Question

What is the humour in the novel "The Invisible Man" by H.G Wells?

Answer 1

The predominant strand of humour in the novel 'The Invisible Man' is provided by the sub-title of the novel, 'A grotesque romance.' It is a work which uses elements of horror to frame a narrative that offers a satirical and often ironic commentary on modern man and his relationship with science. As the title of the novel 'Invisible Man' suggests, it is a take on the invisible threat that technology and science poses to mankind which human beings are still having difficulty in grasping. It deals with the threat of immense power that science bestows on us but the converse of which is that we do not know how to control it without harming anyone. In the novel, the people of Burdock were frightened by the prospect of the invisible man but more than that it was a sensational thing to occur in their sleepy village. It was almost as if they had plunged back into the dark ages of ignorance in the thirteenth century as Dr Kemp rued. The people of Burdock had made the man into an occult figure, almost like a bogeyman who was coming after them, they felt an abject terror of a man who could not be seen and that was precisely what gave him the power to terrorise them. The novel mixes science fiction, horror, humour and a cautionary tale with a moral story to come up with a modern fable. Especially towards the end when the underdog of the story, Thomas Marvel, gets away with the books that belonged to the Invisible Man and also sets himself up for a business.