Plot summary[edit]

The narrator begins with the claim that he is an "invisible man". His invisibility, he says, is not a
physical conditionhe is not literally invisiblebut is rather the result of the refusal of others to see
him. He says, because of his invisibility, he has been hiding from the world, living underground, and
stealing electricity from the Monopolated Light & Power Company. He burns 1,369 light bulbs
simultaneously and listens to Louis Armstrongs (What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue on a
phonograph. He tells the reader that he has gone underground in order to write the story of his life
and invisibility.
As a young man, in the late 1920s or early 1930s, the narrator lived in the South. Because he is a
gifted public speaker, he is invited to give a speech to a group of important white men in his town.
The men reward him with a briefcase containing a scholarship to a prestigious black college, but
only after humiliating him by forcing him to fight in a battle royal in which he is pitted against other
young black men, all blindfolded, in a boxing ring. After the battle royal, the white men force the
youths to scramble over an electrified rug in order to snatch at fake gold coins. The narrator has a
dream that night in which he imagines his scholarship is actually a piece of paper reading, To
Whom It May Concern . . . Keep This Nigger-Boy Running".
Three years later, the narrator is a student at the college. He is asked to drive a wealthy white
trustee of the college, Mr. Norton, around the campus. Norton talks incessantly about his daughter,
then shows an undue interest in the narrative of Jim Trueblood, a poor, uneducated black man who
impregnated his own daughter. After hearing this story, Norton needs a drink, and the narrator takes
him to the Golden Day, a saloon and brothel that normally serves black men. A fight breaks out
among a group of mentally imbalanced black veterans at the bar, and Norton passes out during the
chaos. He is tended by one of the veterans, who claims to be a doctor and who taunts both Norton
and the narrator for their blindness regarding race relations.
Back at the college, the narrator listens to a long, impassioned sermon by the Reverend Homer A.
Barbee on the subject of the colleges Founder, whom the blind Barbee glorifies with poetic
language. After the sermon, the narrator is chastised by the college president, Dr. Bledsoe, who has
learned of the narrators misadventures with Norton at the old slave quarters and the Golden Day.
Bledsoe rebukes the narrator, saying he should have shown the white man an idealized version of
black life. He expels the narrator, giving him seven letters of recommendation addressed to the
colleges white trustees in New York City, and sends him there in search of a job.
The narrator travels to the bright lights and bustle of 1930s Harlem, where he looks unsuccessfully
for work. The letters of recommendation are of no help. At last, the narrator goes to the office of one
of his letters addressees, a trustee named Mr. Emerson. There he meets Emersons son, who
opens the letter and tells the narrator that he has been betrayed: the letters from Bledsoe actually
portray the narrator as dishonorable and unreliable. The young Emerson helps the narrator to get a
low-paying job at the Liberty Paints plant, whose trademark color is "Optic White". The narrator
briefly serves as an assistant to Lucius Brockway, the black man who makes this white paint, but
Brockway suspects the narrator of joining in union activities and turns on him. The two men fight,
neglecting the paint-making; consequently, one of the unattended tanks explodes, and the narrator
is knocked unconscious.
The narrator awakens in the paint factorys hospital, having temporarily lost his memory and ability to
speak. The white doctors seize the arrival of their unidentified black patient as an opportunity to
conduct electric shock experiments. After the narrator recovers his memory and leaves the hospital,
he collapses on the street. Some black community members take him to the home of Mary, a kind
woman who lets him live with her for free in Harlem and nurtures his sense of black heritage. One
day, the narrator witnesses the eviction of an elderly black couple from their Harlem apartment.
Standing before the crowd of people gathered before the apartment, he gives an impassioned
speech against the eviction. Brother Jack overhears his speech and offers him a position as a
spokesman for the Brotherhood, a political organization that allegedly works to help the socially
oppressed. After initially rejecting the offer, the narrator takes the job in order to pay Mary back for
her hospitality. But the Brotherhood demands that the narrator take a new name, break with his past,
and move to a new apartment. The narrator is inducted into the Brotherhood at a party at the
Chthonian Hotel and is placed in charge of advancing the groups goals in Harlem.
After being trained in rhetoric by a white member of the group named Brother Hambro, the narrator
goes to his assigned branch in Harlem, where he meets the handsome, intelligent black youth leader
Tod Clifton. He also becomes familiar with the black nationalist leader Ras the Exhorter, who
opposes the interracial Brotherhood and believes that black Americans should fight for their rights
over and against all whites. The narrator delivers speeches and becomes a high-profile figure in the
Brotherhood, and he enjoys his work. One day, however, he receives an anonymous note warning
him to remember his place as a black man in the Brotherhood. Not long afterward, the black
Brotherhood member Brother Wrestrum accuses the narrator of trying to use the Brotherhood to
advance a selfish desire for personal distinction. While a committee of the Brotherhood investigates
the charges, the organization moves the narrator to another post, as an advocate of womens rights.
After giving a speech one evening, he is seduced by one of the white women at the gathering.
After a short time, the Brotherhood sends the narrator back to Harlem, where he discovers that
Clifton has disappeared. Many other black members have left the group, as much of the Harlem
community feels that the Brotherhood has betrayed their interests. The narrator finds Clifton on the
street selling dancing Sambo dollsdolls that invoke the stereotype of the lazy and obsequious
slave. Clifton apparently does not have a permit to sell his wares on the street. White policemen
accost him and, after a scuffle, shoot him dead as the narrator and others look on. On his own
initiative, the narrator holds a funeral for Clifton and gives a speech in which he portrays his dead
friend as a hero, galvanizing public sentiment in Cliftons favor. The Brotherhood is furious with him
for staging the funeral without permission, and Jack harshly castigates him. Jack rants about the
Brotherhoods ideological stance. The narrator accuses Jack of not understanding sacrifice. Jack
removes a glass eye from one of his eye sockets. The narrator leaves shocked. The Brotherhood
sends the narrator back to Brother Hambro to learn about the organizations new strategies in
Harlem.
The narrator leaves feeling furious and anxious to gain revenge on Jack and the Brotherhood. He
arrives in Harlem to find the neighborhood in ever-increasing agitation over race relations. Ras
confronts him, deploring the Brotherhoods failure to draw on the momentum generated by Cliftons
funeral. Ras sends his men to beat up the narrator, and the narrator is forced to disguise himself in
dark glasses and a hat. In his dark glasses, many people on the streets mistake him for someone
named Rinehart, who seems to be a pimp, bookie, lover, and reverend all at once. At last, the
narrator goes to Brother Hambros apartment, where Hambro tells him the Brotherhood has chosen
not to emphasize Harlem and the black movement. He cynically declares that people are merely
tools and the larger interests of the Brotherhood are more important than any individual. Recalling
advice given to him by his grandfather, the narrator determines to undermine the Brotherhood by
seeming to go along with them completely. He decides to flatter and seduce a woman close to one
of the party leaders in order to obtain secret information about the group.
But the woman he chooses, Sybil, knows nothing about the Brotherhood and attempts to use the
narrator to fulfill her fantasy of being raped by a black man. While still with Sybil in his apartment, the
narrator receives a call asking him to come to Harlem quickly. The narrator hears the sound of
breaking glass, and the line goes dead. He arrives in Harlem to find the neighborhood in the midst of
a full-fledged riot, which he learns was incited by Ras. The narrator becomes involved in setting fire
to a tenement building. Running from the scene of the crime, he encounters Ras, dressed as an
African chieftain. Ras calls for the narrator to be lynched. The narrator flees, only to encounter two
policemen, who suspect that his briefcase contains loot from the riots. In his attempt to evade them,
the narrator falls down a manhole. The police mock him and draw the cover over the manhole.
The narrator says that he has stayed underground ever since; the end of his story is also the
beginning. He states that he finally has realized that he must honor his individual complexity and
remain true to his own identity without sacrificing his responsibility to the community. He says that he
finally feels ready to emerge from underground.

The Invisible Man Plot Analysis
Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict,
complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes
shake up the recipe and add some spice.
Initial Situation
Stranger in a Strange Land
The novel opens when a stranger arrives at Iping and no one knows what to make of him. From the
very beginning we know that there's some weirdness here, but we're not quite sure what. (Unless, of
course, we've seen the title of the book we're reading. Oh well.)
Conflict
Stranger vs. Village
The stranger doesn't fit in well in Iping and everyone's pretty suspicious of him. This makes it tough
for him to just live his invisible life. Starting with a robbery and ending with the Invisible
Man revealing himself, there is constant discord.
Complication
Marvel: He's No Robin
At first, the conflict is just between the Invisible Man and the village of Iping (at least, as far as we
know). Soon, though, the Invisible Manbrings Thomas Marvel in as his accomplice, which just
complicates things. It causes more trouble in town, and also leads to bigger problems for
the Invisible Man, since Marvel doesn't want to help him. So now, the Invisible Man is fighting the
villagers and his ex-accomplice. Complicated, indeed.
Climax
The Back Story
In a weird way, the climax of the story takes place in the past. It's all about the Invisible Man's
development of his invisibility formula. It includes him stealing from his father, burning down his
boardinghouse, almost being caught by the Salvation Army, breaking out of the department store,
and realizing that being invisible isn't so great. This is also the section where we finally learn the
Invisible Man's name. So, if this story is a mystery about the stranger, we finally unravel the mystery
here.
Suspense
Who Will Prevail?
After Griffin invents the invisibility formula and finds Kemp, it seems like everything will go okay.
(Well, okay for Griffin not for everyone else whom he plans to murder and terrorize.) But when Dr.
Kemp betrays the Invisible Man, the IM tries to murder Kemp in response. Now it's Invisible Man vs.
the world. The battle has begun, and we can't wait to see how it ends.
Denouement
The Not-So-Invisible Corpse
Spoiler alert: the world wins. The Invisible Man gets killed by some workmen and slowly but surely,
Griffin becomes visible again. This is the big reveal of the book, though it reveals info we already
knew.
Conclusion
The End Or Is It?
After Griffin dies, Marvel still has his scientific notes, but since they're totally in code, he can't really
put them to use. Maybe whoever inherits those notes will be able to recreate the formula or some
other scientific miracle. It's both a closed conclusion because



Summary
The Invisible Man
In A Nutshell
H.G. Wells was on a real hot streak in the 1890s. He had just become a professional writer and had
already invented (or gave modern form to) a bunch of classic science fictional concepts, like time
travel (in The Time Machine [1895]) and alien invasion (in The War of the Worlds [1898]). The
Invisible Man was published in 1897 and like many of Wells' other stories, it features an eccentric
and possibly mad scientist-inventor. Only this time, instead of traveling through time or making
animals into people, the main character of The Invisible Man spoiler alert! creates an invisibility
formula.
Of course Wells didn't invent the mad scientist or the concept of invisibility. The mad scientist is an
idea that we can probably trace back to Daedalus from Greek myths (or at least to Frankenstein). In
fact, we could trace the invisible guy back to Greek myths, too. In the Republic, Plato wrote a story
about the Ring of Gyges that allowed the wearer to become invisible. Long story short, the ring gets
used for evil. (Does that sound like J. R. R. Tolkien's ring from The Fellowship of the Ring? It
should.) There are also a bunch of really fun horror stories from the 1800s about invisible monsters,
like Fitz-James O'Brien's "What Was it? A Mystery" (1859), Guy de Maupassant's "The Horla"
(1887), and Ambrose Bierce's "The Damned Thing" (1893).
What makes The Invisible Man special is that it's not about a monster it's about a man. It's the
story of how one person can fit into society; or rather, fail to fit into society.
But wait: this isn't just a tale of any old guy. The Invisible Man is actually a lot like his creator, H.G.
Wells. They were both poor, they both worked as teachers, and they both had innovative ideas.
And, of course, they were both invisible. Yep. There's a scene in Wells' autobiographical novelTono-
Bungay (1908) where the main character moves to a big city and feels invisible. It doesn't surprise
us: who doesn't feel invisible when they're young and just starting to make a name in the world?
The Invisible Man has been the basis for a lot of exciting movies and TV shows, and that's how we
generally remember the story today: a fun story about a crazy invisible guy. Let's remember, though,
that Wells' story goes much, much deeper.
(A quick note on editions: The Invisible Man was first published over the course of a few weeks
inPearson's Weekly magazine. It was printed as a book the same year, but not before Wells made
some stylistic changes. Other than adding an entire epilogue, most of the changes aren't major, but
you might want to double-check your copy to see which version you're reading.)

Why Should I Care?
Have you ever been alone in a crowd? Or been at a party where no one talked to you? Or have you
ever felt like no one rewarded you (or even congratulated you) for hard work you had done? If you
answered yes to any of those questions, then you know what it's like to be invisible.
Some people think The Invisible Man is just a story about a mad scientist meddling with things that
man was not meant to know. But really, it's a story about a guy who doesn't fit in with his
surroundings. The Invisible Man is a man without family or good friends, whose neighbors don't
understand (or care) about his work. Now, we don't endorse homicidal killing sprees and reigns of
terror (hobbies of H.G. Wells' Invisible Man), but we can certainly feel for him, over a century after he
first came into existence. We may not know what it's like to be literally invisible, but we all know what
it's like to feel invisible and isolated.
The Invisible Man Summary
How It All Goes Down
Here's the super-short version:
The Invisible Man doesn't get along with anyone in society: he didn't get along with anyone before
he was invisible and now things have only gotten worse. He thinks the laws shouldn't apply to him
and eventually he gets killed by a mob. Epic fail, Invisible Man.
Here's the slightly longer version:
The Invisible Man starts with a stranger arriving at the town of Iping. He's a private guy, which is a
problem when you live in a town where the major export is gossip. The stranger doesn't get along
with the villagers, especially the people who own the inn where he's staying. He spends most of his
time trying to do something scientific in his room. But eventually after the villagers (rightfully)
accuse him of robbery thestranger snaps. He takes off all his clothes and reveals that he's wait
for it invisible! (Yeah, we know, it's in the title.)
The Invisible Man fights the village and flees, leaving his important scientific notes behind. To get
them back, he forces a homeless dude named Marvel to help him. They go back to Iping and get the
Invisible Man's stuff, but the villagers attack and craziness ensues. The Invisible Man beats them to
a pulp and wreaks some major havoc.
At another town (Port Stowe), the Invisible Man steals money and drops it into Marvel's pockets. Like
the lousy sidekick he is, Marvel runs away to Burdock, money in hand (or in pocket, we guess). The
IM tries to kill Marvel, but a bunch of people at a bar fight him off; one person even shoots him, but
it's just a scratch. The Invisible Man takes shelter in a house that happens to be owned by an old
college friend named Kemp, and this is where we learn that our not-so-hero's name is Griffin.
While staying in his digs, Griffin tells Kemp his back story story, which is several chapters long (and
we mean long). Here's the gist: he was poor and he wanted to study invisibility (as most young
people do), so he stole money from his father, who then committed suicide (we're not entirely sure
why). Finally Griffin figured out the invisibility thing and proceeded to do a few things: (1) burn down
his landlord's building; (2) wander around London; (3) steal from a department store; and (4) put on
a ridiculous outfit from a theatrical costume shop and go to Iping to work.
Turns out Kemp had alerted the police to Griffin's whereabouts when he arrived, but when they
come to arrest him, he escapes. (Remember, he's invisible, so it's not too tough.) Kemp works with
the police to catch Griffin, who in turn, tries to catch Kemp. In the end, a bunch of people in Burdock
gang up on the Invisible Man and kill him. As he dies, Griffin loses his invisibility and we get our first
glimpse of the Visible Man.
Finally, in the epilogue, we learn that Marvel still has Griffin's scientific notes, which probably have all
sorts of cool inventions in them.
The Invisible Man Chapter 1 Summary
The Strange Man's Arrival
The book starts with a stranger arriving in a snowstorm at theCoach and Horses, an inn/bar
in Iping. (If you've read War of the Worlds, you know that Wells often likes to set his stories
in real, or real-ish, places, so it's no surprise that Iping is a real town in England.)
The stranger is totally covered, with only his shiny nose showing. He's also wearing
spectacles with sidelights, which basically look like goggles. At least one person says he
looks like he's wearing a diving helmet (the old-fashioned kind, of course.)
The stranger looks, well, strange, but he's got money, so Mrs.Hall, the innkeeper, gives him
a room.
Still, Mrs. Hall is surprised by his appearance when she sees him in his room without his hat:
[A]ll his forehead above his blue glasses was covered by a white bandage, and [] another covered
his ears, leaving not a scrap of his face exposed excepting only his pink, peaked nose. [] The thick
black hair, escaping as it could below and between the cross bandages, projected in curious tails
and horns, giving him the strangest appearance conceivable. (1.16)
Luckily, he's covered the lower part of his face with a serviette (a napkin), so she doesn't
have to deal with what's there.
Mrs. Hall assumes that this guy was in an accident. She tries to get him to talk about what
happened (nosy much?), but he doesn't want to talk about his "accident" with a gossipy
innkeeper.
Instead, he asks her about getting his luggage from the railroad station. Not quite as good for
gossip. Sorry, Mrs. Hall
Thomas Marvel
Character Analysis
Marvel is kind of like the Invisible Man's sidekick. Except he's terrible at it. He abandons the IM and
still, he gets pretty nicely rewarded. That's kind of an odd moral.
Marvel is something of a stock character when we first meet him. He's the poor, homeless, jobless
wanderer in other words, he's a tramp. He wears shabby, old-fashioned clothes, like his "obsolete
hat" (13.39), and he has buttons replaced by pieces of string. The narrator goes so far as to tell us
that he does everything in a leisurely manner (9.2). He doesn't seem to like work or excitement.
Typical homeless guy in fiction.
He definitely doesn't like working for the Invisible Man. He carries his stuff, including the money the
Invisible Man steals in Port Stowe, but this isn't a super fun arrangement for him. So it's no surprise
when he decides to jump ship.
But here's the thing: Marvel ends up successful. Since the police can't prove whose money he has,
he gets to keep everything that was stolen by the Invisible Man (Epilogue.2). Then he gets even
more money for telling the story of the Invisible Man (Epilogue.2) was Us Weeklyaround then?
That's how Marvel is able to rise up from being a poor tramp to being the owner of his own bar
(which is named after his old boss, the Invisible Man).
Marvel might not be any less sketchy than the Invisible Man, but guess what: Marvel doesn't get
caught. Aw, snap.
Minor Characters in Iping Village
Character Analysis
Mr. and Mrs. Hall
The Halls are a typical family who don't know that they're in a science fiction story. Mr. Hall drinks
and Mrs. Hall nags him about drinking. Mr.Hall isn't so quick (he has a "heavy intelligence" [6.4]) and
Mrs. Halltakes out her frustrations on Millie, the serving girl (1.36). In other words, they are a
stereotypical country couple found in many a novel (and in real life, if you know where to look.)
This is why we like them in The Invisible Man: they're totally normal folk who are put into a situation
that is totally abnormal. We may not identify with (or even like) the Halls, but the fact that we
recognize them as "normal," helps us understand the shock of the abnormal stranger. This is
probably the role of every character in Iping, actually. They are normal (though very countrified),
which makes the book seem more realistic. Even if we don't identify with them, the fact that they're
realistic sets up a stark contrast to the Invisible Man.
Mr. Cuss (the General Practitioner) and Mr. Bunting (the Vicar)
There are a lot of people in Iping, but we remember Cuss and Bunting because they get their clothes
stolen. And maybe because they seem like the most educated members of the village. After all, they
get duped only because they are the ones who go through the stranger's belongings at the Coach
and Horses. Even though Cuss and Bunting are more educated than the rest of the village, they
don't have any idea what's really going on. Why do you think Wells didn't have any of his characters
figure out what on earth is up?
Villagers in Iping
Iping is a tiny village where everybody knows your name. And in fact, Wells gives names to many of
the inhabitants. So, if you lived in Iping, you would walk down the street and be able to say hello to
all the people you recognize. There's Sandy Wadgers, the blacksmith; Mr. Shuckleforth, the
magistrate; Teddy Henfrey, the clockjobber (clock fixer); Mr. Huxter, the store owner; Jaffers, the
constable;Fearenside, the carter; Gibbins, the amateur naturalist, and well, there are a lot of
people who all have a very well-defined job. And everyone knows everyone. By contrast, no one
knows the Invisible Man and he doesn't really have a job to do. No wonder he stands out.
The Mariner in Port Stowe
The mariner in Port Stowe has one job here, which is to tell us that the Invisible Man story is in all
the newspapers. He also give us a little meta-discussion of writing style when he talks about the
details in the newspaper story (which, according to him, make it seem more true).

Minor Characters in London
Character Analysis
The Old Jewish Landlord and the Old Woman with the Cat
In some ways, what happens in The Invisible Man is all these people's fault. If the old woman didn't
think Griffin was experimenting on her cat (which he might have been he's experimenting on a cat,
at least), and if the landlord didn't try to kick Griffin out, then this book would have a happy ending.
Actually, we're not sure about that: after all, by the time Griffin is making trouble in the house on
Great Portland Street, he's already contributed to the suicide of his father.
So, as far as the story is concerned, these two people are here in order to push Griffin over the
edge, causing him to become invisible before he's fully tested out the formula or figured out a way to
reverse it. These characters also show us that people in London may be as curious and gossipy as
the people in Iping.
The Costume Shop Owner
All Griffin wants to do is steal some wigs and stuff is that so much to ask? But the costume shop
owner keeps locking doors and waving his gun around. In some ways, this guy is foreshadowing
Kemp, who also makes Griffin's life difficult by locking doors (or ordering doors to be locked) and
waving a gun around.
The real reason we're interested in this unnamed guy is that he looks a little strange: he's "a short,
slight, hunched, beetle-browed man, with long arms and very short bandy legs" (23.9). In other
words, this guy may not look like everyone else. Who does that remind us of? In some ways, he's
kind of like Griffin, the albino. Does Griffin say to himself "hey, maybe this guy and I can get along"?
No. Instead, he bashes him on the head (23.20). This is a reminder that Griffin isn't very good at
making friends, even when there's potential for a connection.
Londoners
How many people are there in the London section of this book? A lot, actually: the people in the
Salvation Army march that nearly trapsthe Invisible Man; the urchins who follow his footsteps
(21); all of the workers in the department store; the police that are called to catch the IM (22). Oh,
also, there are the cab-drivers and the woman who gets into the cab (21.7) andwell, London's
a pretty busy place.
Thinking back on all the people we know in Iping, we notice that unlike the villagers, Londoners don't
have names or jobs. We could ask two questions here:
(1) What does that comparison tell us about London compared to Iping? What is the difference
between city and country living? Does Wells characterize one in a more positive light?
(2) Since the section in London is narrated by the Invisible Man, what does this say about him? Even
in a big city, the Invisible Man doesn't get along with people and he doesn't even bother to learn their
names. For all we know, Londoners might be really friendly (as friendly and neighborly as Iping
villagers). But the Invisible Man is too much of a jerk to notice.
Minor Characters in Burdock
Character Analysis
Colonel Adye
Adye is the chief of police for Burdock, so he's in charge of organizing the fight against the
Invisible Man. When Kemp suggests to put ground glass on the roads, Adye momentarily objects
that it's "unsportsmanlike" as if they should fight fair with a man who is invisible (25.17). (Though it
seems like he gives in, since there's glass on the road at the end [28.8].) Although Adye momentarily
looks like he'll betray Kemp to save his own life, he ends up fighting the Invisible Man to the end.
That's why we give him an award for being a good sport though he might not be alive to get it.
(What do you think? Does he survive? He looks like he dies after being shot, but the Epilogue says
that he questioned Marvel about the notebooks. So did he question Marvel before getting shot? Or
did he survive the shooting to question Marvel later?)
Villagers in Burdock
With the exception of Mr. Wicksteed (who gets killed by the InvisibleMan) and Mr. Heelas (Kemp's
neighbor who refuses to help Kemp), we don't get a lot of names in Burdock. People are addressed
instead as the "aneamic cabman" or "the man with the black beard" (both at the Jolly Cricketers, 16).
There are a lot of navvies around ("navvies" basically just means workmen), a tram driver, and some
policemen. Like in London, does the lack of names mean that Burdock is different from Iping?
Well, here's one thing we noticed about Burdock: the people there have some more success when
they fight against the Invisible Man. For instance, the people at the Jolly Cricketers can't stop the
Invisible Man from getting away, but they do stop him from killing Marvel. When the Invisible Man is
going to kill Kemp, the crowd gangs up on the IM and kills him instead. (By contrast, we can
remember that the Iping villagers hide from the rampaging Invisible Man.)
We almost want to say that the people in Burdock are better at working together (or maybe it's just
that they know what they're facing?). But we should also ask whether they do a good thing at the
end there. When a crowd gathers together to kill a single person, is that a happy ending?
The Invisible Man (a.k.a. Griffin, the Stranger)
Character Analysis
The Invisible Man in the Mirror
The Invisible Man is everything we don't like about ourselves (minus visibility, plus science). Now,
we don't mean to say that Griffin is a blank canvas for us to project our issues on; he has a full
history and is a very precise character. Still, he's also got a lot of qualities that just about everyone
has, but turned up to a cartoonish level. After all, we all give in to selfishness sometimes (at least we
hope you do, too, or else you're going to make us feel bad). Griffin's selfishness, though, is
exaggerated. He steals from whomever he wants to, and he doesn't feel any sympathy for the
people he hurts. Like, say, his own father.
So, Griffin's emotions and frustrations may be common, but he takes all of those feelings and turns
them up to the max. No matter how invisible we may feel at our jobs or schools or with our families
or friends, very few of us decide to become supervillains. (That's not a term that Wells would be
aware of, but we think it's pretty easy to imagine The InvisibleMan as a comic book: Superman
vs. the Invisible Man. Spoiler alert: Superman wins.)
Griffin is like an exaggeration of emotions that we all know well. In some ways, that makes The
Invisible Man easier to read. Whenever Griffin does something evil, we can say "we would never do
that." In other ways, though, we can read Griffin's character as a warning: we can't let our negative
feelings get out of control.
It's Literally a Metaphor
Here's one reason why we dig science fiction and fantasy: because this rockin' genre can take
metaphors and make them literal. And then bonus, it can explore that literal thing. Let's explain. We
all feel invisible sometimes like our work is unappreciated, like people don't understand us, like
people are ignoring us. Now, Wells could have written a book where a guy struggles with these
feelings. Lots of good books do explore those feelings, in fact.
Instead, Wells writes a book where he takes one character's feelings of being invisible and he makes
those feelings into the literal reality. Instead of feeling invisible, Griffin is invisible. Now we can
explore those feelings in a different form. So what happens to a character who feels er, is
invisible?
The Invisible, Angry Man
Aside from being invisible, Griffin's most notable quality might just be his anger. Quickly flipping
through the book, you will see many examples of Griffin either trying to keep his temper or losing it
really quickly. This book is full of his "painfully suppressed rage" (2.30), "uncertain temper" (4.2), and
"evil temper" (18.33). Chapter 12 is even named "The Invisible Man Loses His Temper." This guy
could benefit from some anger management strategies.
Griffin felt invisible before he ever was invisible, and the literal invisibility just makes everything
worse. On top of being invisible to the scientific community (remember, he wants to publish his
results when he's done with his experiments), he's invisible to the community of people all around
him, both in London and in Iping. No wonder he's so angry: the thing that's supposed to get him
recognized (an invisibility formula) is actually making him harder to recognize. (This is why we
think The Invisible Man really is a tragedy: whatever he does to make himself happier actually
makes him less happy. Lose-lose.)
The Invisible, Angry Man with a Lot of Names
Here's a funny little thing: a griffin is a mythological monster, a mix of lion and eagle. So maybe
Wells is signaling to us that his Griffin is something of a monster.
Let's keep in mind, though, how many names Griffin has in this book. For most of the earlier
chapters, he's just called "the stranger," which reminds us of how strange he is. Think about it: he's
living at Iping for several months, and he's still "the stranger." Shouldn't he at some point become
"the neighbor"? No, not Griffin he's not the neighborly type. After that, he's called "the Voice" a few
times, as if that were a name or a title. The book is more than halfway over when we learn that his
name is Griffin. And that's just his last name we never learn his first name.
Here's a question: how are we supposed to identify with a strange character who doesn't have a
name? Is it possible? Does Wells even want us to?
How to Do Science for Fun, Profit, and Murder
Griffin is a scientist, an "experimental investigator" (2.17). (Just a quick note: "scientist" didn't really
become a popular word until the twentieth century. In fact, Wells starts his 1904 book, The Food of
the Gods, by noting how scientists don't like the word "scientist." So don't worry that this word
doesn't show up in The Invisible Man Griffin is a scientist even so.)
How do the other characters respond to his profession? Well, Mrs. Hall is "much impressed" by the
term "experimental investigator" (2.18) and even uses it to impress others. But you know what?
We're more interested in how you feel about him. After all, in some ways, this is a book about how
science affects people. So do you feel like science is a positive force in this book? Or is this a book
about how science is dangerous? And how does Griffin's character help us make this decision?
Before He Was Invisible
One last thing about Griffin: he's an albino (or very close to one). This makes his experiment easier.
Because Griffin has less pigment, it's easier to make him disappear (or so Wells tells us.) Did you
notice that all of Griffin's previous experiments involve white things? white wool and a white cat.
More importantly, being an albino probably made Griffin feel even more isolated from the world,
even before he was invisible.
Dr. Kemp
Character Analysis
We Need a Hero
If Kemp is the hero of this book, then we are in serious trouble. Sure, there are some things that are
heroic about him. For example, he's smart and quick to action. After Griffin escapes from Kemp's
trap, Kemp quickly explains to Adye how they can capture him: dogs, locked houses, and powdered
glass on the roads.
Let's be serious, though. In almost every way, Kemp makes a pretty lousy hero. First, he makes a lot
of bad decisions. We especially like when he sends out a note to the police, without thinking that the
Invisible Man might intercept it (27.5). That doesn't end well. It's also not like he's a very brave
fighter. When the police fight the Invisible Man, Kemp runs away (27.88). On top of all that, Kemp is
well-off financially (he has servants and doesn't need to practice medicine to make a living [18.19]),
so he can't even play the underdog card.
So What is He Doing Here?
Though Kemp is hardly heroic, he is the major opponent to Griffin. Without Kemp's help to the police,
Griffin would probably have been more successful in his Reign of Terror. Because Griffin tells Kemp
his whole story, Kemp knows his weaknesses (and he doesn't hesitate to exploit them).
So Kemp is almost a plot-mover of sorts: he gives Griffin a reason to tell his back story (which helps
us, since we don't know anything about him up to that point), and he's prevents the IM's takeover in
the last third of the book.
What Does it Say on his Business Card?
Dr. Kemp is a scientist and speculative philosopher. Okay, let's break that down a bit.
First, scientist: Kemp may be Griffin's opponent, but they are both scientists. When we first meet
Kemp, he's surrounded by scientific publications (15.1). What's even more striking is that he wants to
be part of the Royal Society (15.1), the famous scientific organization. In that way, he's even more
like Griffin, since they both want recognition for their scientific achievements.
Second, speculative philosopher: Kemp's science doesn't use as many bottles as Griffin's. (Although
he does have a microscope and slides [15.1].) Instead, Kemp spends more of his time, well,
speculating. For instance, the night that Griffin comes to his house, Kemp is working on "a remote
speculation of social conditions of the future" (17.4). (That's not the kind of thing you can run an
experiment about.) If Kemp's interest in science makes him seem close to Griffin, then his
speculations about the future make him seem close to Wells. After all, Wells wrote several essays
and The Time Machine about "social conditions of the future."
So who is Kemp, really? A hero? Another version of Griffin? Or a stand-in for Wells?