, and
Griffin wound up performing the invisibility procedure
on himself to hide from them. Griffin theorizes part of
the reason he can be invisible stems from the fact he is
albino, mentioning that food becomes visible in his
stomach and remains so until digested, with the bizarre
image passing through air in the meantime.
Plot Summary
• After burning the boarding house down to cover his
tracks, he felt a sense of invincibility from being
invisible. After struggling to survive out in the open, he
stole some clothing from a dingy backstreet shop and
took residence at the Coach & Horses inn to reverse
the experiment. He then explains to Kemp that he now
plans to begin a Reign of Terror (The First Year of the
Invisible Man the First), using his invisibility to
terrorize the nation with Kemp as his secret
confederate.
Plot Summary
• Realizing that Griffin is clearly insane, Kemp has no plans to
help him and instead alerts the police. When the police
arrive, Griffin violently assaults Kemp and a policeman
before escaping, and the next day he leaves a note on
Kemp's doorstep announcing that Kemp will be the first man
killed in the Reign of Terror. Kemp remains cool and writes
a note to the Colonel, detailing a plan to use himself as bait
to trap the Invisible Man, but as a maidservant attempts to
deliver the note she is attacked by Griffin and the note is
stolen.
Plot Summary
Plot Summary
• Just as the police accompany the attacked maid back
to the house, the Invisible Man breaks in through the
back door and makes for Kemp. Keeping his head cool,
Kemp bolts from the house and runs down the hill to
the town below, where he alerts a navvy (a navigator
or a navigational engineer.) that the Invisible Man is
approaching. In town witnessing the pursuit, the crowd
rally around Kemp.
Plot Summary
Plot Summary
• When Kemp is pinned down by Griffin, the navvy
strikes him with a spade and knocks him to the
ground, and he is violently assaulted by the
workers. Kemp calls for the mob to stop, but it is
too late. The Invisible Man dies of the injuries he
has received, and his naked and battered body
slowly becomes visible on the ground after he
dies.
Quote
Quote (Mariah)
• "Alone--(Mariah)
it is wonderful how little a man
can do alone! To rob a little, to hurt a
little, and there is the end."
Critical Analysis
(Mariah)
• It was a good read, and exceptionally short.
The story depicts that obsession of just
about anything can cause insanity; it caused
a fictional character to kill and rob innocent
people only because he was invisible. The
Invisible Man was a good quality sciencefiction book, and I would recommend it to
my peers.
ources
Work
Cited
• "Well's Biography." SFF Net. The Time
Machine. Web. 27 Nov. 2010.
<http://www.sff.net/people/james.van.pelt
/wells/biography.htm>.
• Wells, H. G. Invisible Man. Mineola, NY:
Dover., 1992. Print.
Work Division
• Jessica:
–
–
–
–
Setting
Character Descriptions
Literary Elements
Power Point
• Mariah:
– Author Mini Biography
– Plot Summary