how does the novel " the invisible man " highlight the theme of corruption of morals in the absence of social restriction? 6 marks , give in easy language upto 6 marks
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.