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Sep 12, 2018
this is one of Wells's best. check out the films made based on it. chilling. thought-provoking. if you like movies, i recommend the film of this novel starring marlon brando, david thewlis, and fairuza balk. that h.g. was a cogent analyst of the trends of western culture is unambiguous. undisputed. he died 'on the doorstep of world war 2'. i'm glad for his sake he did not have to experience the torment of that war. he was an atheist, and as well regarded in britain--as a writer--as rudyard kipling was--a different 'type' of author. "charles darwin was a major influence on h.g. wells. at the publication of DR< MOREAU, in1896, darwin's ON THE ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES was still very controversial. once one accepts darwin's premise that homo sapiens has evolved from other creatures, huimankind can be compared to other beasts with far more intimacy and force. such comparisons are no longer merely metaphors. at the same time the men in the story feel disdain for moreau's beasts and a superiority over animals in general, the narrator prendick, recognizes the 'beastly' qualities of men. men get drunk, they act foolishly, they cheat, they leave each other to die, they tell lies, they prowl and sneak about. the pathetic brutes on the island, once wolves and dogs and pumas and now rendered half man and half beast by the knife of dr. moreau, desperately desire to be whole men. they are ashamed of their missing digits, their wild, gleaming eyes, their instincts to drink from green ponds and to stalk other creatures./ but in wells' view, the men they want to become are the real beasts." overall, and christianically: the novel exemplifies what happens when the tower of babel comes alive (by attaining too much of an influence).