FOOT PRINTS WITHOUT FEET by HG WELLS (Footprints without Feet)

  H.G. Wells, in full Herbert George Wells, (born  1866—died  1946 London), English novelist,             journalist, sociologist, and historian best known for such science fiction novels as The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds and such comic novels as Tono-Bungay and The History .This story Foot prints without feet is an extract from his fiction The Invisible Man.

1.     How did the invisible man first become visible? 

The invisible man (Griffin) first became visible after he slipped into a big London store for keeping warm and overslept there while wearing some clothes taken from the store. To escape from them, he had to shed all his clothes to become invisible again.

2.     Why was he wandering the streets? 

The Invisible Man was wandering in the streets because he had Set Fire to his landlord's house and became homeless. To escape being caught he took off his clothes 

3.     What did Griffin discover?     

Griffin was a brilliant scientist, as he discovered a drug due to which his body became transparent as a sheet of glass after swallowing it. This made him invisible.

4.     “Griffin was rather a lawless person.” Comment. 

Yes, we can say that Griffin was a lawless person. He didn't follow the law and order of the country as he thought of having his revenge by setting out fire in his landlord's property. He didn't believe in observing law. He robbed a shopkeeper of all the money he could find.

5.     How did lawlessness overshadowed his greatness as a scientist?

Griffin was rather a lawless person. His landlord disliked him and tried to eject him. In revenge Griffin set fire to the house. Griffin was no doubt a brilliant scientist but his lawlessness overshadowed his brilliance. He misused his discovery and disturbed the peace of society. He robbed a storehouse, hit the landlady and the shopkeeper, had a fight with the constable.

6.     How would you assess Griffin as a scientist? 

Griffin is a brilliant scientist, as he discovers how to make himself invisible. But he seems to enjoy the feeling of power which he gets out of his invisibility. The power to hurt anybody without getting noticed can give sadistic pleasure to some people.

7.     Would you like to become invisible? What advantages and disadvantages do you foresee, if you did? 

Griffin had imagined his invisibility would end all his problems. Griffin was motivated to experiment on invisibility many factors. His albinism and passion for physics were prominent two factors that egged him on to experiment on invisibility. He had believed invisibility would make him invincible, and master of his circumstances. He thought after becoming invisible he would have  the impunity to do whatever he chose. He could do anything and escape by being invisible. No person could hold him. He could take his money from anywhere and anyone at his own will. However, after becoming invisible his joy was just short lived. He soon realized many disadvantages of being invisible.

 

The first and foremost disadvantage was the cold. The extreme cold climatic condition in London during winter could not be faced without clothes. In order to become invisible, Griffin had to take all his clothes off. Being clothe less would soon freeze him to death. 

The second disadvantage was the rain and the snow. He realized when it rained and snowed, his presence was liable to be detected as the water would trickle down him making him visible; similarly, snow would also make an outline on his shoulders and head making him visible. He could easily be caught and imprisoned.

The third disadvantage was he had neither any home nor any shelter where he could hide himself. He did not want to confide his secret of invisibility to anyone, as he had no friend. He feared no one would believe him. He also feared if he confided to anyone he could betray him. Seeing so many disadvantages that could endanger his survival, he felt being visible was far better than being invisible. So he wanted to be visible again. But he did not how to become visible. He needed a quiet place where he could carry his experiments on becoming visible again. He made a plan to cover himself thoroughly until he was successful with his experiment of becoming visible.

8. Are there forces around us that are invisible, for example, magnetism? Are there aspects of matter that are ‘invisible’ or not visible to the naked eye? What would the world be like if you could see such forces or such aspects of matter? 

Magnetic forces and electrostatic forces are examples of invisible forces. The atoms and molecules in a matter are so small that they are not visible to the naked eye. Similarly, heat energy is invisible. Similarly, the sound is invisible to us.

9.     Why does Mrs Hall find the scientist eccentric?

Griffin  introduced himself as a scientists and he said that he had no desire to talk, and told her the  reason for coming to Iping is a desire for solitude and he did not wish  to be disturbed in my work. Besides, he added that an  accident had affected his face. All this made Mrs Hall to conclude that he is an eccentric.

10.  What curious episode occurs in the study?

One day, very early in the morning , a clergyman and his wife are awakened by noises in the study. While creeping downstairs, they hear the chink of money being taken from the clergyman's desk.

11.  What other extraordinary things happen at the inn? 

At the inn, Mrs Hall and her husband went into the scientist's room on finding its door open. However, he was not seen in the room, but Mrs Hall heard a sniff and the hat on the bedpost leapt up and dashed into her face.