[This blog spoils the general mystery of the book but not the ending.]
The story is that a shipwrecked man named Prendick ends up on an island where a man named Doctor Moreau is conducting fairly gruesome experiments on animals. Without going into too much detail, he is surgically altering animals to have more of a human form which also allows for human-like functionality as well. It's based on the idea of hurt-then-heal as well as skin-grafting. It's more involved than this, but I assure you that the book explains it well enough.
Wells goes into the idea that animals are probably intelligent enough to act and talk like humans, however they would need to have the ability first and then they would have to be distanced from their inborn instinct. I'll be honest: I'm not really in disagreement here. I think that Moreau may actually have been onto something real... and, by Moreau, I really mean Wells. It's a good and clean idea, and I am glad he wrote about it.
I want to classify this book as both a mad scientist story and most definitely as a horror story. I guess adventure is also there as well, but the first two are more to the point. But the thing that really blew me away about how the story was written was just how casual everyone felt, All the dialog was written to sound like regular people, even to a humorous degree. The captain of a ship towards the beginning was particularly fun to read about, although he leaves the narrative fairly quickly. Throughout the book, however, the story is filled with natural dialog and circumstances that give the whole thing a lot of realism.
I really don't want to spoil the whole thing, so I'm just just going to go ahead and recommend "The Island of Doctor Moreau" as a solid science fiction book. It's one of Wells' best. Add it to your list.
This blog was written on December 21, 2022.
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When the mad scientist makes sense us, we're scared, because we realize his genius has made his madness contagious. Then again, we fear what is a good thing: PROGRESS. Playing it safe does nothing for anyone. It is the stagnation that ultimately brings all to ruin.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I love them so much. They feel like they have a better chance of getting stuff done.
DeleteInteresting, I've only seen the 1996 movie (set in the far off future of 2010 haha) but found the concept fascinating. Yea I tend to agree that animals would be able to communicate coherently but lack the means. I will check out the book one day, I'm sure it's better than the move.
ReplyDeleteI didn't see the movie. Heck, I didn't even know what it was about going in.
DeleteThe idea of making animals more like humans has been around for a very long time. It reminds me of how we tend to humanize our pets. However, if they were sentient we would have a very different relationship with them.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I am pretty sure this idea is older than the book.
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