Book Anatomy · The Invisible Man
The Invisible Man: Viewpoint and narration
14 lenses on viewpoint and narration 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: E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 E6 E7 E8 E9 E10 E11 E12 E13 E14
E1. Person and tense: first or third, past or present. Count
Third person, past tense. In the narration, past forms come 1,663 times and present forms 80 times.
E2. Whose viewpoint is each chapter? Both
third person. See the full lens on the book page.
E3. Share of the book told by each viewpoint character. Both
The book shifts viewpoints frequently. Chapters 1 to 18 favour Mrs. Hall, Cuss, Bunting, Marvel and Kemp. Chapters 19 to 23 are almost entirely Griffin's voice. Chapters 24 to 28 return to Kemp and the narrator. No single character dominates.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 19, Ch 24
E4. Narrative distance: close inside a head, or far off? AI
Narrative distance varies. Early chapters use close third person inside Mrs. Hall and Cuss's heads. Chapters 19 to 23 use Griffin's direct speech and close internal access. Chapter 26 pulls back to distant summary. Chapter 28 returns to close focus on Kemp.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 19, Ch 26, 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)
My mood, I say, was one of exaltation. I felt as a seeing man might do, with padded feet and noiseless clothes, in a city of the blind. (Ch 21, para 3)
raging and despairing at his intolerable fate, and sheltering at last, heated and weary, amid the thickets of Hintondean (Ch 26, para 2)
E5. Strict viewpoint or head hopping? AI
The book mostly maintains strict viewpoint within scenes but shifts between characters across chapters. Chapter 7 head-hops among multiple villagers during the panic. Chapter 28 shifts between Kemp and the narrator's distant view of the crowd.
Chapters: Ch 7, Ch 28
For the man who stood there shouting some incoherent explanation, was a solid gesticulating figure up to the coat-collar of him, and then—nothingness, no visible thing at all! (Ch 7, para 31)
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)
E6. Is the narrator reliable? Where are the cracks? AI
The narrator is largely reliable but distant. Griffin's account in chapters 19 to 23 is subjective and self-justifying; he omits moral weight of his crimes. The narrator does not contradict him but lets his actions speak. Chapter 26 summarises Wicksteed's murder clinically.
Chapters: Ch 19, Ch 20, Ch 26
Fired the house. It was the only way to cover my trail—and no doubt it was insured. (Ch 20, para 56)
By this time I knew he was alone in the house, and so I made no more ado, but knocked him on the head. (Ch 23, para 21)
He stopped this quiet man, going quietly home to his midday meal, attacked him, beat down his feeble defences, broke his arm, felled him, and smashed his head to a jelly. (Ch 26, para 7)
E7. Frames and tales within tales. AI
Chapters 19 to 23 form a tale within the tale: Griffin narrates his past to Kemp. The three manuscript books are mentioned as containing Griffin's secrets but never directly quoted. No formal frame story.
Chapters: Ch 19, Ch 20, Ch 21, Ch 22, Ch 23
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)
It was my lodging burning; my clothes, my apparatus, all my resources indeed, except my cheque-book and the three volumes of memoranda that awaited me in Great Portland Street, were there. (Ch 21, para 19)
E8. Narrator asides and addresses to the reader. Both
1 paragraphs where the narrator seems to speak to the reader or about the telling. (rough estimate from word lists)
Ch 4, para 2: I have told the circumstances of the stranger’s arrival in Iping with a certain fulness of detail, in order that the curious impression he created may be understood …
The narrator rarely addresses the reader directly. Chapter 12 uses a brief aside: 'it became impossible to give a consecutive account of affairs in Iping.' Chapter 26 summarises events with light narratorial comment. Mostly the narrator stays invisible.
Chapters: Ch 12, Ch 26
From the moment when the Invisible Man screamed with rage and Mr. Bunting made his memorable flight up the village, it became impossible to give a consecutive account of affairs in Iping. (Ch 12, para 49)
E9. Documents used: letters, diaries, reports, by type and sender. Both
How often each kind of document is named in the narration. (rough estimate from word lists)
| Document | Mentions |
|---|---|
| will | 7 |
| letter | 5 |
| note | 4 |
| report | 3 |
| manuscript | 2 |
| newspaper | 2 |
The diary appears in chapter 11 when Cuss and Bunting examine it. The three manuscript books are referenced throughout but never shown. Newspapers are read in chapters 18 and 14. No letters or formal reports are quoted directly.
Chapters: Ch 11, Ch 14, Ch 18
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)
there’s a story about an Invisible Man, for instance. (Ch 14, para 18)
Barred out of my own bedroom, by a flagrant absurdity!” he said. (Ch 18, para 9)
E10. What the narrator hides, and where the reader knows more than the lead. AI
The reader knows Griffin is violent and dangerous before Kemp does. Chapter 12 shows Griffin's rampage; chapter 18 shows Kemp reading the news and realising the truth. The reader sees Griffin's crimes; Kemp learns them slowly.
Chapters: Ch 12, Ch 18, Ch 24
Behind him as he was halfway up the inn steps he heard a sudden yell of rage, rising sharply out of the confusion of cries, and a sounding smack in someone’s face. (Ch 12, para 43)
Barred out of my own bedroom, by a flagrant absurdity!” he said. (Ch 18, para 9)
My God!” cried Kemp, “the game’s up! He’s gone! (Ch 24, para 44)
E11. Free indirect style: where the narrator slips into a character's voice. AI
Free indirect style appears when the narrator slips into character thought. Chapter 1 uses it with Mrs. Hall's suspicions. Chapter 18 uses it with Kemp's growing fear. Chapter 21 uses it with Griffin's exultation about invisibility.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 18, Ch 21
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)
Barred out of my own bedroom, by a flagrant absurdity!” he said. (Ch 18, para 9)
My mood, I say, was one of exaltation. I felt as a seeing man might do, with padded feet and noiseless clothes, in a city of the blind. (Ch 21, para 3)
E12. How thought is shown: tagged, italic or blended. Count
Thought is mostly shown with tags like thought, reflected, wondered.
| Tag | Times |
|---|---|
| thought | 29 |
| reflected | 4 |
| wondered | 2 |
| said to himself | 1 |
| said to herself | 0 |
| asked himself | 0 |
| asked herself | 0 |
| told himself | 0 |
E13. What triggers each change of viewpoint? AI
Viewpoint changes at chapter breaks or when the scene shifts location. Chapter 7 shifts to the village crowd. Chapter 9 shifts to Marvel's perspective. Chapter 17 shifts to Kemp discovering Griffin. Chapter 28 shifts between Kemp and the narrator's distant view.
Chapters: Ch 7, Ch 9, Ch 17, Ch 28
For the man who stood there shouting some incoherent explanation, was a solid gesticulating figure up to the coat-collar of him, and then—nothingness, no visible thing at all! (Ch 7, para 31)
It’s very simple,” said the Voice. “I’m an invisible man. (Ch 9, para 38)
Keep your nerve,” said the Voice. “I’m an Invisible Man. (Ch 17, para 19)
E14. Hindsight: where an older narrator comments on events. AI
The narrator rarely uses hindsight commentary. Chapter 28's final paragraph reflects on Griffin's fate and the hidden books with a sense of closure. Otherwise the narrator stays in the present moment of events.
Chapters: Ch 28
Griffin, the first of all men to make himself invisible, Griffin, the most gifted physicist the world has ever seen, ended in infinite disaster his strange and terrible career. (Ch 28, para 30)
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