Book Anatomy · The Invisible Man
The Invisible Man: Setting and world
13 lenses on setting and world for The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. Count lenses are exact for our text. AI lenses are our reading and cite only quotes that passed a word for word check.
Jump to: I1 I2 I3 I4 I5 I6 I7 I8 I9 I10 I11 I12 I13
I1. Places named and how often each appears. Count
Iping is the place named most, 30 times.
| Place | Mentions | Chapters |
|---|---|---|
| Iping | 30 | 15 |
| Burdock | 15 | 7 |
| Coach and Horses | 12 | 7 |
| London | 8 | 5 |
| Port Stowe | 8 | 3 |
| Great Portland Street | 7 | 3 |
| Bramblehurst | 6 | 5 |
| Hintondean | 4 | 2 |
| the downs | 1 | 1 |
| Omnium | 1 | 1 |
I2. Setting by chapter, as a map. Both
The place named most in each chapter. A rough setting map. (rough estimate from word lists)
| Chapter | Place named most |
|---|---|
| 1 | Bramblehurst |
| 2 | Iping |
| 3 | Iping |
| 4 | Iping |
| 5 | Iping |
| 6 | |
| 7 | Iping |
| 8 | |
| 9 | Iping |
| 10 | Iping |
| 11 | Iping |
| 12 | Iping |
| 13 | Iping |
| 14 | Port Stowe |
Iping village dominates chapters 1 to 12. Chapters 13 to 16 move through countryside and Burdock. Chapters 17 to 24 centre on Kemp's house. Chapter 25 to 28 return to Burdock for the final hunt and siege. Settings narrow as action intensifies.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 13, Ch 17, Ch 25, Ch 28
I3. Setting shown in blocks or woven into action? AI
Setting is woven into action and dialogue. The inn's layout matters only when Griffin hides in it. The countryside is sketched through characters' movement. Burdock emerges through panic and pursuit rather than description.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 7, Ch 15, Ch 16, Ch 27
And suddenly and most wonderfully the door of the room upstairs opened of its own accord, and as they looked up in amazement, they saw descending the stairs the muffled figure of the stranger (Ch 6, para 20)
Half-way across the road a woman screamed as something pushed by her; a dog, kicked apparently, yelped and ran howling into Huxter’s yard, and with that the transit of the Invisible Man was accomplished. (Ch 7, para 71)
He was a shortish little man, and he wore a high hat, and he was running so fast that his legs verily twinkled. (Ch 15, para 3)
I4. Weather and light used for mood. Both
Weather and light words: 1.55 per 1,000 words.
Weather and light words, chapter by chapter
Winter cold and darkness in Iping create isolation. Daylight reveals chaos; night aids Griffin's escape. The final hunt occurs in daylight, making invisibility less useful. Weather is functional: cold drives Griffin to seek shelter, darkness aids concealment.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 7, Ch 12, Ch 26, Ch 27, Ch 28
For the most part he was quite still during that time; it would seem he sat in the growing darkness smoking in the firelight (Ch 1, para 35)
And after that, as his peculiar qualities allowed, he passed out of human perceptions altogether, and he was neither heard, seen, nor felt in Iping any more. He vanished absolutely. (Ch 12, para 51)
The unhappy-looking figure in the obsolete silk hat passed up the street of the little village with his burdens, and vanished into the gathering darkness beyond the lights of the windows. (Ch 13, para 40)
I5. The social world: class, money, rules. AI
Class shapes the narrative: Griffin is educated, Marvel is a tramp, Kemp is a doctor, villagers are working folk. Money matters (Griffin steals, burns lodgings for insurance). Social rules constrain Griffin; invisibility lets him break them with impunity.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 9, Ch 20, Ch 22, Ch 23
The money was not his, and he shot himself. (Ch 19, para 44)
Fired the house. It was the only way to cover my trail—and no doubt it was insured. (Ch 20, para 56)
I6. Rules of the world (magic, science) and when each is shown. AI
Science rules the world: Griffin's invisibility is optical physics, not magic. The rules are explained in chapters 19 to 23 through dialogue. Magic is ruled out early when Cuss suspects witchcraft. The book establishes scientific possibility as its foundation.
Chapters: Ch 4, Ch 19, Ch 20, Ch 21, Ch 22, Ch 23
I found a general principle of pigments and refraction—a formula, a geometrical expression involving four dimensions. (Ch 19, para 23)
flesh, Kemp, hair, Kemp, nails and nerves, Kemp, in fact the whole fabric of a man except the red of his blood and the black pigment of hair, are all made up of transparent, colourless tissue. (Ch 19, para 32)
I7. Lore: dripped in or dumped? AI
Scientific lore is dripped through Griffin's explanations to Kemp (ch19 to 23) rather than dumped. The formula is mentioned but not fully detailed. Wells trusts readers to accept the premise without exhaustive technical exposition.
Chapters: Ch 19, Ch 20, Ch 21, Ch 22, Ch 23
I found a general principle of pigments and refraction—a formula, a geometrical expression involving four dimensions. (Ch 19, para 23)
flesh, Kemp, hair, Kemp, nails and nerves, Kemp, in fact the whole fabric of a man except the red of his blood and the black pigment of hair, are all made up of transparent, colourless tissue. (Ch 19, para 32)
I8. Real history used, and how. AI
No real history is used. The book is set in contemporary England (1897) but names no specific dates or events. It treats invisibility as a scientific possibility within a realistic modern world.
I9. Journeys: distance and time taken. Both
Griffin travels from London to Iping (chapters 1 to 7), then to Burdock via countryside (chapters 13 to 16), then to Kemp's house and back to Burdock (chapters 17 to 28). The journey spans roughly two weeks. Distance is implied rather than measured.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 13, Ch 15, Ch 17, Ch 25, Ch 28
The unhappy-looking figure in the obsolete silk hat passed up the street of the little village with his burdens, and vanished into the gathering darkness beyond the lights of the windows. (Ch 13, para 40)
He was a shortish little man, and he wore a high hat, and he was running so fast that his legs verily twinkled. (Ch 15, para 3)
I10. Objects that matter, where they appear. Both
bottles is the object named most.
| Object | Mentions | Chapters |
|---|---|---|
| bottles | 27 | 5 |
| bandages | 10 | 5 |
| the revolver | 10 | 1 |
| the axe | 8 | 1 |
| the poker | 7 | 3 |
| powdered glass | 5 | 2 |
| dark glasses | 2 | 2 |
| three manuscript books | 1 | 1 |
The three manuscript books are central: Griffin's diary and notes on invisibility. They drive the plot from chapter 11 onward. Clothes matter as Griffin's disguise. The revolver and poker are weapons. Marvel's hat becomes iconic.
Chapters: Ch 11, Ch 12, Ch 13, Ch 14, Ch 17, Ch 24
Diary,” repeated Cuss, sitting down, putting two volumes to support the third, and opening it. “H’m—no name on the fly-leaf. Bother!—cypher. And figures. (Ch 11, para 5)
He carried three books bound together by some sort of ornamental elastic ligature, and a bundle wrapped in a blue table-cloth. (Ch 13, para 2)
And it had, though no man had traced it, invariably ended its mysterious flight in the pocket of that agitated gentleman in the obsolete silk hat, sitting outside the little inn on the outskirts of Port Stowe. (Ch 14, para 68)
I11. Density of period detail. AI
Period detail is sparse. Wells mentions bandages, spectacles, a top hat, and theatrical costumes but avoids dense historical texture. The focus is on action and dialogue rather than material culture.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 10, Ch 23
It was the fact that all his forehead above his blue glasses was covered by a white bandage (Ch 1, para 14)
About four o’clock a stranger entered the village from the direction of the downs. He was a short, stout person in an extraordinarily shabby top hat (Ch 10, para 4)
I12. Setting as an enemy. AI
Setting becomes an enemy in the final chapters: Kemp's house traps him, the countryside offers no refuge, the town's streets become a maze. Invisibility is useless in daylight with organised pursuit. Environment turns against Griffin.
Chapters: Ch 25, Ch 26, Ch 27, Ch 28
raging and despairing at his intolerable fate, and sheltering at last, heated and weary, amid the thickets of Hintondean (Ch 26, para 2)
Death starts for him to-day. He may lock himself away, hide himself away, get guards about him, put on armour if he likes—Death, the unseen Death, is coming. (Ch 27, para 3)
I13. Indoors against outdoors. Both
Indoor words outnumber outdoor words 757 to 135. (rough estimate from word lists)
Indoor share %, chapter by chapter
Indoors dominates early (inn, vicarage, Kemp's house). Outdoors becomes crucial for escape and pursuit (downs, countryside, streets). The shift from interior to exterior mirrors Griffin's loss of control.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 7, Ch 13, Ch 25, Ch 27, Ch 28
The bed, the room also, was empty. And what was stranger, even to his heavy intelligence, on the bedroom chair and along the rail of the bed were scattered the garments (Ch 6, para 5)
Half-way across the road a woman screamed as something pushed by her; a dog, kicked apparently, yelped and ran howling into Huxter’s yard, and with that the transit of the Invisible Man was accomplished. (Ch 7, para 71)
And after that, as his peculiar qualities allowed, he passed out of human perceptions altogether, and he was neither heard, seen, nor felt in Iping any more. He vanished absolutely. (Ch 12, para 51)
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