{"id":587,"date":"2018-09-16T23:44:53","date_gmt":"2018-09-16T23:44:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/?p=587"},"modified":"2018-09-16T23:44:53","modified_gmt":"2018-09-16T23:44:53","slug":"animalia-vs-humanity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/2018\/09\/16\/animalia-vs-humanity\/","title":{"rendered":"Animalia vs. Humanity"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Prendick first discovers the island and its inhabitants, he quickly notices their features. Prendick states that one of the islanders is \u201cclothed in bluish cloth, and was of a copper-coloured hue, with black hair. It seemed grotesque ugliness was an invariable character of these islanders\u201d (Wells 17). Here, Wells uses human-like characteristics and color symbolism to contrast the animalistic and human tendencies of the creatures Moreau created. For instance, being \u201cclothed\u201d suggests a humanlike sense of pride. Humans always walk around clothed, but animals do not. To this extent, Wells was trying to establish that the islanders had some qualities that set them apart from other animals.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
The Island of Dr. Moreau 1977 Rotten Tomatoes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Additionally, Wells is very intentional about his use of color symbolism. Referring to \u201cbluish cloth,\u201d \u201cblack hair\u201d and a \u201ccopper-coloured [skin] hue\u201d arouses various connotations. Blue is unusual to find naturally on cloth. It requires a dyeing process that takes time and thought. By dressing the islanders in blue, Wells suggests they have human characteristics or influences that give them a sense of fashion, thus differentiating them from animals. Blue is also representative of hope and class. Wells may have dressed the islanders in blue in order to depict Moreau\u2019s hope that they will continue gaining humanlike qualities.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the islanders\u2019 \u201ccopper-coloured hue\u201d makes them stand out from the typical white Englishman of the time. The Longman Anthology<\/em> describes the Victorian Age as a period of \u201cblatant racism\u201d (Damrosch 1064). Therefore, the islanders\u2019 different skin tone would have made them appear as having less importance than Prendick, Moreau, and Montgomery, each of whom is assumedly white and Western European. Having \u201cblack hair\u201d is also critical to the islanders\u2019 physicality. Firstly, \u201chair\u201d is different than fur, as hair is connected to humans whereas fur is connected to animals. The \u201cblackness\u201d of the hair further emphasizes the islanders\u2019 differences from the fair skin and hair of Englishmen.<\/p>\n

In relation to the novel as a whole, Moreau\u2019s attempt to create humans from animals relates to The Longman Anthology<\/em>\u2019s description of the Victorian Age as a period of reform. Moreau wanted a scientific way to invent his equal: He was attempting to create a being similar to himself. He taught his creatures how to care about fashion and dye clothes; he even gave them hair. However, Moreau failed because the islanders never possessed true class, as Prendick would have defined it. The islanders\u2019 \u201cblack hair\u201d is only one characteristic that distinguishes them from the ideal Englishmen of the time. By placing Moreau\u2019s experimental creatures somewhere between English prestige and Animalia, Wells asserts that it would be impossible for animals or anyone of different backgrounds to be capable of success in the way it was stereotypically defined by white, high-class Englishmen.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
H. G. Wells Cleveland Heights Patch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When he wrote this book, Wells was passionate against vivisection. If vivisection was proven possible, it would philosophically challenge peoples\u2019 ideas of what humanity is and how to distinguish humans from other animals. If successful, Moreau\u2019s experiments would have reformed religious, social, and scientific perspectives of the time. Nevertheless, Wells designed the book so that Moreau failed, and his failed attempt to create his human equal may be Wells\u2019 way of demonstrating how new perspectives on equality were \u201cdestroy[ing] the social fabric\u201d of England (Damrosch 1059). Wells\u2019 critique of giving new people and ideas popularity and equality could have meant that he did not support the reforms or social movements of the time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Prendick first discovers the island and its inhabitants, he quickly notices their features. Prendick states that one of the islanders is \u201cclothed in bluish cloth, and was of a copper-coloured hue, with black hair. It seemed grotesque ugliness was an invariable character of these islanders\u201d (Wells 17). Here, Wells uses human-like characteristics and color … Continue reading Animalia vs. Humanity<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3740,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125359],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2018-blog-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3740"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}