The Island of
Dr. Moreau
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Reading Guide
Materials needed:
McCarthy, Cormac. The Road. New York: Vintage Books, 2009.
Mass Market Paperback edition. ISBN: 0307476316
Questions to be explored:
What makes us human?
What is the importance in eating meat?
How are we further away than ever from being animals?
How are we closer than ever to being animals?
What is instinct?
How important are animals in our lives?
Can an animal have emotions?
Are some animals more important than other animals?
Can I cope with technology?
Can I cope with medicinal advances?
Does cruelty matter if the end result yields great success?
What is H.G. Wells saying about the human?
About the author:
H.G.Wells is an author who, for many years, was forgotten. His
texts are largely science fiction, and as such, his texts were
sometimes ignored by the literary community. That was until about
20 years ago when humans (and literary critics) began to look at
their behavior and their effect on animals and space. The once
fantastical settings of H.G. Wells suddenly became more real and
he returned as a major favorite, especially among the ecocritics.
While The Island of Dr. Moreau is often considered his most
literary (a note that I agree with), he has several other texts that are
more famous: there is the fascinating look at the new human in The
Time Machine, the identification in the individual in The Invisible
Man and the thriller (a book where humans become the new feast)
in War of the Worlds. At the time he was prolific, but he was
largely seen as a pulp fiction writer. However, his foray into nonfiction yielded some powerful results. Some critics of the time
argued he was “the new Charles Dickens.” I’m not sure if I buy
that because Dickensian literature is its own hybrid of human and
societal issues. Wells is something entirely different. H.G. Wells is
raw, and it is hard to explain. He gets dirty with his texts (in the
same way that McCarthy does too). It is vicious and, truthfully, not
altogether pleasant. This is not the master craft of The Scarlet
Letter or The Great Gatsby. Those texts are honed and
meticulously crafted. Wells is brutal, and it is harrowing, but also
delightful in his truthful warning. Now we return to this great
classic, and I do with a heavy heart, to explore - what makes us
human and how far are we from our animal brethren?
About the novel:
The Island of Dr. Moreau is neither a post apocalyptic novel, nor is
it dystopian; instead, it serves as a warning sign for what humans
can do with medicine. During the time this novel was written, one
of the hot topic issues was vivisection: a medical procedure, which
dealt with the live dissection (often of animals). In this novella, the
doctor of the island (Moreau) is performing this procedure and is
having some, shall we say, interesting results. But he is not the
focus of this text; rather, our attention is on a ship wrecked
individual named Prendick. He has no knowledge of what is on
this island, but as he (and we) learn the horrors of the island,
Prendick is faced with the question "what makes us human?"
Setting and atmosphere:
The setting of our book is tropical (extremely so). That is because
the location is near Hawaii (at this time Hawaii is not a state so
keep that in mind). The atmosphere has an ever present horror to it.
Something is wrong, but exactly what is wrong, is elusive for quite
some time in our brief novella.
A note to the reader:
Wells is a master class writer (in my opinion), and he was pumping
out literature left and right. He wrote over 50 novels, over 70
pieces of non-fiction, 80 short stories, and has over 40 collection of
various other short stories; he has four feature film writing credits,
and over 30 articles written on various subjects. He was, in short,
busy. Be aware, The Island of Dr. Moreau is his third novel
published, so he was still establishing his voice in this text;
however, you will see that the voice is loud and clear. His
brilliance will not elude you, but his vocabulary will. Wells was a
very meticulous and scientific man so his language can, at times,
be quite difficult. His syntax, like McCarthy, is often complicated,
and in many ways is as challenging as some of the literary greats
(think Joyce, Dickens, and Austen).
Point of view:
Wells loved the first person, so the point of view is done via
Prendick. We see what Prendick sees, and as such, we are limited
to what Prendick sees and hears. I believe Prendick to be
trustworthy, but at times his senses are overwhelmed. As such,
there will be doubt that lingers about what exactly is going.
Characters:
Prendick:
Narrator and main character. Prendick is the
character we will become familiar with and
sympathize with. Prendick is pushed into a horrible
situation made worse by the surroundings and the
people around him.
Montgomery: Montgomery is the person who saves Prendick from
the shipwreck. He is Dr. Moreau’s assistant and his
own thoughts on science are interesting
counterpoints to Prendick’s thoughts.
Moreau:
Themes and Motifs:
A scientist who is working on some peculiar
vivisection techniques. He was scandalized for
various reasons and moved to the Pacific to avoid
the public.
Motifs are recurring symbols, ideas or extensions of the themes.
The major themes and motifs in the novel include (but are not
limited to):
All the themes and motifs of The Road are still at play here.
Law
Order
Defiance
The animal self
The human self
Meat
Morality
Moral Responsibility
The sexual politics of meat
The animal identity
Instinct
Returning to nature
Pain and cruelty
Suffering
Science versus Nature
Humans versus Nature
Humans versus Science
Science and Profit
Primitivity
Assignment:
Pick a passage that relates to one of the themes. Explain how this passage relates to theme in at
least 1-2 pages.
Paper must be typed.
12 Times New Roman double spaced.
It must be turned in on Turnitin.com
Please include the page number of the passage or the passage itself.
Follow the conventions of standard written English.
Due Date:
Current due date is Wednesday, October 2nd.