Category Archives: Clue

Use this tag for posts that explain how a passage offers a clue to interpreting the story as a whole.

At the Mountains of Madness, Blog group 3 clue

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One of my guiding questions for this story is; is there parallel symbolism between the island of Dr. Morea and Antarctica? I have found early in the story that the setting of The Mountains of Madness can have a connection to The Island of Dr. Morea. The reason why is because both of these stories create a sense of the fantastic, which makes the reader hesitate between what’s real. Antarctica is a region that is the least explored place in the world because of its conditions, whereas the island in the book The Island of Dr. Morea, by H.G Wells, where the beasts are created, creates the same feeling. For example, in the story The Mountains of Madness, by H.P Lovecraft, a snapshot I have found is on page 100 and it say’s, “But to give it a name at this stage was mere folly. It looked like a radiate, but was clearly something more. It was partly vegetable, but had three-fourths of the essentials of animal structure.” The way this offers a clue to my guiding question is that, it proves that the island in The Island of Dr. Morea can represent Antarctica because of how strange and mysterious it really is.

Clue Blog Post

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My snap shot is 146 to the middle of pg.147, “There was nothing for it but courage….. found half a dozen cartridges in his pocket”.

My guiding question was how will Prendick relationship with the beast men change and how will it affect him. This snapshot shows a clue at how Prendick treats these beast people and how he looks at them. It also provides a clue onto how Wells decides to convey the novel through the style of the text. It’s easy to note that Prendick has been having strange thoughts and inferring many things from the beast people but in this snapshot it showed more of his true thoughts and rationalization on how he really saw them. “There was nothing for it but courage”. Even though it doesn’t show any real evidence on how he felt towards them, it was generally just saying that even through his fear he had to do what he had to do to survive and the best way to accomplish that would be to use these beast people and show no signs of doubt. The style also gives us a hint in how the Prendick feels towards the beast men especially since he says “None escape”. Prendick hasn’t recited the prayer with the beast people since the he came back to the enclosure showing not only does he want to keep this Law in place to keep himself safe, he also wants to control these beast people for as long as possible to escape the island and leave these horrors behind.

Dr.Moreau and His Law (The Religion of the Island)

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As we discussed in class, there is this law that these beast people follow as they live on the island that is the guideline to their society as if a religion. This law must be followed and if broken will be punished and taken back to the house of pain as they always reiterate to themselves as they repeat the law together. There has been an incident that has occurred that concerns Montgomery and Moreau since one of the laws were broken as Montegmory and Prendick encountered a dead rabbit that was mauled and still fresh. The Law was “Not to eat Flesh nor Fish; that is the Law. Are we not Men?” Moreau is the enforcer and overseer of the laws that keep order of the beast men and when he summons all the beast men to gather, he states that the Sayer of the law to say the words of the law, he stops at the one that was broken. He begins to ask, “Who is he?”, “Who breaks the law,” they responded “- goes back into the House of Pain.” Monreau has such a big factor on these beast men that not only are they timid in his presence but as he gets to the bottom of who is the one who broke one of his laws as the leopard man was the prime suspect, it’s stated,”Monreau looked into the eyes of the Leopard Man, and seemed to be dragging the very soul out of the creature.” This gives the reader the sense of ho almighty and powerful Monreau is seen by the beast men of the island. He is viewed as not just a master but as an idol or religious figure that they admire, are afraid of, and will follow his words as their guidance.

Clue

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Why must Edward Prendick be so judgmental towards the people of the island?

In the Island of Dr.Mareau, the protagonist Edward Prendick is very judgmental towards everyone he encounters on the island. He does not view them as humans but rather as creatures of some kind. As it states on pg 48, ” The apparition of this grotesque half-bestial creature had suddenly populated the stillness of the afternoon for me. I looked around me rather nervously and regretted that I was unarmed. Then I thought that the man I had just seen clothed in bluish cloth, had not been naked as a savage would have been, and I tried to persuade myself from the fact that he was after all probably a peaceful character, that the dull ferocity of his countenance belied him”. He judges by looks.  Edward is rather scared of the people of the island because of the fact that he has never seen humans with the same complexion of them. It is rather intriguing to him. The enviorment is also very different from what he is acostomed to. Where he is from the people us clothes and cover themselves up but in this society in the island people are naked. The people of the island have diffrent ways of living and it oddly scares him somehow. The way Edward is treating these people is an normal instinct reaction to such drastic change from what he grew up being taught.

Am I Dead? (Clue for The Island of Doctor Moreau)

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Did Edward Prendick actually die when Lady Vain collided?

The story provides realistic details about events that took place along with things that can be deemed as supernatural and unrealistic. The physical traits that Edward describes of his encounter of the “black-faced man” shows there is something more to what meets the eye. The description of his physical traits of “..and the huge half-open mouth showed as big white teeth as I had ever seen in a human mouth. His eyes were blood-shot at the edges, with scarcely a rim of white round the hazel pupils.” (13) show that he is something Edward has never seen and possibly the supernatural. Perhaps he is in purgatory and is simply being transported to another place with people such who have an reason to being here like perhaps, the drunk captain who had lost his license due to putting people in danger or the doctor who has possibly done something with evil intent with his medical knowledge in London. The description of the “black faced man” and the constant barks from the animals being caged possibly display a bigger role in which Edward is in and a strong possibility of him dying on the boat and letting his mind wander before he finally dies.