Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

The Invisible Man - Week 1 (Chapters I - VI)

Welcome to our first week's discussion of The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells.

The story begins with the "Strange Man" taking lodging at The Coach and Horses. Why do you think Wells chose to begin the story here, and not with more background information about the stranger and the cause of (what Mrs. Hall believes to be) his accident?

Maybe as we learn a bit more about him we'll understand why he is standoffish, rude, and curmudgeonly but in the meantime, why is it that he doesn't make more of an effort to be kind to others? Is this a defensive mechanism? A way to avoid prying eyes and questions? Don't you think him isolating himself makes him more mysterious, more of a topic for others to gossip about?

The scene that played out with Dr. Cuss, the stranger taunting him, could only add fuel to the fire when it comes to gossip and unwanted attention. The stranger had to have known that, so why?

I suspect Wells starts the tale without background info because he wants the nature of the main character to be mysterious and be revealed more naturally. We will learn about him as the supporting cast does.

Since we don't yet know why he is invisible, it is hard for me to say why he behaves the way he does. It could be that his hostility and erratic behavior predated his condition, and that wouldn't change if he accidentally or purposefully made himself invisible. If he was trying to keep people from paying attention, he didn't go about it very well. I'm not sure there is a way to avoid prying eyes, though.

The theme of hubris as it relates to science was common in science fiction of the 1800s (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein, The Island of Dr. Moreau, etc.). I suspect that will be what this book is about also.

It's a very good storytelling technique to see the stranger only through others' eyes. For us as readers, we keep seeing (or not seeing, in this case! a little more with each encounter.) And when they see things that don't make sense, they interpret them as something else (like the furniture is bewitched or they didn't really see what they saw.) The setting is a small-town, unscientific one, where the villagers have recourse to superstition to explain things.

So far the main benefit of invisibility is that you can be a successful thief (but where did he stash the money while fleeing?) The drawback is that you can catch cold running around without clothes on!

I just started reading but don't have much to add yet. I was also wondering who the narrator was. Someone who is taking down everyone's account. A journalist, or someone who works in law enforcement?

Yes, I suppose that's how he caught a cold! Maybe it would have been better for him to be somewhere like London, where he'd just be another stranger, albeit a weird one, rather than the only stranger in town AND a weird one.

It looks like he's spent all his money on potions - to make him visible? Looking forward to learning what happens and why he's invisible. Good point about the scientific hubris common in books of that era.

With such a beginning, the author wants the readers to watch the incidents through the eyes of his other characters, gradually making the readers curious of this strange man's identity.

At this point I can only guess that his rude behaviour was a defensive mechanism against prying eyes, however it is also possible that this rudeness of his normal behaviour. While such a behaviour doesn't help him much to keep a low profile, it at least shields him from the various questions that people want to ask him.

I wonder what is going through his head, now that he is invisible. I wonder if he thought things through before doing the experiment on himself.