Student names: Krishana Kumar & Jelle Kooderings

Class: V4B
Date: June 10th,2022
Subject: English

The invisible man by H.G. Wells

After we read The invisible man by Herbert George wells, we instantly recommended the
book to our friends. This book is exciting to read, as tension builds as Griffin commits crimes.
The invisible man is a story about a man called Griffin. He can make objects (including
himself) invisible. He comes to an inn in Iping. The owner of the inn, Mrs. Hall is confused
because, Griffin is covered with bandages all over his body. She thinks he is covered with
bandages, because has been in a severe accident. But in fact, he is invisible. Then he goes
around and tells people that he is invisible. People in the village started to be suspicious
about him, because there were happening a lot of inexplicable things around the city. The
people tried to capture him, but he ran away. He did not have many friends because of the
things he did, but he went to an old friend called dr. Kemp for help. He did not provide any
help, in fact he turned against him like the other villagers. This turned Griffin mad, so he
committed several crimes like murder and stealing money. At the end of the story Griffin is
shot dead and he turns back visible.
Sociology is a way of looking at certain things. When a story is looked at socially, there is
paid attention to several social aspects. Sociology is the study of the structure,
consequences and social life of human behaviour. Sociologists know everything about
patterns of behaviour, social inequalities, the structure of groups and how people are looking
for social contacts.1
Surveillance plays a big role in sociology. Cctv's could have extremely changed the story.
The invisible man was written in 1897, but the first cctv's were invented in 19422. This means
that at the time that the book was written there was not an existence of cctv's. But what if
cctv's were already invented when the book was written? Could this have meant that Griffin
would have been caught earlier and all these murders would have been avoided? There is
no possibility to get answer on that question, but we could say that there is a huge possibility
that he might have been caught earlier. Because of the cctv's people could have noticed that
someone who is invisible is causing all these strange things that were happening in the city.
Because of this people could have been warned to be alert, and the invisible man could
have been caught. This could also mean that Griffin would not be dead at the end of the
story, but he would be in jail. Maybe if the invisible man knew that there were cctv's hanging
around, he would not have committed crimes. This could mean that people would not hate
him but appreciate his special ability. So, there could be concluded that the presence of
technological surveillance (cctv's) could change the way how people act.

After we read The invisible man, we also watched the movie of The invisible man. Now that
we know a little more about the story, we can compare the story of the book with the story
that is explained in the movie. The biggest difference between the movie and the book is
Griffin his motivation to become invisible. In the movie Griffin became invisible, because he
1
https://sociology.case.edu/what-is-sociology/
2
bron: https://www.clearway.co.uk/news/when-was-cctv-invented/#:~:text=Live%20video%20capture
%20was%20first,that%20CCTV%20became%20available%20commercially.
wanted his girlfriend back. In the book Griffin invented a potion as a scientist to become
invisible. He drank this potion, because he was curious about the effects. Another difference
between the book and the movie is Griffin's role. In the movie there is explained that Griffin
is engaged to a woman. Although in the book there is no woman mentioned who Griffin is
engaged to.
The invisible man is an exciting book to read. The book is thrilling and full of tension. The
book contains various mysterious parts what makes reading the book a lot more fun and
exciting. The book is very compelling, when Griffin was in a difficult situation, I was always
thinking about what I would do if I was in that situation. Although there are some serious
changes in the movie. It is well balanced and exciting to watch. Some social causes like
surveillance could really change the story but I don't think that will likely make the story
better. But so we can conclude that little things that have to do with sociology can change
the way that people think about you. For example, like I mentioned earlier how maybe
people would have liked the invisible man, if he did not commit serious crimes. This could
only happen, if the invisible man was influenced by cctv cameras. I would strongly
recommend people to read this book, because there is a huge chance that you might learn
something useful. For example, being able to handle with difficult situations. Another reason
this book could be recommended to read is that you can imagine how it is to be invisible,
and that it might not even be that great. We would recommend this book to people who like
to read old-time science fiction stories, and thrilling stories.