H.G Wells, A man of Mystery

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Darwin’s Theory of evolution is that man evolved from the likes of animals. The author, H.G. Wells, used Darwin’s theory as a basis to write The Island of Dr. Moreau. Darwin’s theory challenged this metaphysical barrier by suggesting that humans were merely exceptionally well evolved, and Wells appears to be trying to assert human exceptionalism” (Wells, H.G.). Wells used certain writing styles to bring the reader into the story. H. G. Wells used imagery, figurative language, and setting in The Island of Dr. Moreau to depict a distinction between man and animals in everyday life.

In The Island of Dr. Moreau, H.G Wells uses imagery to describe what the beasts look like and so that the reader can understand how odd and frightening these things are. He also used imagery to describe the surroundings and the enclosure that the beasts lived in and compared them to one that a man would live in. This quote The Island of Dr. Moreau details what the beast looked like and the deformities they had in their body. H.G. Wells wrote, “The next most obvious deformity was in their faces, almost all of which were prognathous, malformed about the ears, with large and protuberant noses, very furry or very bristly hair, and often strangely-coloured or strangely-place eyes” (Wells 133). “Wells emphasizes the qualities of humanity that exist outside of a physical body” (Wells). This quote strongly describes the physical makeup of the beasts and how deformed they are and how different they look from other animals. This quote pulled from the book appeals to the senses of sight and touch since it mentions the color and texture of their hair. Most likely, these beasts would only want to come out at night which would make this island a very scary and unsafe...

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...and little animals roaming about. When Edward first arrived on the Island, Wells used his view from the boat as the view the reader would receive through the text. “it was low and covered with thick vegetation,…..the beach was of a dull, grey sand, and sloped steeply up to a ridge, perhaps sixty of seventy feet above the sea-level, and irregularly set with trees and undergrowth” (Wells 42). Setting helps contribute to the theme because it detailed what the animals lived on, and how the animals were living.

“Through Prendick, he implies that no matter how Moreau puts them together, they are animals by nature, not by me” (Vint, Sherryl). To get across the distinction between men and animals clearly, H.G. Wells needed to needed to be as clear as possible. H.G. Wells use of figurative language, imagery, and setting made a clear difference between men and animals.

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