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Tone
Chapter 10: The Crying of the Man
Explanation and Analysis—Discerning Ear:
Although Prendick does not seem to be a liar, he is an unreliable narrator. For example, in Chapter 10, he describes waking up in Moreau's house to the sound of human screams:
Then I recalled the expression of [Montgomery's] face the previous night, and with that the memory of all I had experienced reconstructed itself before me. Even as that fear returned to me came a cry from within. But this time it was not the cry of the puma. [...]
There was no mistake this time in the quality of the dim broken sounds, no doubt at all of their source; for it was groaning, broken by sobs and gasps of anguish. It was no brute this time. It was a human being in torment!
Related Themes:
Chapter 22: The Man Alone
Explanation and Analysis—Wounded Deer:
In Chapter 22, Prendick describes his return to England after he escapes from the island and is rescued at sea. He uses a simile to describe a "delusion" he has about the people there:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I would go out into the streets to fight with my delusion, and prowling women would mew after me, furtive craving men glance jealously at me, weary pale workers go coughing by me, with tired eyes and eager paces like wounded deer dripping blood, old people, bent and dull, pass murmuring to themselves, and all unheeding a ragged tail of gibing children.
Related Themes:
