The Invisible Man Dialectical Journals
Melissa Schott
Quote
Pg #/ ¶
“I have told the
circumstances of the
stranger’s arrival in Iping
with a certain fullness of
detail …. over very
cursorily.”
13/9
“The little group of scared
but curious people
increased…. and others of
the Iping youth presently
joined him
23/3
“’But if you betray me,’ he
said…. –just tell me what I
got to do. (Lord!) Whatever
you want done, that I am
most willing to do.”
33
(bottom)34 (top)
“’Before we can do anything
else,’ said Kemp, ‘I must
understand a little more
about this invisibility of
yours.’”
63/6
66/4
“’To do such a thing would
be to transcend magic. And I
Response
(E) I really like the style the author uses throughout the
book. It helped me understand what the purpose of the
first three chapters were and that the image I had
about the stranger from those chapters is supposed to
give me a picture of him to use for the rest of the book.
It is different from any other books I have ever read
before.
(R) This quote shows how humans are so drawn to
mysterious and unexplainable events. Our brains are
curious and even when we are scared we still find
ourselves drawn. The theme of skepticism and curiosity
of the unknown go hand in hand. (C) Also, I feel the
connection to the small town of Iping is similar to Bath.
When there is something new happening (because that
is more likely than something mysterious) we all seem
to know what it is in a matter of days. The people of
Iping are the same. The news of this Stranger that
seemed to be supernatural was known through Iping
very quickly.
(R) During this quote the Invisible Man has forced Mr.
Marvel, a poor bachelor, to become his servant. With
his power of being invisible he could kill without you
even knowing it was coming and that fact scares Mr.
Marvel into working for the Invisible Man. The theme
present in this scene is that the powerful oppresses and
controls the powerless. The Invisible Man is isolated
from the world and to be controlling someone gives
him a sense of power.
(CL) At this point in the book, when it is half way over,
we are finally learning about the Invisible Man, or
Griffin’s, past. The story begins with him already being
invisible but it isn’t until this point that we learned
when, where, and how he became invisible. I thought
this part was very interesting because it explained his
whole past and answered all previous questions I had
had about his invisibility.
(R) I felt that this quote had a deep meaning and how
he was greedy for this power that would come to him
beheld, unclouded by
doubt, a magnificent vision
of all that invisibility might
mean to a man…. suddenly
become-this.’”
80/3
“‘“You also,” said a voice
and suddenly I was being
forced towards the grave…. I
made convulsive struggles
and awoke.’”
82/2
“’But you begin now to
realise,’ said the Invisible
Man, ‘the full disadvantage
of my condition….
grotesquely visible again.’”
“‘Not wanton killing but a
judicious slaying. The point
is, they know there is an
Invisible Man… And all who
disobey orders he must kill,
and kill all who would
defend him.’”
91/3
(top)
“And then things happened 91/11
very swiftly. Kemp hesitated
for a second and then
moved to intercept him. The
invisible man started and
when he was invisible. Griffin only could see the fortune
and power that invisibility would bring to him, not the
loneliness and struggle. When knowledge is given to us
we often use it to make ourselves “better” but the
Invisible Man learned the hard way that he should have
shared the information he discovered and not kept it all
for himself.
(E) This quote is a dream that the Invisible Man has
about his father’s funeral. He feels very guilty about his
careless attitude towards his father. He paid no
attention to him and when he died, only had a cheap
funeral for him.
(E) The Invisible Man didn’t see all the negative effects
that being invisible had. (C) I thought of the common
saying “hindsight is 20/20” when I read this. If the
Invisible Man would have told someone about his
invention, he may have avoided these problems but he
was worried someone would take his idea and publish it
themselves and then steal all his fame and power. (R)
This quote shows the bad karma he had because he was
so greedy in keeping the knowledge for himself. In most
stories I find myself sympathizing with the main
character, in this case the Invisible Man, but throughout
this book I felt he was entirely mad. I only started
sympathizing with him when I heard the struggles he
went through along his journey to become invisible, but
I still do not like the guy very much.
(R) This quote shows the violence and madness of the
Invisible Man. (Q) I did not completely understand what
the Reign of Terror was and what the invisible man
wanted from it? Did he want to take control of the land
and rule it? What would be the point of that if you were
invisible? (C) When I first heard the Reign of Terror it
reminded me of the Red Scare after the Russian
Revolution and the Red Scare in the United States with
communist spies. Even though this book was published
before these events they sound similar. The Reign of
Terror being the fear of invisibility and the Red Scare
being the fear of communism.
(P)/ (CL) The invisible Man is betrayed by Kemp. It was
learned that he was a traitor earlier when Kemp wrote
a letter to the police. I was wondering when the
Invisible Man would find out he was a traitor. Originally,
I didn’t think that Kemp would betray his friend from
stood still. ‘Traitor’….Kemp
flung the door open
108/8
“When at last the crowd
(bottom)
made way for Kemp to
stand erect, there lay, naked
and pitiful on the
ground…and having covered
him, they carried him back
into that house.”
college. I expected that Kemp would become friends
with Griffin and that the book would end happy for the
Invisible Man but I was wrong. Griffin feels like he has
nobody left to confide in and he is isolated. (E) He
ditches his clothes and tries to escape. This seems to be
his main mode of defense throughout the book
(E) After the Invisible Man dies during the final chase he
became opaque again and everyone can see what he
looked like. (R) This symbolizes that when everything is
over the truth is finally revealed, just as Griffin’s body
was revealed when he was finally killed.