About The Novel The Invisible Man

Introduction

The Invisible Man is a science fiction novel by H.G Wells published in 1897. Originally serialised in Personas Weekly in 1897, it was published as the novel same year. The Invisible Man of the title is Griffin, a scientist who has devoted himself to research into optics and invents a way to change the bod's refractive index to that of the air so that it absorbs and reflect no light and thus becomes invisible. He successfully carries out this procedure on himself, but fails in his attempt to reverse the procedure.

While its predecessors, The Time Machine and The Island of Doctor Moreau, were written using first narrators, Wells adopts a third person objective point of view in The Invisible Man.

Table of Content

• About The Author
• Major Themes
• Main Novel Characters

About The Author

H.G Wells

In 1866, (Herbert George) H.G Wells  was born to a working class family in Kent, England.  Young Wells received a spotty education, interrupted by several illness and family difficulties and became a drapers apprentice as a teenager.

He was an English writer, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. Wells is sometimes called The father of Science Fiction.  His most notable science fiction works include The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, The Island of Doctor Moreau.

He also wrote realistic novels that received critical acclaim, including Kipps and a satire on Edwardian advertising. Wells also wrote dozen of short stories and novels.

Major Themes

Isolation

The Invisible Man is about a guy with no friends or family. It seems like no matter where he finds himself, he is isolated from the larger community. He is as alone in Iping as he is London. He is a genius Scientist, who is surrounded by people; but who just don't understand him. That must be the worst form of isolation, surrounded by people but always alone. The isolation made Griffin feel cut-off from the community.

Community

To show how isolated the Invisible Man is, Wells exposes us to variety of communities in The Invisible Man. There is a small village of Iping, the larger village of Burdock, the city of London and many other communities on a deeper level. Unfortunately Griffin seems to be outside of each of these communities. 

Science

Science takes a lot of different roles in The Invisible Man. First, it's what scientists do to work out problems they have. For instance we hear from Invisible man about how he developed his formula through trial and error. Second, science means a community of Scientists and their particular traditions. Finally, science can be mysterious to anyone who is not a scientist. 

Power

Power is definitely a big piece of the puzzle in The Invisible Man. It is not just about the superpower of invisibility. The Invisible Man touches on how knowledge - in this case, science - is power and how this power can corrupt. Griffin himself mentions to Marvel that an invisible man is a man of power.

Amazement and Terror

The Invisible Man runs Havoc on a small town. The amazement that comes with encountering such a character and then again the sheer terror when one realises what he is capable of, is a major theme throughout the novel. Terror is the hallmark of Invisible Man.

Wealth

The invisible Man is remembered as the story of an isolated mad scientist fighting against the larger community. But there is a whole other issue that often gets forgotten - Money. The Invisible Man may be motivated by his interest in science but one of his first and main problem is that the pursual of his dreams rendered him poor. If he only had money, imagine how different the story have been. 

Main Novel Characters

• The Invisible Man
• Mrs Hall
• Mr Hall
• Mr Teddy Henfrey
• Mr Cuss
• Mr Bunting
• Mr Jaffers
• Mr Marvel
• Hunchback
• Dr Kemp
• Colonel Adye
• Mr Heelas

Read detailed character sketch, description and question answers of The Invisible Man novel.