I am known as the Black Faced Man.
I laid my eyes on Montgomery for the first time on one of his hunting voyages. He was in search for some animals in which, at the time, I didn’t know what it was for. The way he caught these animals you could tell he had done this plenty of times before. He was in the woods alone and I happened to see him on my way back home from a camping trip. He seemed like a dangerous man with all the tools he held, so I stayed behind a tree as I observed him. I accidentally stepped on some branches and he looked directly at me. I was scared. He walked towards me while asking, “Who’s there?” I walked away from my hiding and told him my name, “Goldman, Sir.” He asked me what I was doing in the woods and told me that I shouldn’t be there. I explained to him that I was on my way back home from a trip and happened to see him. He looked at me from head to toe with his had on his chin as if he were to be thinking of something. He asked me if I had a wife or any family. I answered, “No, Sir.” He then offered me a job. He didn’t explain well but he told me that it would something extraordinary and it would be very important to the future or our lives. Blindly, I said yes since I had nothing to lose. Montgomery took me on his ship and off we went. I had no idea what I had coming for me. We arrived and was immediately greeted by some man named Moreau. Moreau told me he was a scientist and that he was going to change the world but he needed by help.
I was one of his experiments. I am half wolf and half man. I am werewolf.
Now I am forced to be part of this island because I am a monster. The only place I can be accepted in is the land of experiements.
My explanation: The question I wanted to explore was the question of animals. The animals that Prendick witnessed on the ship were obviously going to be used for either experimentation or reproduction. When “The Black Faced Man” was introduced as something so peculiar I automatically thought he was an experiment. But of what? I wanted to know more about this black faced man so I created a story about him. The description given by Prendick automatically made me think of a werewolf or some type of dog like a fox or a wolf. These animals are forest animals and went with that story.
I had the same idea, from the detail about “a facial part projected forming something dimly suggestive of a muzzle.” (7) later on my suspicions were multiplied as more details like “pointed ears, covered with a fine brown fur” (24) came about. I also had a strong suspicion that the doctor was using the animal’s limbs to replace the limbs of human beings from this segment “They seemed to me then to be brown men, but their limbs were oddly swathed in some thin dirty white stuff down even to the fingers and feet.” (18) I think that not only is he swapping body parts but taking test subjects from third world, African locations or similar cultures as it is probably easier in this time piriod to take those people. The majority of their bodies are bandaged which leads me to believe that major surgery has been done. Also in the statement “It was the antiseptic odor of the operating room”(25) I can also use this to add to my point about the surgeries taking place. I am taking into account that Mr. Prendick has been through a lot so all the weird details of the boatman’s form is are not clear to him yet but as the story goes on more details will catch his eye.
I thought of the same thing when black face was introduce into the story, he had to be some sure of experiment by Montgomery. The details with all the animals, an isolated island, and Montgomery reticent about them. On the island they have many keys with them, and they are very careful to make sure they locked the door even if there are people there. They are all hinting some secrets experience Montgomery is involve in.
Montgomery also have some characteristic of a mad scientist, he does not show sympathy. When Prendick thanks Montgomery for saving his life, Montgomery answered “Thank no one. You had the need and I had the knowledge; and I injected and fed you much as I might have collected a specimen. I was bored and wanted something to do. If I’d been jaded that day, or hadn’t liked your face, well — It’s a curious question where you would have been.” This is not a normal answer when someone thank you for saving his life, and the word choice he used were “injected” and “Collected a specimen”, even though he is a scientist but you would not be talking about a human using those words. I’m curious if Prendick is being consider a subject of his experiment? After all no one knows he is alive or not?
I also share a similar thought towards your question,”The question I wanted to explore was the question of animals”. The illustration of animals and the continuous mention of them led me to believe that animals have a major role in the novel. This insight was even further enhanced when Prendick took a closer look at the black man. “The man had pointed ears, covered with a fine brown fur!” expressing the idea that this man main not really be a full human being and that the animals coming to this island play more than one purpose, being experimented on.
I also had that same idea when a half beast half human creature was described. It was obvious to me that there are human experimentation going on in this story as soon as there was a description of the so called passengers face in the illumination of the lantern. The description was, “The creature’s face was turned for one brief instant out of the dimness of the stren towards this illumination, and I saw that the eyes that glanced at me shone with a pale- green light. I did not know then that a reddish luminosity, at least, is not uncommon in human eyes. The thing came to me as stark inhumanity.” This proves that this passenger isn’t entirely human and support’s the claim that there is human experimentation going on.