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Quote
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Page Number
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Journal
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“He did not remove the serviette, but remained holding it, as she saw now, with a brown gloved hand, and regarding her with his inscrutable blue glasses.”
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3
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(Q) Why does the stranger feel the need to hide himself? Is he insecure about something? Has he been rejected by society?
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“So that if I may go so bold to say it sir--’ ‘Will you go get me some matches?’ said the visitor, ‘My pipe is out.’
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5
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(E) In an attempt to reject the Halls’ intrusiveness, the stranger tries to abruptly change the path of the conversation. The way the stranger covers himself is clearly a very sensitive subject for him, and from this quote, we can see that he is unapologetically closed off from others.
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“I do not wish to be disturbed in my work.”
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7
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(P) The stranger is acting quite shady when it comes to pretty much anything about him or his intentions. I predict that he is up to no good and that the innkeeper, Mrs. Hall, is going to get even more suspicious than she already is.
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“Then he was struck violently in the chest, hurled back, and the door slammed in his face and locked. It was so rapid that it gave him no time to observe.”
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10
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(Q) It is very surprising that the stranger has turned violent when his privacy was invaded. What is he hiding in his room? Why can the others not know about it?
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“The stranger did not go to church, and indeed made no difference between Sunday and the irreligious days, even in costume.”
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14
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(R) It’s interesting to see how much the times have changed by reading this book. In the 1890’s, if someone didn’t go to church, they were viewed as abnormal, while today, most would not bat an eye.
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“Queer thing to see an empty sleeve come at you like that! And then--’ ‘Well?’ ‘Something--exactly like a finger and thumb it felt--nipped my nose.”
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17
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(CL) My prediction that the stranger was up to no good has now came true, since he now apparently has an invisible limb. I’m surprised he was comfortable showing off his invisibility to a resident of this gossip-ridden town. For someone who wants to be left alone, he sure is making it hard for people to do so.
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“...the bedclothes gathered themselves together, leapt up suddenly into a sort of peak, and then jumped headlong over the bottom rail. It was exactly as if a hand had clutched them in the centre and flung them aside.”
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21
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(E) The stranger is making himself known to the reader as someone who likes to cause trouble for their own amusement, but hey, who wouldn’t if you were able to be invisible? He set it up for the Halls to invade the privacy of his room again, so he could get revenge, without them even knowing it was him.
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“He took off his hat, and with a violent gesture tore at his whiskers and bandages. For a moment they resisted him. A flash of horrible anticipation passed through the bar. ‘Oh, my gard!’ said someone.”
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25
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(E) With his money down the drain and the townspeople knowing about the robbery, the stranger has no choice but to expose himself and give himself time to flee. In my opinion, this is very cowardly, but I guess if you study invisibility and are known as a stranger rather than your real name, you must be pretty good at running away from your responsibilities.
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“Help me--and I will do great things for you. An invisible man is a man of power.”
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33
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(C) In this quote, the author is making the assertion that those without attention hold more power than others. It can be seen not only in the book, with the man literally becoming invisible to evade those who are in his way, but also in the real world, where celebrities are at a disadvantage since they are being watched by thousands of eyes, not allowed to mess up or else their career is over.
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“See for yourself,’ said Mr. Cuss. ‘Some of it’s mathematical and some of it’s Russian or some such language.”
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36
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(P) Here, we see two townspeople going through the invisible man’s belongings after he has confessed time and time again that he wants to be left to himself. Of course, after making a scene with his invisibleness, he knew they would never leave him alone, so I predict that these notes are meaningless bait meant to throw off the men and their investigation.
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Comments (6)
Sharon Murchie said
at 8:25 am on Aug 1, 2018
Justin: I love your comment " For someone who wants to be left alone, he sure is making it hard for people to do so." Let's talk about Griffin. What kind of a person was he? He seems amoral or perhaps immoral. What is the difference and do you think he is one or the other? And does his invisibility make his lack of morals even worse? Is it a symptom or a cause?
I'm also interested in your discussion of the townspeople. Griffin says he wants to be left alone (although his behaviors are sometimes drawing attention to himself) and yet the townspeople are always all up in his business. On one hand, they should respect his wishes. On the other hand, he is dangerous. But, would he have been dangerous to them if they'd left him alone? What is our responsibility as citizens to respect the wishes of others but also to recognize and intervene when there are possibilities of danger?
Justin Brown said
at 5:01 pm on Aug 15, 2018
Griffin is a very introverted person who reached his breaking point and lost his sanity. The term amoral means that someone doesn't have a moral sense, and I don't think this applies to Griffin. I believe that he knows that what he is doing is wrong. His invisibility is definitely a cause of his immorality, since it skyrocketed after he became invisible, shown by the robbery and assault. Also, Although I do see the townspeople to be annoying and disrespectful to Griffin, they were completely right to be suspicious. As we learned in his backstory revealed later in the book, Griffin was not a stranger to doing horrible things. The extent of terror he inflicted on the town may not have been quite as bad had he been left alone, but he was already a criminal when he came to the town and he was going to strike again eventually. The lesson from this that we can take into the real world is to not be overly aggressive towards people introduced into our society, but also if we do sense danger, we need to speak up for the sake of our own well being.
19rorr@... said
at 3:01 pm on Aug 6, 2018
I love your connection for your quote on page 33 because I feel like that is the number one thing celebrities hate about being famous: their lives become our lives. It sucks that I'm not rich and famous, but at least I have my privacy.
Justin Brown said
at 5:03 pm on Aug 15, 2018
Thanks, I am sure a lot of modern celebrities wish they could be just as invisible as Griffin some days. It is the tradeoff for the luxurious lifestyle they get to live.
19mjonas@... said
at 9:02 am on Aug 8, 2018
With your comment on page 25, it reminds me of a gypsy, someone who comes and goes wherever and whenever they please. They don't really have roots anywhere or a place to go back to. I don't blame him though. Afterall, being invisible would make it harder to be accepted by society and to establish roots. If he would have stayed in one place for too long, he would have risked being exposed. It makes me think that once someone finds out his secret, he leaves and disappears to the next town.
Justin Brown said
at 5:07 pm on Aug 15, 2018
Yes, rogue criminals do share a lot of qualities with gypsies. I completely agree with your indication that people can't know his secret if he wants to live amongst them, meaning he had to flee from the village when they found out. If he wanted to be a successful fugitive, he could have been a lot more low key about the whole invisibility thing.
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