How does novel the invisible ma highlights the themes of corruption of moral in absence of social restriction?
Answers
The problem of poor morality and corrupted ethics of man has
been quite universal. Whether in the long past, or the current present, or the
distant future, man’s poor morality and ethics have always caused problems or
will cause problems in future. The problem is further aggravated by lack of
social restrictions and initiatives on the part of society as a whole. The
novel ‘Invisible Man’ by H.G. Wells portrays the same problem.
Griffin’s story is of a man who had no conscience, was
callous towards other people and simply self-centered. He appeared to be at war
with the entire mankind. All his actions stemmed from his desire to save
himself, with not a thought about the pain he inflicted on others. That some
traits were inborn can be seen in how he hid his work from his own professor,
lest he or anyone else claimed the credit from it. When he was short of money
he continued his experiments, without any thoughts of the consequences, he
robed his own father, who committed suicide because the money was not his. He
attended his father’s funeral without feeling sorry for his own act; instead he
blamed his father for being a sentimental fool. He experimented on a cat, with
no concern for the poor creature’s cries of pain. He threw it out and never
tried to find whether it was alive or dead. He burnt down the house at Great
Portland Street when the landlord and his sons found about his experiments and
were horrified. He was only worried about covering his trail.
After becoming invisible he committed one brutal act after
another, not because they were necessary for his survival, but simply because
he enjoyed doing them. The way he looted his owner of a small costume shop, and
left after striking the old man on his head, spoke volumes about his
inhumanity. He terrorized Marvel when he was on the run, fought with the
policemen. His plan to spread reign of terror among people using his powers of
invisibility really shocked Dr. Kemp. He even tried to kill him for betraying
him. In his final run from the people hunting him, he killed an old man with a
rod because he bumped into him. Before his death, he had sunk to the lowest
depth a man could go and was truly a monster in human form.
All the bad and immoral things that Griffin did could have been avoided had the people living around him put appropriate restrictions on him through a well organized system.