Tuesday, October 7, 2008
The Invisible Man Discussion 3
There is a theme in Wells’ novel The Invisible Man of “Nothing is gained without a corresponding loss.” Using this theme, please illustrate this point with support from the novel. Remember that all posts must be in complete sentences, be thorough and coherent. Remember as well that you should at some point be posting to a classmate's post.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
80 comments:
Griffin gained invisibility and could go where he wanted. but he hide from othes
The theme of “Nothing is gained without a corresponding loss.” to me seems to be a very true statement about life. In life something must always be sacrificed in order to gain something else. In the novel, Griffin thought that by becoming invisible that he would gain a huge advantage over the average man, but he failed to realize the many things he would have to sacrifice in order to maintain his new power. The biggest problem was that Griffin had to remain naked which is a problem because humans are tropical creatures and he resides in England where the weather is nowhere near tropical. Griffin also became visible in any form of precipitation, if he consumed any quantity of food or drink, and if he allowed himself to become dirty he would also be given away. Griffin also would give himself away if he picked up anything because if an object just started to magically float in the air it would be pretty easy to know where Griffin was. He may have been able to gain invisibility but he has to sacrifice a lot to maintain it.
Griffin gained the knowledge of how to become invisible… that is an extremely incredible scientific discovery. However, he also lost his mind in a way. He grew to hate humanity and became obsessed with making himself visible and gaining revenge on all those who did not understand him. Ultimately, his discovery was the cause of his demise. To me knowledge is not worth hatred and corruption that lead to death. He let hatred eat at him and took his handicap and made it into a power that he used for evil. He brutally attacked men and killed them fully knowing what he was doing. In life there is always a price to pay for all that you have done, both good and bad.
I think this means that it is impossible to gain something without losing something as a result. In the book The Invisible Man the protagonist Griffin tells of his journey from a regular man to invisible. He tells of both the ups and downs of his discovery. The idea of being invisible seemed interesting to him before he was invisible. Griffin talks of stumbling often because of the inability to see his feet. He also talks about how he cannot eat food in front of people because the food shows, and many other things. Basically to me this means bad things follow even the best things in this world.
"Nothing is gained without a corresponding loss" is a statement that is very true in many things we do in life. I wanted to go to the wrestling match tonight but I knew I had to get this done to fulfill my requirements. I didn't get to go to the match but I may have gotten a good grade on this assignment, I would take that anyday. In order for Griffin to become invisible he had to give up his sanity, his clothes, and the people he met along his journey. In order for him to stay invisible he couldn't wear anything or hold anything or he would be seen. I think that would be a little drafty and pretty annoying. People helped Griffin, some were forced to, but nevertheless, he had someone there. He could have had friends but instead he threw them away to maintain invisiblity.
Griffin made a huge scientific gain by becoming invisible. But, even though he made this gain, he lost a great deal. It was impossible for him to live a normal life. People had trouble accepting that a man could be invisible, and were afraid of him when they found that he was. Being invisible meant that he could not wear clothes, and this was especially hard in the winter. Even though he made a great scientific discovery, he gave up his otherwise normal life.
Griffin made a very important discovery by making himself invisible, but by doing so he thought he was highly intelligent. He was smart, but he let it go to his head and he thought that he should rule and everyone should do as he says. This was not a good thing because it led to people hating him and eventually his death. So with Griffin wanting more power and killing innocent people, he had to pay the equivalent price for his actions, which all led up to his death.
Response to Jamee Gasperich,
I agree with her thoughts about the theme. Wells did an excellent job at illustrating the theme in the novel. Griffin gained many things but he had to give up a lot to attain them. I really appreciate the fact that she realized that there was a huge problem with Griffin's invisibility, because he had to remain naked, which was a huge problem.
I think that this means that you can't expect something to happen without the result of another thing happening. Griffin gained the knowledge of becoming invisible which made him think he was better than everyone else and would have power over them. He thought that being invisible would not cause him any problems. Instead being invisible caused Griffin a great deal of problems. He couldn't wear clothes, he had to watch what he ate and when he ate it and he also had no where to live. Without being able to eat,stay warm, and have a place to stay made life very difficult for Griffin when he was invisible. Even though Griffin had gained a great deal of knowledge of being invisible he also lost a great deal because of his invisibility. Basically to me this means for Griffin to gain what he wanted he had to give up a lot just to be killed in the end. In life there is a price you must pay for the things you truly want.
Griffin had gained alot of power when he discovered invisibility. But because he did bad things he had to hide and because of this he had a hard time getting the things he needed to survive, like food, shelter, and clothes. His discovery along with not getting excepted resulted in him loosing his mind, becoming selfish, and even resulted in his own death. So even though he had this great ability he lost alot because of it and using it in the wrong way.
I agree with Davids comment.
He did lose a great amount of things. People did not believe he was invisible they either thought they were hearing things or that Griffin was a ghost. His invislbilty made a normal life difficult to live.
I agree with David's post. Even though Griffin made a huge discovery he had to give up a lot just to be invisible. He gained the ability to be invisible but lost the ability to live a normal life. Also, because of his invisibility people didn't accepted him. They were too afraid of him or just didn't believe him. In the beginning Griffin gained a great deal of knowledge but in the end he lost a lot more.
The theme of "Nothing is gained without a corresponding." in my oppinion is a true statement about life. You have to give up something in order to gain something else. The more powerful Griffin became the more hated he was.
I agree with Jamee's quote because life really is full of sacrifices that we have to make.
In response to Jamee. I agree. Life is full of sacrifices, whether it's over something small like a sports event, or something larger with more importance. Griffin had to give up many things, and many of us with also have to let go of things in our lives.
The point " Nothing is gained without corresponding loss" is very powerful and true to the story. To become invisible was an amazing gain to Griffen (at first.) After becoming invisible he then lost his identity in a way. He was battered and bruised by people because they didn't even know he was there. He couldn't have a normal life, when thats all he wanted to begin with. People would be very judgemental and scared of his invisibility so he had to keep to himself. Yet again, I bring up the point that he had to have been an extremely lonely dude. People can go crazy being so lonesome. Griffen would have never mad the amazing scientific discovery of invisibility if he had not thought that it would be an easier life for him to be invisible. Griffen didn't know that the consequences of this great gain would be go devastating.
and again i meant MADE* and SO *
To Davey Fredrick's post.
I could not agree more You took the thoughts right from my head. By becoming invisible Griffen had to give up much more than he bargained for.
The theme is pretty accurate for the novel. Griffin could not become invisible without giving up a lot. He couldnt even wear clothes without being seen, and in definite danger. I think to become invisible or anything that extreme, you would not only have to give up alot, but relearn how to live. His mind was constantly full of worry and i think deep down Griffin regretted his decision to be invisible.
i agree with david ( like most people on here haha) umm.. anyways theres no way griffin could live a normal life. Its not like any other scientists could even respect him for his discovery because he did bad things, which eventually resulted in his death. He didn't get any respect, and i think someone who discovers invisibilty definitely should get a lot of respect, but if you do things like Griffin did.. no one will respect you
In griffins case this holds alot of merrit. He disired to become invisible to get out of his problems. When he did decide to become invisible he lost his sence of rationality and also lost sight of who he was in my opinion. This holds true in everything in life. To get better at something it costs time, to go somewhere it costs gas and time. So every thing you do in life in turn costs something.
I agree with Jamee on this one. He sacraficed alot just to stay invisible and in the end it wasnt worth it at all. Like she said it also holds true in life like her wanting to go to the wrestling match, but she couldnt because of this and this is definatly more important than that. in the end though she had to sacrafice that do get this done proving the point that everything costs something.
I don’t agree with the quote “Nothing is gained without a corresponding loss.” I could be written a check from some wealthy dude for $1,000,000. Now, please tell me what I lost that corresponds to $1,000,000. Never the less, that is not the prompt. When reading The Invisible Man Griffin acquires his invisibility, I immediately thought “Well, since nothing is gained without a corresponding loss, obviously acquiring invisibility means eventual death.” No, not really, lol. But, after Griffin starts killing people and robbing, and then trying to justify it being all right, if the quote proves to be true, then something bad should happen to Griffin. Of course, something bad did happen to Griffin. He died.
Caleb, use that quote to prove my example true...I disagree hardcore.
With the gain of invisibility, Griffin has to sacrifice his former life, and lead the one of a wanderer, and a freak. He has to give up clothes, food, and sleep all because of his condition, and eventually he has to give up his life becuase of it. In order to gain invisiblity, Griffin has to give his whole life away. It's a bit like selling your sould to the devil, in this case, the devil is the power to be invisible. He may have gained knowlage and brief power, but it all came to a crahing halt when people turned against him, and killed him. What he mostly lost was his humanity. He became no longer human (in a sense), but turned into a monster with power.
In the Story the Invisible Man Griffin believes that the world would be a better place, at least for him, if he imposed a rein of terror on the people of Europe. In this case the corresponding lose was the many lives that Griffin took to impose his rein of terror. By imposing a rein of terror Griffin would gain power but he would lose contact with the rest of the human race and become even more estranged from society. In another example Griffin gained power and wealth by becoming invisible but lost the ability to enjoy what he had gained.
Ian, the idea with the check, what you would lose is most of that money. The government would take most of it from you, and eventually you might find that having that money may change your personality. Make you more greedy, and eventually you might lose something, or someone important to you like a best friend. That's what normally seems to happen because it's a power thing. The more money someone has the more powerful they feel, and they end up hurting people close to them. That would be the loss.
I agree with Alex that even great discoveries have down sides to them. In the case of Griffin it was the discomforts of invisibility and the inability to live a normal life. Also I agree that you have to make sacrifices for things that you really want.
Response to Leah
Leah's last point is true. "Bad things follow even the best things in the world." Griffin had the best thing, being invisible, in the end he died because he couldn't control himself. He also lost more than not being able to eat around people. Griffin lost the trust of others by choosing to be invisible.
I think the theme in this case is talking about invisblity as the gain and his humanity as the corresponding loss. he gain the ability to become invisble but in the process he lost all connection to humans he could not interact with them in a positive way and evetually complete turned against humanity and starting his "reign of terror" so to speak.
I agree with Caleb that this is a true statement in many things in life.
Griffin gained invisibility rashly, he thought only of the advantages so he lost his humanity by not thinking it thoroughy through. His gain was the adavatages of invisibility, in that, he could have whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, and could go wherever he wanted with no one knowing. But he lost all sense of humanity, no way he could correspond with the world. Also he lost all of his advantages because he couldn't enjoy any of them at all. He would have been exposed for having stealing or other treacheries. So in the end he lost everything he hoped to gain.
In response to Caleb, it is true he lost a lot of normal physical homeostasis. He lost clothes. He should have made a some clothes invisble like he did with that cloth. And also as Caleb was saying he lost advantage when the weather was bad or when he was being careless and walking through mud. I never thought of it in the physical sense only the humanity sense until i read Caleb's.
In The Invisible Man there is unquestionably a theme of “Nothing is gained without a corresponding loss.” Griffin believed wholeheartedly that invisibility would be pure happiness and have no consequences. It didn’t take him long to realize that he had to pay a great price for invisibility. All of his work was burned, except his three books, and he didn’t have anywhere safe to live. He couldn’t communicate with people without scaring them. He couldn’t wear any clothing without wearing clothing all over his body. I think his lack of contact with people also caused him to ultimately turn savage. Unfortunately, he had to do all that just to become invisible. Yes, Griffin reached his dream of becoming invisible but he lost all those other things.
In the novel, Griffin attained a huge scientific discovery, invisibility. Instead of sharing it with the rest of the scientific community, he horded it to himself and made himself invisible. His selfishness of his invisibility led to his own misery that led to his psychosis and his eventual breakdown. In his psychotic attempt to murder and instill a “Reign of Terror,” he led about a rebellion for his own murder.
I agree with Alex Fleming. Griffin’s knowledge of invisibility certainly had consequences for him. I agree with Alex when she says that you really have to pay a price for what you really want. The most important things in life are usually the ones you pay the most for.
I agree with Caleb on this one. All he thought about was how cool it would be to be invisible and all the advantages he would have, but he never looked at the things he had to sacrifice. He never thought of the risks of exposure(both of his invisibility and to the elements) or of the serious complications involved with stealing things. Not once did he cast a glance at the long list of reasons not to become invisible. He had had sucha rough life that he already felt invisible but he never considered the consequences to actually beomcing invisible.
1. The theme does correspond with the quote very much so. For every gain you must have a loss of the same importance. For instance in the novel Griffin wanted to be famous for his discovery of being invisible, but with getting all of that how he became famous for being invisible wasn’t how he wanted it I’m sure. Griffin became famous as the one to fear because he did anything possible to get what he needed, such as killing people and robbing people even his own father.
In response to Brittney DeNeen...
Brittney has a good point, in which i do agree. He did get so sure of himself that he thought he was the best out there because he discovered how to become invisible. With Griffin thinking that he is the best he had to take the consequences with it.
“Nothing is gained without a corresponding loss”… when I dwell on this statement many things come to mind. Some things have nothing to do with the novel, like if Compton got taller she would lose being picked on therefore having no one else to talk to… but other thoughts point towards Griffin, his thinking that he can have a great advantage over people being invisible, but he loses everything and anything that could ever make him happy when he’s unseen. The only thing that being invisible does for him is makes him captive, being held down by the cold without being able to wear clothes, or walking without creating visible trail that gives him away like sneezes or self creating footprints.
The theme "Nothing is gained without a corresponding loss." matches this story to the T. In order for Griffin to make a marvelous discovery in the scientific field he gave up a lot. What he gave up was having a life. As soon as he made himself invisible his life went completely out the window. His loss, in my opinion, was greater than his gain. He could never be normal and have that image that people crave. Yes, he did want to be better than the average Joe, but maybe he would find out his loss in the long run. But he didn't even make that run, instead he died.
"Nothing is gained without a corresponding loss." This theme seems to be very true not only in the book, but in real life as well. You can't really go through a situation and gain something great withought losing good in the process of getting to something better. In The Invisible Man, Griffin goes through a long process of being alone and doing research to gain his invisibility. Through this process, he lost his sensible thinking to make right decisions and in the end, he ended up losing his life. So in this case he gained something great (invisibility) and lost something great (his life).
I would tend to agree with cole. Becoming invisible Griffin wanted to maximize his profits without anyone ever knowing what was going on. He could have went public with his findings but instead he decided to become greedy and lose his connection with the rest of the world, but in his lonliness he became mad and every time he interacted it just fueled his fire to be a force.
I agree with Julie. Griffin gave up all his finding except for three books in a fire, he had no friends to rely on for help, scared others when trying to make contact with them, had to wear clothes all over if he wanted clothing, and many more things. He gave up so much in life to be invisible. I personally wouldn't want to give up contact with others and a safe place to live just to be invisible.
Griffin gained the ability to be invisible and to do many great things with that but instead he wanted to use the invisiblily for bad thing thus leading to his death. While he was invisible I think that he lost his sanity with his visible appereance. He may have gained the power to be invisible but he lost his only chance for a normal life.
At first, The Invisible Man thought he would be able to accomplish great feats while invisible. It was only shortly after he was invisible that he realized that invisibility would make him a complete outcast to everyone else. That realization left him to the fact that he would have to steal food and intrude on private spaces to get rest.
I agree with Codie on her comment. Griffin definitely lost his sanity and the chance of ever having a normal life.
I agree with Alex. He thought only good things would happen to him but he was wrong. Being invisible didn't give him an advantage over people it only limited him more than before. It caused him way more problems instead of getting rid of them.
I think this theme is saying that you can't gain anything without sacrificing something. This is definitely illustrated in this book. I feel it is also illistrated in real life. It always seems you can't gain anything unless you give something else up. In the story, Griffin becomes invisible but at a pretty huge cost I think. He can't be completely truthful with a human again because everyone would think he was crazy. He couldn't wear normal clothes without covering up every inch of him, or carry an item for too long because someone would discover him. Even before he became invisible he had to isolate himself from people in order to work and keep it a secret. I think his invisiblity came at a great cost.
1. I think that this point is illustrated with Griffin’s invisibility. He gained the ability to become invisible but lost the ability to interact with people and society. Everybody needs to have contact with another person and society. He could not receive this contact while invisible, so he realized that he needed a person to help him. That is why he went to such extremes to try to convince Kemp to help him.
I completely agree with what David had to say. The discover Griffin made was indeed great but he did have to give up a normal life to gain this discovery.
Response to Olivia:
I agree, he gave up his social life to become invisible, and all he could think about were the gains. He didn't consider the downfalls of invisibility.
"Nothing is gained without a corresponding loss" describes this story 100%, also "be careful what you wish for" is a good quote to describe it. Griffin wanted to become invisible more than anything else and he got his wish. Along the way he had a lot of concequences for his actions. He gained a lot of confidence and trust, but in the end it was a downward spiral of concequences.
In response to Aaron; it does seem that he unknowingly trade social interactions for invisibility and I think that was a bad trade.
In Well's novel, the theme "nothing is gained without a corresponding loss" is a perfect example of what this story portrays. In order to gain anything good in life you may have to sacrifice things that you want to do. For instance, when we all go off to college and the military it will be an exciting new adventure for all of us and a learning experience that will get us far in life. But by doing that, we must sacrifice the comfort of always being surrounded by friends and family and normality. By Griffin becoming invisible, he sacrificed the warmth of clothing, the company of people, and the retraint of no mobility. I know if i were invisible for the rest of my life without people knowing, I would become very depressed because I love having the company of someone with me. So really we could consider his invisibility an imprisonment.
I agree with Mi-Shelly Notestine on this one. He wanted to be invisible and he made his scientific discovery but at the same time that was Griffin's tragic flaw. He wasn't satisfied with the way he was.
I agree with codie, he may have been the only invisible man on the earth but he couldn't live his life like a normal person which fits the quote perfectly.
On my first entry I didn't mean to say no mobility. I ment to say limitied.
The theme is very true in The Invisible Man. Griffin gains an opportunity to do something no one else has ever done, but at the same time looses his dignity and his humanity in doing so. He also begins to lose his past and traditions as he attempts to gain an advantage over ordinary people, and by doing so loses a core part of himself, thus becoming invisible in his own eyes as well as physically.
I agree with Brianna. I think that being invisible my whole life would make my life an actual prison, filled with misery and loneliness.
The theme of this novel is very true in real life as well as in this book. In life to gain somethign there is always a sacrifice. That's just how life is. In the novel Griffin's ablitity to be invisible was great to start, because he could go where ever and do whatever, but he had to hide himself from people becasue he didnt want other people to know about his secret. So he lost almost all of his "freedom". In the end him being invisible makes him somewhat insane. That would is one of the many loses that he had to face by becoming invisible.
please disregard my first post...I realize that it wasn't that great...
For a brief moment in time, Griffin gets to play God. He is fire and ice and rage and bitterness from his lot in life, and he has the ability to finally do something. Not write it, not immerse himself in his studies. He has the opportunity to become a symbol- but at the same time, he looses his compassion and pity and eventually his few friends. And although he has the world at his fingertips, he looses the things that make him human, and touchable, and real.
In respose to David F.
I agree with you about 1000% percent. He made a great discovery, but it was impossible for him to live a normal life. Which is a big bummer.
when you achieve any power or gift as great as being invisible their are usually consequences. Although beng invisible had its many perks there were also many downfalls. Even though Griffin gained the power to become invisible he lost his ability to have a normal life. since becoming invisible he can no linger have a coversation with a person because they will think they are going crszy or hallucinating. Griffen can also no longer just walk into a restaurant and eat because he will have to reveal his face and allow everyone to see he is invisible. to achieve anything in life you ust sacrifice something else. In Griffins case he lost moe than he gained in my opinion.
I agree with Caleb. Griffin did feel he would gain a great advantage over everyone else when he became invisible but i don't think he anticipated that he would not be able to wear clothes and being in England the climate requires you to wear clothes.
I agree with Olivia...
Griffin gave up one life for a completely different one, but it still didn't make him any happier.
A good example of "Nothing is gained without a corresponding loss." is with the gain of an ultimante power like invisiblity (someting no other human in the world has) their is going to be great losses that follow. The invisible man had to give up socialy, such as friendships and relationships because people were afraid of him. He also had to give up nessesities of life to be invisible like clothing and shelter. If he ever wanted to be seen as a man out in public he would have to be covered completly from head to toe which can be very akward to others. He had to eat alone and be carful not to be seen half invisible and half covered. There is a lot more that he had to sacrifice to, so I begin to wonder was it really worth it. I do not think it was.
Being a mom you have to look out for your family. Being President you have to look out for your family and billions of other people. With greater authority/power you have more responsibility. If you are a child of 5 years old your responsibilities are very few like: going to bed, school, and obeying elders. You have to grow into your responsibilities not just jump right into things. Growing into being invisible owuld be a lot better than all at once. You'd have time to see what was going to happen. That quote is very true within the book but also in life
I agree with amanda...
Before becoming invisible he was a hard working man that could still have a good life. But then he became god and to many no longer even human. He was then a powerful figure with out important feeling that make a man a man like compassion and pity, he becomes a killer.
Macy Yingling had good points in her blog. Giving up friends and family would be hard. Invisible wasnt worth what you had to give up. Therefore the power had greater responsibilities to go with it than i would like.
Griffin thinks everything would get better with this "Reign of Terror." Killing more and more people would just lessen his human contact even more, so there are pros and cons to his invisibility discovery. He thought everything would be great by becoming invisible, but turns out it isn't. Therefore nothing good was gained, but a gain of having no human contact really.
I agree with Kaitlyn F and Macy. Being invisible wasnt worth giving up most of your benefits. Also being invisible had bigger responsibilities.
In life, there's always some sort of sacrifice to get something, whether the gain you are after is big or small. Big gain:big sacrifice, small gain; small sacrifice. Griffin figured out how to make solid objects invisible, including himself. However, once he did this, and completed the experiment to make himself invisible, he lost his ability to live normally. It was really hard for him to get the basic necessities of life, and he couldn't interact with people in a normal way. He just kept getting more frustrated with the disability he had put on himself, and his great discovery at last lead to his downfall.
Response to Brit DeNeen's post;;
Agreed, that he thought quite highly of himself, and that was a bad thing. Also agreed that he went overly into thinking he was better than everyone, and thinkning he should automatically be in control.
IN RESPONSE TO IAN. Think of it this way, Ian. You want to become a better football player. That is the gain. The loss is the amount of time you spend in the gym, the pain that you go through, and the loss of free time. I hate this expression, but since you use it so much, you just got pwnd.
To alice,
Yes i would lose some in taxes, but i nor care nor feel it was significant. Plus the dude that gave it to me didn't care at all because he is allergic to money. I have no friends and can care less if my personality changes.
Now for DAVE (he seems to like ALL CAPS) Actually dave, My first thought of an example was the one you gave me, but that proves the quote true. Now, my challenge to you is to prove my money theory wrong. Also, were not allowed to write "pwned" quia this is an english assignment.
Laugh out Loud! Rolling on the floor laughing! I just said "quia" instead of "because". Oh well, that is a mistake I am proud to make.
In response to Amanda...
I agree with Amanda. The more power you posess the easier it is for you to lose yourself. Eventualy you become somone else entirely.
It is clear that to survive in his altered condition Griffin would have to take many precautions to remain unnoticed. The decreased interaction with other people was something that Griffin must have expected to come with his new found powers, but the fact that he must always sneak about and search for the things he needed for survival was most likely not part of Griffin's original plan of action. His inability to maintain a normal existance was probably his greatest sacrifice but was one he must have been willing to make during his early experiments.
In response to Candace's post, I agree that his discoveries eventualy caused him to lose his mind obsessing over his work. His anger at himself boiled over when he struck out against others especially when going so far as to murder them. His situation clearly didnt suit his original intentions and for that was not worth the sacrifices neccessary.
Post a Comment