THE INFLUENCE OF MOTIVATION TOWARDS BEHAVIOR RESULTED IN GRIFFIN’S SELF-DESTRUCTION IN

H. G. WELLS’ THE INVISIBLE MAN

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

By

NANANG PRASETYO

Student Number: 044214036

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

2009

i

THE INFLUENCE OF MOTIVATION TOWARDS BEHAVIOR RESULTED IN GRIFFIN’S SELF-DESTRUCTION IN

H. G. WELLS’ THE INVISIBLE MAN

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

By

NANANG PRASETYO

Student Number: 044214036

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

2009

iv

In every journey, the traveler must ask,

"Was the right path taken?"

Many roads are long and winding

Filled with those who have lost their way.

Some forge their own course,

Guided by faith,

Seeking not a location,

But a kindred soul.

Others step together,

Finding safety in the arms of another.

A few remove themselves from the trail

To avoid the path of temptation.

But those who watch the track too closely,

Fail to see where it led them

And they're often all too surprised

By their destination

-heroes

v

I dedicate this thesis to

Ndutz, the dearest of all my friends

Everybody who loves me

Everybody whom I love

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my enormous gratitude to Dra. Theresia

Enny Anggraini, M.A., for the advice, suggestion, correction, and patience. Without

her guidance, I will not be able to finish my thesis. I would like also to thank Elisa

Dwi Wardani, S. S., M. Hum as my co-advisor, for the correction and suggestion.

I would like to give my deepest thank to my beloved companion Ameliana

‘Ndutz’ Widyastuti for her endless assistance and care especially along the process

of writing this thesis. All the effort for this thesis is for you, for a thousand times.

I would like to thank Pikha for the discussion and suggestion; ‘Hoping’

Martha and Caca for the endless friendship; Elin for the guidance in thesis format; the

fellowship of English Letters ’04: Edward, Feme, Ison, Six, Soni, Jati, Patrik, Eka,

Jojo, Ucok, Intan, Lutfi, Sheila, Dita, Ririn, Cory, Dede, Lisis, Tini, Indri, Dita ndut,

and for Rizki, come and get me!; Dimas ‘PBI UNY’; Bexell ‘ex-FE UII’; my KKN

group: Wulan, Menyun, Dewi and Pikha; for all crews of String Movie Maniacs and

Panggung Boneka, everything that we have done is extremely fun. I also would like

to thank all lecturers and staff (especially Mbak ‘Nik) in English Letters, all librarians

and staff in Sanata Dharma University Library. The last but not least, I would like to

thank all the people who have always supported me especially during my time in

college that cannot be mentioned one by one. A thousand thanks will never be

enough.

Nanang Prasetyo

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ................................................................................................................ i APPROVAL PAGE ...................................................................................................... ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE ................................................................................................. iii MOTTO PAGE ............................................................................................................. iv DEDICATION PAGE .................................................................................................. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................. vii ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................viii ABSTRAK ..................................................................................................................... ix

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 1

A. Background of the Study .............................................................................. 1 B. Problem Formulation .................................................................................... 3 C. Objectives of the Study ................................................................................. 3 D. Definition of Terms ....................................................................................... 4

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ............................................................... 5

A. Review of Related Studies ............................................................................ 5 B. Review of Related Theories .......................................................................... 7

1. Theories of Character and Characterization ........................................... 7 2. Theories of Human Motivation ............................................................... 9 3. Antisocial Personality Disorder .............................................................. 11 4. Aggressive Behavior ............................................................................... 12

C. Theoretical Framework ................................................................................. 13

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ............................................................................ 15 A. Object of the Study ....................................................................................... 15 B. Approach ....................................................................................................... 16 C. Method of the Study ...................................................................................... 16

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ......................................................................................... 18

A. The Character Description of Jack Griffin .................................................... 18 B. The Background of Griffin’s Motivation in Performing the Experiment ..... 27

1. To Achieve Glory and Fame ................................................................... 27 2. To Restore His Visibility ........................................................................ 30

C. The Influence of Griffin’s Motivation towards His Behavior and How The Behavio Leads Him to His Self-destruction ......................................... 34

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION .................................................................................... 50

BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................... 53

APPENDIX .................................................................................................................... 55

viii

ABSTRACT

NANANG PRASETYO. The Influence of Motivation Towards Behavior Resulted In Griffin’s Self-Destruction in H. G. Wells’ The Invisible Man. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2009. This study discusses one of H.G Wells’ novel entitled The Invisible Man. The object of this study is Jack Griffin, the major character of the novel, who performs an experiment which tries to make objects invisible. As literary works can represent human’s nature, in this study the writer talks about human motivation and how it influences behavior as reflected by Jack Griffin. There are three problems that become the basis of this study .The first problem is how the characteristics of Jack Griffin is depicted in the story. The second problem is what the background of Griffin’s motivation in performing his experiment. The last problem is how Griffin’s motivation influences his behavior and how it leads him to his self-destruction. In order to answer the problems, this study uses library research method and since the focus of this study is in human psychology, it is most appropriate to use the psychological approach. The writer tries to answer by analyzing the characteristics of Jack Griffin using the theory of character and characterization. Then, the writer tries to reveal the factor that becomes the background of Griffin’s motivation using the theory of human motivation. Last, the writer tries to find the influence of motivation toward behavior. It proves mostly through the dialog analysis. Based on the analysis of the study, the writer finds five basic characteristics of Jack Griffin. The five characteristics of Jack Griffin are as a very mysterious man, an irritable person, bad tempered, very dedicated and ambitious, also as a devious man. Another fact that the writer finds is that he is an albino. The writer also finds two different motivation of Jack Griffin in performing his experiment. His first motivation is to achieve glory and fame. The second is to restore his visibility. Last, the writer finds the connection between the motivations of Jack Griffin toward his behavior. His high level of motivation leads him to perform aggressive behavior which behavior later leads him to his own death.

ix

ABSTRAK

NANANG PRASETYO. The Influence of Motivation Towards Behavior Resulted In Griffin’s Self-Destruction in H. G. Wells’ The Invisible Man. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University. 2009 Skripsi ini membahas salah satu novel dari H. G. Wells yang berjudul The Invisible Man. Objek dari skripsi ini adalah Jack Griffin, tokoh utama dari novel ini, yang melakukan eksperimen untuk membuat benda menjadi tidak terlihat. Sebagaimana karya sastra dapat menggambarkan sifat dasar manusia, di skripsi ini penulis berbicara tentang motivasi manusia dan bagaimana motivasi tersebut bisa mempengaruhi perilaku seperti yang direfleksikan oleh Jack Griffin. Ada tiga permasalahan yang menjadi inti dari skripsi ini. Permasalahan pertama adalah bagaimana karakteristik dari Jack Griffin digambarkan di dalam cerita ini. Yang kedua, faktor apa saja yang menjadi latar belakang dari motivasi Griffin dalam menjalankan eksperimen. Yang terakhir adalah bagaimana motivasi Griffin mempengaruhi perilakunya dan bagaimana hal tersebut membawanya menuju kehancurannya. Untuk menjawab permasalahan-permasalahan tersebut, skripsi ini menggunakan studi pustaka dan mengingat fokus dari skripsi ini adalah psikologi manusia, pendekatan psikologi dirasa paling sesuai. Penulis mencoba untuk menjawab permasalahan yang ada dengan menganalisa karakteristik dari Jack Griffin menggunakan teori karakter dan karakterisasi. Selanjutnya, penulis mencoba mengungkapkan faktor apa saja yang melatar belakangi motivasi Griffin menggunakan teori motivasi manusia. Yang terakhir, penulis mencoba mencari pengaruh dari motivasi terhadap perilaku. Hal ini sebagian besar dibuktikan melalui analisis dialog. Berdasarkan analisis dari skripsi ini, penulis menemukan lima karakteristik pokok dari Jack Griffin. Kelima karakter tersebut adalah sebagai, orang yang misterius, kasar, bertemperamen buruk, berdedikasi tinggi dan ambisius, serta sebagai orang yang licik. Fakta lain yang ditemukan adalah dia seorang albino. Penulis juga menemukan dua motivasi yang berbeda dari Jack Griffin. Yang pertama adalah untuk mendapatkan kejayaan dan ketenaran. Yang kedua adalah untuk mengembalikan kekasatmataanya. Akhirnya, penulis menemukan hubungan antara motivasi dari Jack Griffin terhadap perilakunya. Tingkat motivasinya yang tinggi mendorongnya kepada perilaku agresif yang selanjutnya perilakunya tersebut membawanya kepada kematiannya.

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Literary works can be used as a medium by an individual to express his/her

feeling at a certain time. He/she can share their feeling to others through language.

Many authors write literary works based on what he/she thinks or feels. They express

their feeling, vision, idea or concept in the artistic and meaningful works which no

common people can express.

Through literary works, readers are not only satisfied with the pleasure that

they get, but also with the knowledge that implied behind the story. As Thomas

Woody says in his Life and Education in Early Societies,

And all of us who read literary work will find our knowledge broadened and deepened, whether in the individual, the social, the racial or the internal sphere; we shall understand how we come to live at particular time and place, with all its pleasure and vexations and problems, we shall understands the ways own wards which are open to us, and we shall perhaps be able to make right rather than wrong choices. (1968: 2-3)

An author uses characters as a media to represent his/her idea. Those

characters will be related to each other to explain the content of the literary works.

Perrin (1974:68) in his Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense explains that by

reading a literary work, readers often can see thoroughly the characters’ inner life

because an author can tell the readers the characters’ mind and feeling. Therefore, the

literary works may give the readers the opportunity to observe human nature in all its

complexity and multiplicity so that the readers may know people, understand people

in real life better, and learn compassion for them.

2

Usually, characters in literary works are described like real individuals in the

real life. Each character has his/her own behavior and characteristic. Those

characters’ appearances and personalities might change through the story and can be a

different sort of person at the end of the story.

Many writers are focusing on the characters and the qualities of their

personality. One of them is H. G. Wells. Although his well-known science-fiction

novel’s theme is about the technology and social condition of the society, there is no

hesitation that his novel also offers the description of human personal qualities. One

of the works is The Invisible Man.

H. G Wells’ The Invisible Man is published in 1897. This science fiction novel

is made by Wells to illustrate, or maybe foretell the effect of scientific progress that

would happen in the world, and the way in which people would react to the coming

wonders. Wells already sees that in the future there will be many discoveries which

are beyond people’s imagination at that time. In The Invisible Man he goes deeper by

studying the effect on the individual. His son, Frank Wells on the novel’s preface said

that this novel is more than just a science fiction; it is the study of a character. It is

about a man who strive to make himself unusual and thereby always above his fellow

men, a man who sees himself and his uniqueness as power over others, a man with a

dictatorship, the man is Jack Griffin.(1897:14)

This novel is chosen because the writer considers that this novel only get a

few attention or neglected. This can be proven by the fact that there are few criticisms

or studies on this novel. It is ironic that actually the novel is a well-known work of

literature. This is very contrast with the fact that this novel has already converted into

a movie for several times. An article which is written by Josh Lacey entitled Reading

3

The Invisible Man is a Depressing Experience said that The Invisible Man may have

been one of the pioneering works of science fiction, but a century later, the science

seems silly and the fiction is old-fashioned in all the worst ways. The writer feels

challenged by Josh Lacey statement which said:

There's one obvious reason for the novel's lack of potency: it is a victim of its own success. The invisible man's story has become embedded in our culture, and offers no surprises. <http://www.infinityplus.com/invisibleman.htm>

Although considered as old-fashioned work, the writer thinks that it is still worth

studying. This novel still offers more complex issues on its major character, Jack

Griffin, who becomes the object of this study.

Since this novel is focusing on the character of Jack Griffin, this study will

attempt to analyze the psychology of the character of Jack Griffin, in this case is his

motivation. The study will point out how his motivation can influence his behavior

from a very dedicated scientist becoming an aggressive man and a man with full of

terror to his surrounding society.

B. Problem Formulation

1. How are the characteristics of Jack Griffin described in the story?

2. What is the background of Griffin’s motivation in performing his

experiment?

3. How does Griffin’s motivation in performing the experiment influence his

behavior and lead him to his self-destruction?

C. Objective of the Study

4

The objective of this study is to answer the three questions which are

formulated in the problem formulation. In this study, the writer would like to discover

how the character of Jack Griffin is described in the story. Secondly, the writer tries

to reveal the background of his motivation in performing his experiment. Later, the

writer would like to analyze how the character’s motivation influences his behavior

and how it leads to his self-destruction.

D. Definition of Terms

In order to avoid misunderstanding and provide clearer explanation to answer

the problem formulation which is stated above, terms that are related to the study will

be presented.

According to Robert C. Beck in his book entitled Motivation: Theories and

Principles, motivation is broadly concerned with the contemporary determinants of

choice (direction), persistence, and vigor of goal-directed behavior. (1978:24)

Behavior, according to Webster’s New World Dictionary, is the manner in

which a person behaves in reacting to social stimuli. (1975:197)

Meanwhile, the term of self-destruction is meant to describe an action which

is ruining of own life: the ruining of one’s life or an aspect of it such as his/her health,

happiness, or career. It also can be meaning as an act or instance of suicide.

(1975:1235)

5

CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL REVIEW

In this chapter, the writer will present some reviews on the novel that is going

to be discussed. The reviews are taken from various sources which concern on the

works by H. G. Wells, especially The Invisible Man. The writer also presents several

theories which are used to analyze the character on novel which become the subject

of the study.

A. Review of Related Studies

In order to understand H. G. Wells’ The Invisible Man, the writer feels that it

will be necessary to discuss some comments and critics about the work. These critics

and comments are worth discussing because it will be very helpful in understanding

the background of writing this novel or reveal the messages behind its story.

The Invisible Man is often considered as one of the most successful work of

H. G. Wells. Many critics also regard the work as a pioneer of science-fiction story.

J. D. Beresford in his H. G. Wells state,

"What could a man do if he were invisible?" Various attempts to answer that question had been made by other writers, but none of them had come to it with Mr Wells' practical grasp of the real problem; the earlier romantics had not grappled with the necessity for clothes and the various ways in which a material man, however indistinguishable his body by our sense of sight, must leave traces of his passage. The study from beginning to end is finely realistic; and even the theory of the albino, Griffin, and in a lesser degree his method of winning the useless gift of invisibility, are convincing enough to make us wonder whether the thing is not scientifically possible. As a pure romance set in perfectly natural surroundings, The Invisible Man is possibly the high-water mark of Mr Wells' achievement in this kind. (1915:28)

6

He also states that Wells’ technique in writing the story is perfect and the interest in

the development of the story works up steadily to the splendid climax. It depicted the

man's revolt against imprisonment in the flesh.

According to Robert Sirabian’s The Conception of Science in Wells’ the

Invisible Man, it stated that The Invisible Man reveals provocative ideas about the

relationship of science, human nature, and society below the surface of its

imaginative plotting. Sirabian also point out that the background of writing this novel

is because at that era, science has prestige values in the society.

Science as a prestige branch of learning came about at the end of the Victorian period, when The Invisible Man was written, as Britain's trade position was threatened by Germany's emphasis on science (261). Early in the period, amateur scientists paved the way for the rise of science as a legitimate field of study in schools, but even as science became a respectable discipline and developed as a field of inquiry, there was a fear that the legitimization of science could erode culture and obscure literature. The romantic conception of science pursued by Griffin challenges a prevailing Victorian notion of science, defined as the finding of truth for social good through the factual recording and observation of nature. But while the novel clearly shows the dangers of uncontrolled speculative science, it more subtly reveals the limits of scientific thought based solely on factual observation, reason, and utility. (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3708/is_200110/ai_n8976172/pg_5) Wells is well-know among his friends such like Joseph Conrad, George

Bernard Shaw, and Arnold Bennett as a writer who always concern in the concept of

humanity. In The Science of Science-fiction Writing, James Gunn quotes a comment

from Conrad after reading The Invisible man:

I am always powerfully impressed by your work. Impressed is the word, O Realist of the Fantastic! . . . If you want to know what impresses me it is to see how you contrive to give over humanity to the clutches of the Impossible and yet manage to keep it down (or up) to its humanity, to its flesh, blood, sorrow, folly. That is the achievement! (http://www2.ku.edu/~sfcenter/CSSFLJ.htm)

7

Wells himself in the same book stated that human with their gift, ability and energy,

they can bring a progressive emancipation of the attention from everyday urgencies.

Since other studies mentioned above tend to focus on the plot and historical

background of the novel, this study will try to develop something quite new and

different from other studies above. This study will focus on the psychological

subject. For more specific, the writer will relate the influence of character motivation

toward his behavior and how that behavior will lead him to his self-destruction.

B. Review of Related Theories

1. Theories On Character And Characterization

In Abrams’ Glossary of Literary Terms, he define character as “the persons

presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the readers as being

endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that are expressed in

what they say-the dialog or what they do-the action” (1993:23).

Characterization is described by Holman and Harmon in their book entitled A

Handbook to Literature as the creation of imaginary persons in fiction (drama, novel,

short story, or narrative poem), so that they exist for the reader as lifelike. They also

define three methods of characterization: first, by the explicit presentation from the

author of the character through direct opposition; secondly, by the presentation of the

character in action; and the third is by the representation from within a character

(1968:81).

Referring to M.J Murphy’s Understanding Unseen, there are some ways

which can allow the author to reveal the characters’ personalities and present it to the

readers:

8

a. Personal description

The author described the person’s appearance and clothes to build the character.

b. Characters as seen by another

An author uses another character’s eyes and opinion to describe a character.

c. Speech

What a character says can give the reader an insight of another person’s

characteristic.

d. Past Life

The author gives a clue to past events that helps the reader to shape a person’s

characteristics.

e. Conversation of others

The conversation of other people and the things they say about a character can be

a clue to a person’s characteristics.

f. Reactions

By allowing the readers to know how a person reacts to various situations and

events, an author can also give them a clue to a person’s characteristics.

g. Direct comments

The author can describe or comment on a person’s characteristics directly.

h. Thoughts

The author can give his readers a direct knowledge of what a person is thinking

about.

i. Mannerism

A person’s mannerism, habits or idiosyncrasies can be described by the author to

tell the readers something about the person’s characteristics.

9

2. Theories of Human Motivation

Motivation, according to Smith’s Psychology: The Frontier of Behavior,

motivation is described as internal process that influences the direction, persistence,

and vigor of goal directed behavior (1982:282). Motivation is seen as an internal

factor that move or urge human beings and animal to achieve something. Motivation

also leads human to behave in specific behavior which can support them in the

process of achieving their goal.

According to Murray’s Motivation and Emotion, motivation is closely related

to behavior because it is involved in all kinds of behavior: learning, performing,

perceiving, attending, remembering, forgetting, thinking, creating and feeling.

Motivation can affect behavior because motivation may function as an incentive for

someone to behave in certain manner. For example: a student will study hard in order

to get success in his lessons, if he is motivated by his desire, such as desire to gain

success. His motivation will influence him to behave in specific way that supports

him to gain success, such as concentrating more on his lessons and rejecting friend’s

invitation to go to a party, arranging his time effectively in order to have plenty of

time to study, and reducing time that is used for pleasure. His specific behavior is a

revelation of his motivation to get success in his lessons this example shows the

relation between motivation and behavior in which motivation function as an

incentive for behavior. (1964:7)

Murray also stated that the relation between motivation and behavior is to create

motivated behavior. Motivated behavior is behavior that has been influenced by

certain motivation. Therefore, the behavior is showing someone’s motivation. The

10

example of motivated behavior can be seen from the example above. The example

about the student who is motivated to gain success shows his behavior is determined

by his motivation. Spear concludes that motivation is related to aggression. The

aggression can be caused by stimulus such as emotion and frustration. The stimulus

operates as a motivation that influences the aggression (1988:519).

According to McClelland in his Human Motivation, there is a characteristic that

shows that an individual have a strong need to achieve or have a strong motivation is

the personal responsibility for his/her own performance.

On theoretical grounds, it has always been assumed that subjects high in n Achievement would prefer being personally responsible for a performance result, because only under such conditions could they feel satisfaction from doing something better. (1985:246) As described by Herbert L. Petri in his Motivation: Theory and Research, the

motivation can also be recognized from the intensity of behavior. The concept of

motivation is also used to explain differences in the intensity of behavior. More

intense behavior is considered to be the result of higher levels of motivation.

(1981:3)

In order to separate motivation from instinct, McClelland in his Human

Motivation mention a theory from McDougall which defines instinct as consisting of

(1) a tendency toward selective perception of certain stimuli (a hungry person

perceive food objects more readily than other objects), (2) a corresponding

excitement experienced on perceiving the object (the root of the instinct), the

activation of a tendency to seek a goal. He also said:

Every instance of instinctive behavior involves a knowing of some thing or object, “Put simply, his idea was that certain actions or objects innately give rise emotional excitement, which leads to goal-directed activities. These goal-directed activities could be called motives, although he called them instinct or

11

propensities. Other activities or object did not create emotional excitement and hence did not qualify as motives. (1985:34)

McClelland also state that motive can become reasons for abnormal behavior. It is

believed that if motivation not controlled or moderated, it can produce mental and

behavioral disorders such as depression, psychosis, aggressive behavior and neurosis

(1985:35)

In McClelland’s book, Abraham Maslow states that motivation has a close

relation with basic human needs. He establishes a classification of human needs in a

hierarchy running from basic psychological needs to self-actualization needs.

a. Psychological needs (need for food, water, and sex): homeostatic and organic.

b. Safety needs (need for security and protection from pain, fear, anxiety and disorder); need for order, lawfulness and discipline.

c. Needs for belongingness and love (need for love, tenderness, and togetherness).

d. Esteem needs (need for achievement, respect, and approval). e. Self-actualization needs (need for self-fulfillment, for realizing one’s

potential, for understanding and insight). (1985:42)

Maslow also state that needs affect behavior only when they are unsatisfied. As they

are satisfied, the person is free to pursue higher needs. Satisfying lower needs

removes tension and gives peace and satisfaction. Satisfying higher needs leads

directly to joy and feeling of personal accomplishment.

3. Antisocial Personality Disorder

Antisocial personality disorder is a personality disorder involving a lack of

conscience and sense of responsibility, impulsive behavior, irritability, and

aggressiveness.

12

According to Robert A. Baron in his book entitled Psychology, individuals with

this disorder show an almost total disregard for the rights and well-being of others. In

Addition, they demonstrate several characteristics that make them dangerous to

other. He also stated:

Rules and regulations are not for them, so they often have a history of antisocial behavior: delinquency, theft, vandalism, lying, drug abuse, and the like. They are often irritable and aggressive, highly impulsive, seemingly fearless in the face of danger, and highly deceitful-they will lie to anyone, anytime, if they perceive this as advantageous. And after performing actions that harm others, they typically show no remorse. (1992:570)

From the quotation above, it seems that individual with Antisocial personality

disorder is very vulnerable to commit crime. Furthermore, it is found that individual

with this disorder also lacking in feelings of responsibility and even, they readily to

desert spouses, children and family.

In his Introduction to Psychology, Atkinson state that people with antisocial

personalities seems to have little sense of responsibility, morality, or concern for

others. Their behavior is determined almost entirely by their own needs. People with

antisocial personalities seldom consider any desires except their own. They behave

impulsively, seek immediate gratification of their needs, and cannot tolerate

frustration. He also states that the most diagnostic characteristics of an antisocial

personality disorder are considered to be “lovelessness” (the inability to feel any

empathy for, or loyal to, another person) and “guiltlessness” (the inability to feel any

remorse for one’s action, no matter how reprehensible it is). (p. 480)

4. Aggressive Behavior

Aggressive behavior is behavior that is caused by a desire to do harm to others.

Aggression is related to factors such as reproductive factor and emotion.

13

Aggression, according to Spear in his book entitled Psychology: Perspective on

Behavior, is behavior that is marked by the intention of causing harm, either physical

material or psychological harm (1998:155). Therefore aggression is often thought as

actions to harm someone or something. The actions are revealed in many manners,

such as hitting the victim, or frightening the victim. Spear divides aggression into

two types. They are:

a. Instrumental Aggression Behavior.

It is a type of aggression that serves many purposes, for example for

self-defense. The aggression is not functioned to cause harm for the victim. It

may simply involve threat behaviors, which consist of postures or gestures

that warn the adversary to leave or it will become the target of an attack.

b. Hostile Aggression Behavior.

It is causing harm or even injury to the victim. This type of aggression

is usually found in fighting, or murder. Hostile aggression is caused by many

factors, usually the emotions, such as anger and pain that are involved in the

behavior are accompanied by frustration. Frustration occurs when someone is

prevented from securing or achieving a goal of something. Frustration causes

emotion to become bigger. Then emotion influences someone’s motivation to

behave in certain manner in his behavior (hostile aggression behavior) that is

pointed to someone or something. There are some purposes that rise from

aggression, for example to hurt the victim.

14

C. Theoretical Framework

In this study, the writer aims to analyze the character and tries to see factors

which lead to the character’s self-destruction such as his behavior, thoughts and

manner. The writer applies some theories in order to accomplish the analysis,

especially the theory on character, characterization and other information related to

the novel.

Other theories applied in the study are the theory of human motivation and

theory of aggressive behavior. These theories are considered as the most suitable

theories to analyze the character. It will very helpful to answer the second and the

third problem formulation.

15

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

A. Object of The Study

The object of this study is H. G. Wells’ The Invisible Man which was written in

1867. This novel was originally serialized by Pearson’s Magazine and published as a

novel in the same year with Collins London and Glasgow as its publisher. This study

uses the second publication of the book which was published in 1953. This book

consists of 223 pages and divided into 29 chapters. This book also contains an

introduction which was written by Wells’ son, Frank Wells.

The Invisible Man is science-fiction story. Although completely fictional, this

book depicted the glow of scientific experiments that occurs at the Victorian age.

This story itself tells about the life of Jack Griffin. He was a scientist who reveals the

secret of invisibility. His experiment was simply to change the refractive index of

objects in order to make it invisible. After he invents the theory of invisibility, he

became afraid if another person steals the result of his experiment. Then he makes

himself invisible and burn down his laboratory. This story begins when he arrived in

a village called Iping and struggle to make himself visible again.

This novel has been adapted into several movies and television series. The

Invisible Man, a 1933 film directed by James Whale and produced by Universal

Pictures. Griffin was played by Claude Rains and given the first name "Jack". The

film is considered one of the great Universal horror films of the 1930s, and there

were also a number of sequels, plus many series using the idea of an "invisible man"

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that were largely unrelated to Wells' original story. These were; The Invisible Man

Returns (1940), The Invisible Woman (1940), Invisible Agent (1942), The Invisible

Man's Revenge (1944), and Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951).

B. Approach

In this study, psychological approach will be applied to analyze the problem

because this approach is considered as the most suitable and appropriate in order to

answer the problem formulation. According to Guerin, psychological approach is an

excellent tool for “reading beneath the lines” (1999). This approach uses

psychological theories on human motivation and behavior pattern. This theory was

chosen because the story showed the influence of motivation to the character’s

behavior.

C. Method of the Study

In this study, the writer uses library research method to acquire the qualified data

source. The main source of this study is The Invisible Man novel. The other sources

are articles, essay, journal, and criticisms which are taken both from book in the

library and from the internet.

In analyzing the novel, this the writer did some steps. The first step was

reading the novel thoroughly and carefully in order to get a deeper understanding

about the novel. The second step was reviewing and understanding the theory that

applied in this study. Since the novel was best analyzed through the psychological

approach, the writer looked for books that review similar studies. The examples of

those books were Smith’s Psychology: The Frontier of Behavior, to Murray’s

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Motivation and Emotion, McClelland’s Human Motivation, and Spear’s Psychology:

Perspective on Behavior.

The final step was to analyze the element of the novel. To begin this step, the

writer tried to answer the first question by employed the theory of character and

characterization to acquire the detail information about the character that become the

subject of this study. This process was done by finding the information through the

dialogue of the novel.

To answer the second question, the writer tried to reveal the motivation of the

character by applying the theory of human motivation. To reveal the character’s

motivation, the writer highlighted the analysis on the dialogue and the action of the

characters, and more specifically, in the intensity of the character in performing his

action.

Finally, in order to answer the third question, the writer tried to relate his

motivation and his behavior to show how his motivation influences the behavior.

First, the write will identify what kind of behavior that appears from the character

with the theory of human behavior. Later on, the writer will try to reveal how his

behavior led the character to his self-destruction.

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CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

In this chapter, the writer tries to answer the problem formulation that has

been formulated above. Based on the problem formulation, this chapter will be

divided into three parts. As mentioned above, this study attempts to reveal how the

motivation of Jack Griffin influences his behavior. and the behavior leads him to his

self-destruction.

The first part of this chapter is about the character and characterization of

Jack Griffin, who becomes the main object of this study. The second part focuses in

revealing the background of the character in performing his experiment. Finally, the

writer tries to analyze how his motivation influences his behavior and later how his

behavior will leads him to his self-destruction.

A. The Characteristics of Jack Griffin as Depicted in the Story

A character is an essential element in the work of literature. Characters are

the people who are life-like, portrayed in a story and interpretable by the reader from

their speeches, dialogues and actions (Abrams, 1981: 20). In order to obtain clear

explanation about the characterization of Jack Griffin as the main character of The

Invisible Man, the writer applies the elements that have been discussed by Murphy in

his Understanding Unseen (1972: 161-173). These can be seen in the following

analysis.

H.G. Wells does not give a detail explanation about who or what Jack Griffin

is in the beginning of the story. However, from the beginning of the story, Well’s

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description about Jack Griffin in his physical appearance shows that he is a quite

mysterious person.

Jack Griffin appears in the Iping village as a stranger in February, in one

wintry day in a very mysterious fashion. He wears a thick glove, wrapped up from

head to foot, and the brim of his soft felt hat hid every inch of his face save the shiny

tip of his nose.

When he arrives in an inn named “Coach and Horses”, Mrs. Hall, the inn lady

is very amazed to see the stranger still wore his hat and coat even the fire is burning

up briskly. In fact, everything about the stranger appearance makes Mrs. Hall very

surprised. Then, she notices that he wears big blue spectacles with side-lights, and

has a bushy side whisker over his coat collar that completely hid his face. It seems

that everything about Jack appearance is quite strange for a small village like Iping.

He held a white cloth -it was a serviette he had brought with him- over the lower part of the face, so that his mouth and jaws were completely hidden, and that was the reason of his muffled voice. But it was not that which startled Mrs. Hall. It was the fact that all the forehead above his blue glasses was covered by a white bandage, and that another covered his ears, leaving not a scrap of his face exposed excepting only his pink, peaked nose. He wore dark brown velvet jacket, with a high, black, lined-lined collar turned up about his neck. The tick black hair, escaping as it could below and between the cross bandages, projected in curious tails and horns, giving him the strangest appearance conceivable. (p. 24) From the quotation above it can be seen that the appearance of Jack Griffin is

very strange in every way. All his body is covered with clothes and bandages, even

his head and face except the tip of his nose. This makes him have a muffled voice

when he talks.

He never tells the purpose of his visit bluntly. The only thing which he

explains to the inn-lady is that he is an experimental investigator. He explains his

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reason for coming to Iping is to seek for solitude to do his job. There is no other

detail that can be explained about him. He does not even give his name to the Mrs.

Hall, the inn owner.

“He gave a name,” said Mrs. Hall—an assertion which was quite unfounded—“but I didn’t rightly hear it.” She thought it seemed so silly not to know the man’s name. (p.47) His mysteriousness is added by his manner which rarely makes any

conversation with others. He seems to avoid any everyone and wish nobody disturb

him.

The visitor remained in the parlour until four o’clock, without giving the ghost of an excuse for an intrusion. For the most part he was quite still during that time; it would seem he sat in the growing darkness, smoking by the firelight—perhaps dozing. Once or twice a curios listener might have heard him at the coals, and for the space of five minutes he was audible pacing the room. He seemed to be talking to himself. (p.27) From quotation above, it is clearly seen that he tries to avoid everyone. He

does not give any chance to anyone to disturb him. Further, in certain event when

Teddy Henfrey the clock—jobber comes to mend the clock in Griffin’s room, he

receives rejection from Griffin when he tries to make a conversation. When Mr.

Henfrey tries to talk to Griffin, suddenly Griffin cuts the conversation with harsh and

unpleasant tone.

He looked up as if to take aim with that introductory shot. “The weather—“he began. “Why don’t you finish and go?” said the rigid figure, evidently in a state of painfully suppressed rage. “All you’ve got to do is to fix the hour hand on its-axle. You’re simply humbugging.” (p. 33) His mysteriousness brings many negative opinions from people in the village.

It is inevitable that a person with remarkable appearance and strange manner will

become a frequent topic in the small village like Iping. One says that he is a criminal

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who tries to escape from justice by wrapping himself altogether. Another opinion

that grows is that he is a nigger or maybe half of it and he wraps himself because he

is ashamed. Mrs. Hall herself, when she is asked by someone, has personal thought

that her visitor has had an accident which temporarily discolored his face and hands.

It was inevitable that a person of so remarkable an appearance and bearing should form a frequent topic in such a village as Iping. Opinion was greatly divided about his occupation. Mrs. Hall was sensitive on the point. When questioned, she explained very carefully that he was an “experimental investigator,” going gingerly over the syllable as one who dreads pitfalls. Her visitor had had an accident, she said, which temporarily discolored his face and hand. (p.44) Jack griffin is a very cold and irritable person. He often treats another with

unpleasant manner. His attitude or even only his gesture can make some one be very

uncomfortable. While Teddy Henfrey, the clock-jobber, mends the clock in Griffin’s

room, Griffin is just standing still, silent, and does not doing anything. This action

makes Henfrey feels uncomfortable with situation in the room. It is also makes

Henfrey feel alone in the room.

But the stranger stood there, perfectly silent and still. So still - it got on Henfrey’s nerves. He felt alone in the room and looked up and there grey and dim, was the bandaged head and huge, dark lenses staring fixedly, with a mist of green spots drifting in front of them. It was so uncanny to Henfrey that for a minute they remained staring blankly at one another. Then Henfrey looked down again. Very uncomfortable position! (p. 32)

Jack Griffin is just standing still in the room and staring toward Teddy Henfrey, who

is mending the clock. He thinks that Henfrey is just an annoyance and it seems that

he wants to get rid of him. He does not like anyone to interrupt him. He likes to be

left alone, uninterrupted. He does not want anyone disturb his private area.

“I hope,” said Mr. Henfrey, “that it’s no intrusion.” “None whatever,” said the stranger. “Though I understand,” he said, turning to Mrs. Hall, “that this room is really to be mine for my own private use.” “I thought sir,” said Mrs. Hall, “you’d prefer the clock—“

22

“Certainly,” said the stranger, “certainly; but as a rule I like to be alone and undisturbed.” (p.30) His irritability seems to be part of his common attitude. He often cuts other

people speech when he feels it unpleasant for him. He also always talks in a harsh

and rude tone that seems to be his characteristics.

He also always does everything as like as he pleases. He often commands the

inn lady to do things according to his will and ignoring whether Mrs. Hall likes it or

not. For example, he always tells Mrs. Hall to put everything in the bill when he

makes some mistake on the furniture or inn interior like spilling some chemicals in

the carpet or when he smash the chair when he is angry and disregard for the inn-

lady protest.

When she took in his tea she saw broken glass in the corner of the room under the concave mirror, and a golden stain that had been carelessly wiped. She called attention to it. “Put it down in the bill,” snapped her visitor. (p.41) Griffin sometimes also grumbles about a trifle. He starts grumble when he

feels that things is not quite right for him. It can be seen from the event when the inn-

lady is too late in serving his breakfast. When Griffin starts to grumble, it seems that

Mrs. Hall also starts losing her patience because her bill is never been paid at all and

they soon start to changing arguments.

“Why wasn’t my breakfast laid? Why haven’t you prepared my meals and answered my bell? Do you think I live without eating?” “Why isn’t my bill paid?” said Mrs. Hall. “That’s what I want to know.” “I told you three days ago I was awaiting a remittance—“ “I told you three days ago I wasn’t going to await no remittance. You can’t grumble if your breakfast waits a bit, if my bill’s been waiting these five days, can you?” (p.64) It is inevitable that his irritability and his uncomfortable manner makes most

people in the village dislike him, though sometimes they think that it is maybe the

23

characteristics of urban people whose life is dedicated on working and making

fortune.

But, whenever they thought of him, people in Iping on the whole agreed in disliking him. His irritability, though it might have been comprehensible to an urban brain-worker, was an amazing thing to these quiet Sussex Villagers. (p. 46) This feeling of dislike is showed by the villager by always avoiding him.

When he passes down the village, the villager will draw aside from his path. Soon

after, the villagers start to close doors and windows when the taste of twilight comes

and start to worry when the nightfall comes because it is the time when he is usually

appear in the village. It seems that Griffin start to bring fear in the village.

Griffin has an unstable emotional state. His temper remains unpredictable.

His temper is continuously up and down in a sudden. In most part of the time, he

always looks like in rage. It seems that he tends to break thing when he is upset. He

smashes glasses, hits the table or torns something with an excruciating violence.

His temper continued very uncertain; for the most part his manner was that of a man suffering under almost unendurable provocation, and once or twice things were snapped, torn, crushed, or broken in spasmodic guts of violence. (p.44) Bad temper and lack of emotional control are also part of his personality. His

temper can awaken just because something insignificant, or even nothing. When he

is at Dr. Kemp house, he wakes up and suddenly his temper rises up without

triggered by anything. His anger is expressed by smashing the furniture.

He awoke in evil temper, and Kemp, alert for every sound, heard his pattering feet rush suddenly across the bedroom overhead. Then a chair was flung over and the wash hand-stand tumbler smashed. Kemp hurried upstairs and tapped eagerly. “What’s the matter?” asked Kemp, when the Invisible Man admitted him. “Nothing,” was the answer. (p. 133-134)

24

Griffin can be easily felt offended. When he wants to pay the bill, Mrs. Hall

concern about where he gets the money because previously he says that he still waits

about the remittance. This is also because there is a mysterious robbery recently.

When Mrs. Hall asks him where he gets the money, he feels insulted.

“I wonder where you find it?” said Mrs. Hall. That seemed to annoy the stranger, very much. He stamped his foot. “What do you mean?” he said. (p.64) Griffin feels insulted because indirectly he is accused by Mrs. Hall. Mrs. Hall

is suspected Griffin because when the robbery occurs, Griffin is not in his room. This

brings curiosity to Mrs. Hall.

His short tempered manner also leads him into trouble. After being asked by

Mrs. Hall to explain everything, Griffin suddenly loses his temper and decides to

reveal his invisibility to scare Mrs. Hall and other people so that they will not disturb

him any longer.

Suddenly the stranger raised his gloved hands clenched, stamped his foot, and said, “Stop!” with such extraordinary violence that he silenced her instantly. “You don’t understand,” he said, “who I am or what I am. I’ll show you. By heaven! I’ll show you.” (p.64) Jack Griffin is also an ambitious and a very dedicated person. He is very

determined to attain certain achievement through science. Since he is interested in

optical density, he tries to perform an experiment which goal is to make a certain

object become invisible. His ambition is to publish his result to the world and

acknowledge by the science community. In order to achieve his purpose, Griffin

works so hard. He devotes all his life to accomplish his purpose.

‘I will devote my life to this. This is worth while.’ You know what fools we are at two-twenty?” “Fools then or fools now,” said Kemp. “As though knowing could be any satisfaction to a man!

25

“But I went to work—like a nigger. And I had hardly worked and thought about the matter six months before light came through one of the meshes suddenly—blindingly! (p. 135) From the quotation above, it is clearly seen that Griffin is a hard worker type

of person. He will dedicate all his time, energy, and financial ability to complete his

purpose. He is tempted with the invisibility can give to a man. It means that the

mystery, power and freedom lay within the invisibility.

When Griffin meets Kemp, Kemp is surprised that the Invisible Man actually

is his former college friends. Furthermore in the dialog, it is revealed that Griffin is

an albino, and for that time albinism is a very strange and rare case. From that

quotation, the actual physical appearance of Griffin is also revealed.

“Griffin,” answered the Voice. “A younger student than you were, an albino, six feet high, and broad—with a pink and white face and red eyes, who won the medal for chemistry.” (p. 123) He also tells Kemp that he finds certain principle that can be the basis of his

experiments in object invisibility. He finds a general principle of pigments and

refractions and other theories that no other scientists ever find before.

I found a general principle of pigments and refractions—a formula, a geometrical expression involving four dimensions. Fools, common men—even common mathematicians, do not know anything of what some general expression may mean to the student of molecular physics. (p.135) It is clearly seen that actually Griffin is very smart man, a genius. He is able

to find some principles that cannot be doubted able to be considered as a

breakthrough in the scientific society, for more specific, in physiology. From

quotation above he also believes that he is better from other common people by

saying others fools because he believes that others do not know of what some general

expression may mean to the student of molecular physics.

26

Although he is smart and once wins a medal for chemistry, he still cannot

earn enough fortune for himself. After leaving London, he lives in a poor condition.

He ever teaches in a provincial college, but it seems that he is not satisfied with his

current situation and decides to leave.

You have only to think! And I, a shabby, poverty-struck, hemmed in a demonstrator, teaching fools in s provincial college, might suddenly become—this. (p. 140) From the quotation above, it can be concluded that Griffin is a type of a man

which is not so easy to be satisfied. He leaves his current job which can be surely

depended on and starts an experiment which result is uncertain. He dares to take the

risk in order to attain bigger achievement.

Griffin is also a devious person. He is not a person who easily believes

someone. When he is at Kemp’s house, he grumbles about how bad he wants to

sleep. Kemp tells him that he does not mind if Griffin wants to sleep. But although

Kemp has given Griffin his word not to tell anyone about him, it seems that Griffin

still does not believe in him.

Exhausted and wounded as the Invisible Man was, he refused to accept Kemp’s word that his freedom should be respected. He examined the two windows of the bedroom, drew up the blinds and opened the sashes to confirm Kemp’s statement that a retreat by them would be possible. (p. 129) Griffin still fears that Kemp will betray him and report to the authority to

capture him because he has become a living treat for the village. In panicking tone,

he tries to warn Kemp not to tell anyone.

Suddenly the dressing-gown walked quickly towards him. “Understand me!” said the dressing-gown. “No attempts to hamper me or capture me! Or—“ Kemp’s face changed a little. “I thought I gave you my word,” he said. (p. 130)

27

Even though Kemp has given Griffin his word, it seems that Griffin still does

not believe in him. Then he works on a tactics inside his mind that can assurance his

freedom.

Then he examined the keys of the bedroom and the two dressing-room doors, to satisfy himself that these also could be made and assurance of freedom. Finally he expressed himself satisfied. (p.129) From quotation above, it can be concluded that Griffin is a type of person that

does not believe in anyone. It is hard for someone to earn trust from him. It also

clearly seen that Griffin is a tricky person. When he come to state in disbelieving

Kemp, he can only be satisfied when he already comes up with the tactic that can

assurance his freedom.

B. The Background of Griffin’s Motivation in Performing His Experiments

In this part of the analysis, the writer would like to analyze the background of

Jack Griffin’s motivation in performing his experiments. The goal of this is to reveal

the background of his motivation.

Within this novel, it is revealed that Griffin has two different basic

motivations in performing his experiments. The first motivation is to achieve glory

for himself. The second motivation is to backward his invisibility so that he could be

visible again.

1. To Achieve Glory and Fame

According to McClelland’s book, Maslow states that motivation has a close

relationship with basic human needs. He establishes a classification of human needs

that is divided into five types. They are psychological needs, safety needs, needs of

belongingness and love, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. In the first

28

motivation that drives Griffin in performing the experiment is the esteem needs.

Need for achievement, respect, and approval are some needs that included into the

esteem needs. The basis of his first motivation is that he wants to achieve something

that can make him very famous.

Based on Herbert L. Petri theory of motivation in his Motivation: Theory and

Research, motivation can be recognized by examine the intensity of the behavior that

becomes the requisites to achieve the goal of the motivation. More intense behavior

is considered to be the result of higher levels of motivation. (1981:3)

It is explained that actually, Griffin is just an ordinary college student, but he

is the genius one. At first, he takes medicine, but eventually he drops medicine and

takes up physics because he is fascinated with light or for more specific, optical

density. He says that he will devote his life to that and that is worth while. He works

very hard for months until he finds general formula and principles. He explains that

invisibility can be achieved by manipulating the refractive index of an object.

“You make the glass invisible by putting it into a liquid of nearly the same refractive index, a transparent thing becomes invisible if it puts in any medium of almost the same refractive index. And if you will consider only a second, you will see also that the powder of glass might be made to vanish in air, if its refractive index could be made the same as that of air. (p. 138) He assumes that this principle will also work in human body because the

whole fabric of human, except the red of their blood and the dark pigment of hair, are

all made up of transparent, colorless tissue.

His sole motivation in doing this hard work is to achieve something through

science. He told no one about his experiment, and he also plans to flash his work to

the world with crushing effect in order to fascinate the whole world. He works alone

in secrecy and trouble so that he can get all the credit all for himself.

29

“I told no living soul, because I meant to flash my work upon the world with crushing effect and become famous at a blow” (p. 139) He works so hard to achieve his purpose. He has worked for months, even

years. He even compares his effort just like the way of nigger doing their jobs. He

has worked for six months before until his experiment is making a progress. And he

is very fascinated with the progress.

“But I went to work—like a nigger. And I had hardly worked and thought about the matter six months before light came through one of the meshes suddenly—blindingly! (p. 135) Griffin is also tempted with the prospect of invisible ability. He realizes that

the invisibility will give him very enormous advantages. For instance, it will give

him more power and freedom than other common people have.

I looked about me at the hillside with children playing and girls watching them, and tried to think of all the fantastic advantages an invisible man would have in the world. (p. 147) Another fact that makes Griffin is so determined to attain personal

achievement is his albinism. In that time, it seems that albinism is a disgrace. Even

his own father discriminates him. He feels that he has become the victim of his

father’s sentimentality. When his father dies, he does not feel a bit sorry for his

father because he is disappointed with his own father prior sentimentality.

“I did not feel a bit sorry for my father. He seemed to me to be the victim of his own foolish sentimentality. The current can’t require my attendance at his funeral, but it was really not my affair.” (p. 142) When Griffin is able to invent invisibility as a scientific discovery, he feels

very proud of it. The invisibility can be performed to any living thing, but it cannot

remove its pigment. By discovering that information, makes Griffin very optimistic

30

that he can make himself invisible, because in fact he does not have pigments. For

the first time he feels valuable as human.

‘One could make an animal – a tissue – transparent! One could make it invisible! All except the pigments. I could be Invisible.’ I said, suddenly realizing what it meant to be an albino with such knowledge. It was overwhelming. (p. 140) Further when he already becomes invisible, he begins to realize the

extraordinary advantage of his invisibility. Soon after, his mind is filled with the

reality that now he is able to make happen his wildest and the most wonderful plans

he has ever imagine. His mood is up and he feels very excited with his new ability.

He is tempted to try his invisibility by making up a prank on people, but it seems that

he does not do it.

“My mood, I say, was one of exaltation. I felt as a seeing man might do, with padded feet and noiseless clothes, in a city of the blind. I experienced a wild impulse to jest, to startle people, to clap them on the back, fling people’s hats ashtray, and generally revel in my extraordinary advantage.” (p.154)

2. To Restore His Visibility

As mentioned above, Maslow states that human have five types of basic

needs which are psychological needs, safety needs, needs of belongingness and love,

esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. In this part of discussion, it is revealed

that Griffin’s second motivation is merely about the safety needs. Griffin feels that to

become invisible sacrifices his security and protection. It seems that everything can

be a certain danger for the Invisible Man. Even weather can be a regular threat for

him. He cannot inquire for help because his invisibility is considered as a threat by

common people. So, in order to regain his needs of security, he needs to be visible

again.

31

At the first place after becomes invisible, Griffin feels that he has the ability

and power that exceed every common people on earth. He is extremely overwhelmed

by the fact that his experiment is successful. There is nobody who is able to see him

or notice his existence.

I was invisible, and I was only just beginning to realize the extraordinary advantage my invisibility gave me. My head was already teeming with plans of all the wild and wonderful things I had now impunity to do. (p.153)

But soon after, he starts to recognize the flaw of his invisibility. He starts realize it

when he intentionally makes a fuss on a man who is carrying a basket of soda-water

siphon. He makes the man very surprised and swings the whole basket up into air.

The cabman who is standing near draw closer and unluckily he unintentionally

manages to snatch Griffin’s body.

“But a fool of a cabman, standing outside a public-house, made a sudden rush for this, and his extended fingers took me with excruciating violence under the ear. I let the whole down with a smash on the cabman, and then, with shouts and clatter of feet about me, people coming out of shops, vehicle pulling up, I realized what I had done for myself, and cursing my folly, backed against a shop window and prepared to dodge out of the confusion. In a moment I should be wedged into a crowd and inevitably discovered. (p. 154-155) Griffin suddenly comes into consciousness that it is dangerous if someone

discovered him. He assumes that he will be captured and all his work will be

revealed. After he avoids the crowd and astonished by his recent adventure, he

realizes that the weather is not so comfortable for him. It is a bright day in January

and it is so cold. He grasps the reality that he is naked, and his body is not prepared

for that kind of weather. He even does not reckon on that.

A happy thought saved me, and as this drove slowly along I followed on its immediate wake, trembling and astonished at the turn of my adventure, and not only trembling but shivering. It was a bright day in January, and I was stark naked, and the thin slime of mud that covered the road was near

32

freezing. Foolish as it seems to me now, I had not reckoned that, transparent or not, I was still amenable to the weather and all its consequences. (p. 155) Griffin does not have any plans for the situation in the street. Griffin later is

desperately looking for shelter from the snow. He tries to get himself covered and

warm, so later he can put up a plan. But, even for an invisible man like him, rows of

London houses still looks impenetrable. He later goes to the emporium where he

thinks he will be able to get anything that he needs. He goes inside the emporium and

waits until all the employees goes home

In the emporium, he gets everything that he need. Such like shelter, clothes

and food. He also stays for a night in that place. In the morning he wakes up when

the employees are going to open the shop. Then, he realize that he still wears the

clothes and it will be very odd if somebody finds him because it looks so strange

when an invisible object wears clothes. Unfortunately, there are some workers

recognize him. With a great effort, finally he manages to escape by taking off all his

clothes. But yet again, he has nothing for himself.

After that, he clearly realizes the full disadvantage of his condition. He has

nothing for a shelter, nothing to eat and clothing will give up his ability. Now it

seems that anything can become a threat for him.

“But you begin to realize now,” said the Invisible Man, “the full disadvantage of my condition. I had no shelter—no covering—to get clothing was to forgo all my advantage, to make of myself a strange and terrible thing. I was fasting; for to eat, to fill myself with unassimilated matter, would be to become grotesquely visible again.” (p. 169) His miserable condition adds by the reality that weather can also become a

threat for his existence. Snow which attach to his body will merely expose his body,

33

rain will make a watery outline of his body and he will be like a fainter bubble in a

fog.

“I never thought of that,” said Kemp. “Nor had I. and the snow had warned me of other dangers. I could not go abroad in snow—it would settle on me and expose me. Rain, too, would make me watery outline, a glistening surface of a man—a bubble. And fog—I should be like a fainter bubble in a fog, a surface, a greasy glimmer of humanity. Moreover, as I went abroad—in the London air—I gathered dirt about my ankles, floating smuts and dust upon my skin. I did not how long it would be before I should become visible from that cause also. But I saw clearly it could not be very long. (p.169) The more he thinks about his invisibility, the more he realizes the

disadvantages that he gets from his ability. It is not like what he thinks before.

Before this, he thinks that invisibility will give massive advantages for a man, but it

seems that he is wrong.

“The more I thought over it, Kemp, the more I realize what a helpless absurdity an Invisible Man was—in a cold and dirty climate and a crowded, civilized city. Before I made this mad experiment I had dreamt of a thousand advantages. That afternoon it seemed all disappointment. I went over the heads of the things a man reckons desirable. No doubt invisibility made it possible to get them, but it made impossible to enjoy them when they are got. Ambition—what is the good of pride of place when you cannot appear there? What is the good of the love of woman when her name must needs be Delilah? I have no taste for politics, for the blackguardisms of fame, for philanthropy, for sport. What was I to do? And for this I had become a wrapped up mystery, a swathed and bandaged caricature of a man.” (p. 179) He realizes that his invisibility can help him to obtain everything what a man

possibly wanted. But then he realizes that when he is able to get them, it is

impossible for him to enjoy the because of his invisibility. In the end he feels that his

invisibility is a burden that ruins everything he already has.

Finally, he comes to the state of mind where he wants to be visible again,

once more to be a normal person. So, he goes to Iping to work on his experiment in

order to roll back his invisibility.

34

“But how did you get to Iping?” said Kemp, anxious to keep his guest busy talking. “I went there to work. I had one hope. It was a half idea! I have it still. It is a full-blown idea now. A way of getting back! Of restoring what I have done. When I choose. When I have done all I mean to do invisibly. And that is what I chiefly want to talk to you about now—“(p. 179)

C. The Influence of Griffin’s Motivation in Performing the Experiment towards

His Behavior and How The Behavior Leads Him to His Self-destruction.

As explained before by Smith in his Psychology: The Frontier of Behavior,

motivation is seen as an internal factor that moves or urges human beings and

animals to achieve something. Motivation can lead someone to behave in certain

behavior which can support the individual to achieve their goal. However,

McClelland states that it can be the reason of abnormal behavior if it is not controlled

or moderated.

In this novel, it can be seen clearly that the character of Jack Griffin shows

how motivation influences behavior. The motivation that Griffin experience is too

string and he cannot moderate or lead his strong urge into the right path. This

motivation later leads him to the abnormal behavior and that abnormal behavior will

leads him to his self-destruction.

At the first place his motivation is shaped by his determination to gain a

certain achievement in his life. He is not satisfied with his current condition which is

as a teacher in a provincial college. He feels that he deserves more than that. The fact

that he is an albino also adds his desire for glory and fame. To achieve his purpose,

he performs such experiment which tries to make certain object invisible. In order to

support his effort he needs to adjust his behavior into certain state.

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“But I went to work—like a nigger. And I had hardly worked and thought about the matter six months before light came through one of the meshes suddenly—blindingly! (p. 135) He later works very hard for his experiments. He works for months, just like

a nigger he says. He devotes his life and everything for this experiment. He is willing

to perform this experiment also because he is tempted by what the invisibility may

offer to a man.

He tells no one about his experiment. He reckons that if he publishes his

work himself with a crushing effect, he will get an instant fame and become very

famous.

“I told no living soul, because I meant to flash my work upon the world with crushing effect and become famous at a blow” (p. 139) Basically, he is afraid that some one will steal his idea because he wants to

publish it to the world personally. He wants all the credits and fame and does not

want to share it with anyone. The first thing that triggers this thought is his professor

who is widely known as a thief of ideas.

“Now you have me! And all I knew and had in mind a year after I left London—six years ago. But I kept it to myself. I had to do my work under frightful disadvantages. Hobbema, my professor, was a scientific bounder, a thief of ideas—he was always prying! And you know the knavish system of the scientific world. I simply would not publish and let him share my credit. (p. 139) He feels that it will be dangerous if someone, especially his professor, knows

about his experiment. It will endanger all of his ambition and he does not want to

take any chances. He also doubts the current system of scientific world which often

disregards any scientific discovery which publishes by unknown scientist.

From above explanations, it can be seen that Griffin’s motivation to attain

personal achievement and posses all the credit and fame for himself forces him to

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work in secrecy. He tells no one about his experiment. He works on his experiment

on his own because he is afraid if someone will steal his idea. To avoid disruption, he

later moves all his work from the college laboratory and rent a private room.

Griffin later leaves his job at the college. He rents a room in an area called

Great Portland Street. His room is a large unfurnished room in a big, ill-managed

lodging house in a slum area. He feels that it is enough to run his experiment without

getting any disturbance.

He works in that place for about three years. He has overcome so many

troubles and obstacles in order to complete his experiment. He has spent all of his

money and energy to support the experiment. But finally, all of his effort seems close

to an ends. After three years he realizes that it maybe impossible to finish the

experiment. This is because he has no money left to spend. In desperation, he comes

to his father house and robs the old man.

“And after three years of secrecy and trouble, I found that to complete it was impossible—impossible.” “How?” asked Kemp. “Money,” said the Invisible Man, and went again to stare out of the window. He turned around abruptly. “I robbed the old man—robbed my father. “The money was not his, and he shot himself.” (p. 140) Griffin robs his own father in order to obtain some money to continue the

experiment. Ironically, the money is not his father’s belonging, and after the robbery

his father kills himself.

But, his father’s death does not make him sad and he does not feel sorry for

it. He feels that his father’s death is just an insignificant tragedy that occurs in his

life. When he has to bury his father, his mind is still on his research.

37

I was like a man emerging from a thicket, and suddenly coming on some unmeaning tragedy. I went to bury my father. My mind was still on this research, and I did not lift a finger to save his character. (p. 141) It seems that Griffin has the heart to sacrifice his father’s sake just for his

own desire, which is his experiment. He feels that he does not have any

responsibility for his father.

While he visits his old house, after his father funeral, Griffin meets a girl he

has known since ten years and their eyes meet. Griffin turns back and talks to her and

it seems that the event brings back the old memory. But he suddenly realizes that his

place is not there.

“It was all like a dream, that visit to the old place. I did not feel then that I was lonely, that I had come out from the world into a desolation. I appreciated my loss of sympathy, but I put it down to the general inanity of life. Re-entering my room seemed like the recovery of reality. There were the things I knew and loved. There stood the apparatus, the experiments arranged and waiting. And now there was scarcely a difficulty left, beyond the planning of details. (p. 142) Griffin feels that the world that he meets when he goes to his father’s funeral

is not the world he belongs to. He feels that his real world for him is in his apparatus,

where the experiment awaits him. Griffin thinks that re-entering his room is the

process of the recovery of reality, a reality for him.

At this rate of discussion, it can be seen that how Griffin behave shows the

basic symptoms of the anti-social personality. Griffin has lack of responsibility to

others. He has also lost his feeling of sympathy. When he robs his father and his

father kills himself because of it, he does not feel any remorse. He feels that his

father’s death is just an unmeaning tragedy. It suits with the symptoms of the anti-

social personality where people who suffer it will be vulnerable in committing

38

crimes and they also ready to desert or sacrifice family and siblings in order to fulfill

their desire.

Griffin then goes back to his apartment. He once more works on his

experiments. When he works, suddenly a cat comes to him from an opened window.

He feeds her, but then later he processes the cat as the experiment object. Griffin is

succeeded and the cat becomes invisible. But the cat meows dismally and this make

Griffin’s neighbor becomes suspicious that Griffin has a vivisection on animals.

When his neighbor asks him whether the cat is hers, Griffin lies but in a very polite

manner. He says that there is no cat. Few moments after his neighbor already goes

away, his landlord comes to his room. It seems that his neighbor has reported him to

the landlord.

“And there was someone rapping at the door. It was my landlord with threats and inquiries, an old Polish Jew in a long grey coat and greasy slippers. I had been tormenting a cat in the night, he was sure—the old woman’s tongue had been busy. He insisted on knowing all about it. The laws of this country against vivisection were very severe—he might be liable. I denied the cat. Then the vibration of the little gas-engine could be felt over the house, he said. That was true, certainly. He edged round me into the room, peering about over his German silver spectacles, and a sudden dread came into my mind that he might carry away something of my secret. I tried to keep between him and the concentrating apparatus I had arranged, and that only made him more curious. What was I doing? Why was I always alone and secretive? Was it legal? Was it dangerous? I paid nothing but the usual rent. His had always been a most respectable house—in a disreputable neighborhood. Suddenly my temper gave away. I told him to get out. He began to protest, to jabber of his right to entry. In a moment I had him by the collar—something ripped—and he went spinning out into his own passage. I slammed and locked the door and sat quivering. (p.148) When his landlord asks him about the cat, once again Griffin lies. Then the

landlord mentions about the vibration of the gas-engine. This makes Griffin has a

sudden fear that his experiment may be uncovered. He tries to keep the landlord

away from the apparatus. Finally, his temper blows up and he later expels his

39

landlord from his room. But after that he fears that his spontaneity by expelling the

landlord just makes him more curious. And the thought of the possibility of his work

being exposed or interrupted is in its climax, and he becomes very angry and active.

In his desperation and horror of being exposed, Griffin decides to try to

process himself and become invisible. The process of being invisible is not a pleasant

one. For the whole night he struggles in pain. His skin is just like in fire. But after the

pain passes, he witnesses how his body becomes transparent.

“The pain had passed. I thought I was killing myself, and I did not care. I shall never forget that dawn, and the strange horror glass, and watching them grow clearer and thinner as the day went by, until at last I could see the sickly disorder of my room through them, through I closed my transparent eyelids. My limbs became glassy, the bones and arteries faded, vanished, and the little white nerves went last. (p. 150) Griffin’s fear that his work will soon be exposed seems to be right. Soon after

he becomes invisible, his landlord comes back to his place with two other men. They

want to bash Griffin out from the apartment. But they do not find Griffin in his room.

They have looked for Griffin everywhere, but they cannot find him. Actually, Griffin

stands in front of them. It seems that the invisibility is a success. The landlord and

his men argue about where Griffin is. Griffin waits until they come down, still

speculative and argumentative. Soon after they leave Griffin’s room, Griffin starts to

burn down papers and rubbish. He plans to burns the house.

As soon as they had gone on down to the basement, I slipped up again with a box of matches, fired my heap of paper and rubbish, put the chairs and bedding thereby, led the gas to the affair by means of an indiarubber tube—“ “You fired the house?” exclaimed Kemp. “Fired the house! It was the only way to cover my trail, and no doubt it was insured …I slipped the bolts of the front door quietly and went out into the street. I was invisible, and I was only just beginning to realize the extraordinary advantage my invisibility gave me. (p. 152)

40

Griffin burns the house because he thinks that it is the only way to cover the

evidence of his work so that no one will discover it. He burns down the house

without taking care of other room occupant. He does not care that the fire can

possibly endanger them.

After burning the apartment, Griffin goes to the oxford street. In that place,

his mood is in exaltation. He feels that his invisibility has given him an enormous

advantage. So, he is tempted to give it a try. He jests a man who carries a basket of

soda-water and makes the man shocked. Unfortunately, a cabman notices the

incident and accidentally he notices Griffin. But, he manages to escape from the

incident. In his course along the street, it turns out that his invisibility has brings

another problem. When he walks, his feet covered with mud and it makes Griffin’s

foot visible, but only his feet. His feet also make footmark along the path that he

takes. Some people notice it and run after the mysterious foot. Once again, he can

overcome the crisis. After that, he realizes that his invisibility also makes him

vulnerable with weather condition, because he must be naked so that he is able to

become invisible and unfortunately it is winter and the weather is very cold.

Eventually he realizes that he has nothing left in this world. He has no food, clothes,

or shelter. He has burnt everything he got along with his apartment. Then Griffin

goes to the emporium for shelter and food, or maybe clothes. But, in that place, once

again he is hunted because a group of employees notices him. He decides that the

emporium is hopeless.

After experiencing series of events that has put him in a danger, Griffin

finally realizes that his invisibility also brings bad consequences.

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“But you begin to realize now,” said the Invisible Man, “the full disadvantage of my condition. I had no shelter—no covering—to get clothing was to forgo all my advantage, to make of myself a strange and terrible thing. I was fasting; for to eat, to fill myself with unassimilated matter, would be to become grotesquely visible again.” (p. 169) Apparently, his invisibility does not always mean to be a great and

magnificent thing, it is also a curse and a burden. At last he decides to revive his

visibility. But, the problem that he needs to overcome is quite complicated. He does

not have anything to restart the experiment. He has neither money nor a place to

settle. While he tries to solve the problem, he walks into the slums toward Great

Portland Street. He finds himself at the end of the street. He realizes that his

immediate problem is to get clothing. Then he sees a toy shop in a certain area called

the Drury Lanes. He carefully crosses the street toward the shop because he has

understood the danger of being an Invisible Man.

“The day was cold, with a nipping wind down the northward running streets. I walked fast to avoid being overtaken. Every crossing was a danger, every passenger a thing to watch alertly. (p. 170)

After experiences prior events, he now understands that it is very dangerous

if someone aware of him. He could be hunted and captured. Toward that shop, he

intends to get clothes, food and any possible money. But, his action not walks

smoothly because the shop owner stands between him and anything that he wants to

posses. So, Griffin needs to get rid of him.

By this time, I knew he was alone in the house, and so I ado more ado, but knocked him on the head. (p. 174)

Griffin knocks the shop owner right in his head. He kills the shop owner. He must do

it in order to fulfill his needs. He disregards the value of humanity. He does not care

42

of other people as long as it can help him to accomplish his purpose and fulfill all his

needs.

“But still,” said Kemp, “in England—to-day! And the man was in his own house, and you were—well, robbing.” “Robbing! Confound it! You’ll call me a thief next. Surely, Kemp, you’re not fool enough to dance on the old strings. Can’t you see my position?” “And his too!” said Kemp. (p. 175) Until this point of discussion, the signs of Griffin’s downfall can already be

seen. He does not recognize that all of his action will bring bad effects to his life. For

example, when his landlord comes to him to ask Griffin to explain about the cat and

the news that accuses Griffin is vivisecting, Griffin considers that his landlord can be

a threat to his experiment. To protect his entire secret, he commits an aggression

toward his landlord. This aggressive manner has lead to other unexpected events. His

action makes his landlord is angry to him, this makes Griffin afraid that his landlord

will be back and it can results in the exposing of his experiment. When he decides to

burn his apartment and goes down to the Oxford Street, his condition is worse, but he

does not realize it yet. Griffin is still overwhelmed by his new power, his invisibility.

He starts to realize the danger for an Invisibility Man when someone notices his bare

feet which becomes visible because they are covered with mud. That makes the man

chases after the feet because it is very peculiar. The weather is not friendly to him

since he is naked in order to maintain his invisibility. Desperate for shelter, food, and

clothes, he starts to commit crimes. Griffin breaks into the emporium and steals

things to fulfill his needs, but later he finds that the emporium is hopeless. Later in

Drury Lanes, he has taken down a shop owner with force to obtain clothes and any

possible money to restart his experiment. This shows that Griffin has lost his sense of

humanity and his obedience to rules. He ignores that his action has made other

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people suffer. His difficult condition becomes his justification in committing those

crimes. Based on explanation above, it can be concluded that his high level of

motivation has lead him to suffer antisocial personality. All of Griffin’s action is

suited with the theory that stated by Atkinson that people with antisocial personality

tends to behave impulsively and seek immediate gratification of their needs

In the first time of his appearance in Iping, Griffin has already showed his

irritability to the people of Iping, especially on the people in the inn. Only few days

staying in the inn, he already makes many people feel uncomfortable with his

manner. It seems that his irritability has been his typical character. For example,

when Mr. Henfrey tries to make a conversation with him, Griffins replies with harsh

and unpleasant manner.

He looked up as if to take aim with that introductory shot. “The weather—“he began. “Why don’t you finish and go?” said the rigid figure, evidently in a state of painfully suppressed rage. “All you’ve got to do is to fix the hour hand on its-axle. You’re simply humbugging.” (p. 33) It seems that Griffin tries to avoid any possible chance of having social

interaction with others. He thinks that other only a disturbance on his experiment. He

keeps the information about himself as few as he can. Griffin even does not give his

name to Mrs. Hall, the inn owner. For most of the time he likes to isolate himself

from possible interaction. He comes out from his room only when he needs

something. When he wants to go outside the inn, he will wait until the night comes or

choose the loneliest path so that he will meet less people.

Griffin motivation in performing the experiment has driven him to be an

irritable and mysterious person. He keeps in his room for a very long time without

giving any chance to others to disturb him.

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The visitor remained in the parlour until four o’clock, without giving the ghost of an excuse for an intrusion. For the most part he was quite still during that time; it would seem he sat in the growing darkness, smoking by the firelight—perhaps dozing. Once or twice a curios listener might have heard him at the coals, and for the space of five minutes he was audible pacing the room. He seemed to be talking to himself. (p.27) His mysteriousness brings many negative opinions upon him. There is a lot of

rumors and opinion that spreads in Iping. Some say that he is a criminal who is in

escapee or other opinion that says that he is a nigger. However, despite these various

opinions about him, the villagers have common feeling about Griffin. All of them

hate him.

Griffin’s desire to be visible again makes him to push so hard to finish the

experiment. This makes him become easily lost his temper. When he lost his temper,

he tends to break things and perform violence.

All the afternoon he worked with the door locked, and, as Mrs. Hall testifies, for the most part in silence. But once there was a concussion and a sound of bottles ringing together, as though the table had been hit, and the smash of glass flung violently down, and then a rapid pacing athwart the room. Fearing something was the matter, she went to the door, and listened, not caring to knock. “I can’t go on,” he was raving; “I can’t go on! Three hundred thousand, four hundred thousand! The huge multitude! Cheated! All my life it may take me! ...Patience! Patience, indeed! …Fool! Fool! (p. 41) Griffin seems unable to direct his motivation in the right path. His desire

makes him become an aggressive person. He cannot tolerate frustration that occurs

upon him. When he gets frustrated, he breaks things.

At a point of time, money that Griffin posses begins to run out, and the inn

owner also begins to force to pay all his bills. In desperation, Griffin once again

commits crimes. He steals some money from a village vicar. At the night of the

burglary, actually the vicar aware that there is someone in his house, but of course he

45

cannot see Griffin because he is invisible. The only thing that the vicar knows is that

his money is missing. This strange burglary becomes the center of discussion in the

whole village. Mrs. Hall is suspicious that Griffin maybe the burglar because he is

not in his room when the crime happens.

The day after the incident, Griffin steps down to the downstairs to complain

about why his breakfast has not served yet. Mrs. Hall argues that he must pay the bill

or he does not have the right to complain abut the delay. Griffin feels that Mrs. Hall

has snubbed him. Griffin later says that he has money to pay the bill. Mrs. Hall finds

it strange because the previous day Griffin says that he has no money and wait for

the remittance. When Mrs. Hall asks Griffin where he gets the money, suddenly

Griffin temper give away. He later uncovers his invisibility to every people in the bar

in order to make all of them fear him and disturb him no more.

“You don’t understand,” he said, “who I am or what I am. I’ll show you. By heaven” I’ll show you.” Then he put his open palm mover his face and withdrew it. The center of his face became black cavity. “Here,” he said. He stepped forward and handed Mrs. Hall something which she, staring at his metamorphosed face, accepted automatically. Then, when she saw what it was, she screamed loudly, dropped it, and staggered back. The nose—it was the stranger’s nose! Pink and shining—rolled on the floor with a sound of hollow cardboard. (p. 65) His action makes everyone scared of him. But Griffin is wrong when he

thinks that he will not to be disturbed again. After he unveils his invisibility, it just

makes people in Iping eager to capture him. With hard effort and lot of violence he

manages to escape fro the seizure. Griffin later flees into the river; in the river he

meets Mr. Thomas Marvel. He forces Marvel to help him to get shelter food and

clothes, he also threatens Marvel to help him obtain his three volumes of memoranda

that consist data of his experiment or he will harm Marvel if he not to do so.

46

“I want you to help me get clothes and shelter, and then with other things. I’ve left them long enough. If you won’t—well!...But you will—must.” (p. 80) Marvel agrees to help Griffin because he is afraid that Griffin will hurt him if

he does not want to help him. At last, Marvel manages to get the book from Griffin’s

room. But later, Marvel tries to escape from Griffin. He runs along the village. Then,

he tries to get cover in the police station.

“Lemme go inside,” said Marvel, staggering and weeping, but still clutching the books. “Lemme go inside. Lock me in—somewhere. I tell you he’s after me. I give him the slip. He said he’d kill me, and he will.” (p. 114) The police keep Marvel inside the bars because he wants it all that way. For a

while, the situation seems safe enough for Marvel, but suddenly Griffin breaks in.

There is a fighting between Griffin and everybody in the police station. He manages

to knock them down. Griffin later tries to kill Marvel by strangling him on his neck.

But, someone fires the gun and Marvel is saved. It seems that one of the bullet hits

Griffin on his arm and he flees away.

Griffin meets Kemp when he tries to hide in Kemp’s house. He tells Kemp

that he is his former college friend and Kemp is willing to help him. Griffin asks

Kemp not to tell anyone about his existence and Kemp gives Griffin his word.

Although Kemp has promised that he will not tell anyone, Griffin still not trusts him

at the full rate. He sets up any possible strategies to ensure his safety. It seems that

Griffin has a lack of trust to anybody.

Exhausted and wounded as the Invisible Man was, he refused to accept Kemp’s word that his freedom should be respected. He examined the two windows of the bedroom, drew up the blinds and opened the sashes to confirm Kemp’s statement that a retreat by them would be possible. (p. 129)

47

At the first place, Kemp is willing to help Griffin, but later he finds that

Griffin is aggressive and dangerous. Griffin plans to create a reign of terror upon the

villager. He does not mind with killing if that is necessary. His first target is Thomas

Marvel who is locked in the police station cells. Griffin wants to get his book to start

again his experiment.

“And it is killing we must do, Kemp.” “It is killing we must do,” repeated Kemp. “I’m listening to your plan Griffin; but I’m not agreeing, mind. Why killing.” “Not wanton killing, but a judicious slaying. The point is: They know there is an Invisible Man—as well as we know there is an Invisible Man—and that Invisible Man, Kemp, must now establish a reign of terror, Yes; no doubt it’s startling, but I mean it. A reign of terror. He must take some town, like your Burdock, and terrify and dominate it. He must issue his orders. He can do that in thousand ways—scraps of paper thrust under doors would suffice. And all who disobey his orders he must kill, and kill all who would defend them.” (p. 183) Recognizing this danger, Kemp makes up his mind to report about Griffin to

the police. He asks the police to come to his home to arrest Griffin while he tries to

make Griffin busy by making a long conversation with Griffin. But the plan fails.

When the police come to the house, Griffin notices them and he runs away from the

house.

Griffin feels that Kemp has betrayed him, and he wants to take revenge for

that. Griffin sends a letter to Kemp that he is furious with Kemp and he tells Kemp

that he will kill him. In the night, Griffin breaks in to the house and tries to kill

Kemp. With the help of the police that guarding his house, he is able to escape, and

then he runs as fast as he can toward the village. Griffin also manages to slip down

from the police who try to capture him and chase Kemp.

In the village, Kemp shouts to the villagers that he is chased by the Invisible

Man and asks them to make a line across the street to hold him down.

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“Spread out! Spread out!” cried someone. Kemp suddenly grasped the altered condition of the chase. He stopped and looked around, panting. “He’s close here!” he cried. “Form a line across—“(p. 212) It seems that the condition has change against Griffin. Now, he has the whole

village hunt him down. From the hunter become the hunted. However he still gets the

chance to attack Kemp. He grips Kemp on his neck to choke to death. When Griffin

is still struggling with Kemp, one of the villager, a navvy, hits Griffin in his head

with a spade.

In another moment a knee compressed his diaphragm, and a couple of eager hands gripped his throat, but the grip of one was weaker than the other; he grasped the wrist, heard a cry of pain from his assailant, and then the spade of the navvy came whirling through the air above him, and struck something with a dull thud. (p.212) Because of that Kemp is able to escape from the attack. He then holds Griffin

and asks the villager to capture him. It seems that Griffin is hurt because of the blow

at his head. When a doctor checks Griffin, he cannot feel Griffin’s heartbeats or

pulse. Griffin is dead. As he dies, his invisibility also goes away from his body. His

body becomes visible.

And looking where she pointed, everyone saw, faint and transparent, as though made of glass, so that veins and arteries, and bones and nerves could be distinguished, the outline of a hand—a hand limp and prone. It grew clouded and opaque even as they stared. And so, slowly, beginning at his hands and feet, and creeping slowly along his limbs to the vital centers of his body, that strange change to visible fleshliness continued. It was like the slow spreading of a poison. First came the white veins tracing a hazy grey sketch of a limb, then the glassy bones and intricate arteries, then the flesh and skin, first a faint fogginess and then growing rapidly dense and opaque. Presently they could see his crushed chest and his shoulders, and the dim outline of his drawn and battered features. When at last the crowd made way for Kemp to stand erect, there lay, naked pitiful on the ground, the bruised and broken body of a young man about thirty. His hair and brow were white—not grey with age, but white with the whiteness of albinism—and his eyes were like garnets. His hands were clenched, his eyes wide open, and his expression was one of anger and dismay. (p. 214)

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From all of the discussion above, it can be concluded that Griffin’s

motivation is too strong. It seems that he cannot control the strong urge to fulfill his

desire well enough. As stated by McClelland, motivation that is not well moderated

or not well controlled is possible to lead to the abnormal behavior. In Griffin’s case,

the behavior of Griffin is suitable with the symptoms of antisocial personality. For

example, he begins to lose his feel of empathy. When his father dies because of his

burglary, he does not feel any remorse. He also ignores his feeling of love toward his

childhood friends who he recently meets in his father funeral after a long time. He

only focuses on his experiment and nothing else. Griffin also becomes evil. He does

not mind to steal and rob to fulfill his immediate needs. He even dares to kills the toy

shop owner in order to posses the money to restart his experiment. His antisocial

personality later leads him to the aggressive behavior. He becomes irritable to other

people that he considers as a disturbance toward his work. When he gets frustrated,

he cannot tolerate it anymore. He later tends to break thing to express his frustration.

His irritability and aggressiveness has led everybody in Iping to hate him. When he

is accused for committing burglary in a vicar house, he loses his temper. He reveals

his invisibility to scare everyone. But unfortunately, his action just makes everyone

more curious about him and tries to capture him. The climax of his downfall is when

he tries to kill Kemp. When he chases after Kemp, the things turn wrong and then he

has the whole village hunt him. At last, his attack on Kemp results on his death when

a navvy struck his head with a spade.

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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

Based on the analysis conducted in chapter four, the writer is finally able to find

the answers for the problems formulated in the first chapter. Several points also can be

drawn as the conclusion of the study. The writer applies the theory of character and

characterization to answer the first problem about the character of Jack Griffin. In this

part, the writer finds the characters of Jack Griffin. First, Jack Griffin is a very

mysterious man. He barely gives his personal information to other people. He also often

tries to avoid any interactions with others. This mysteriousness gives some bad effects

to him. It makes many people have various negative opinions on him. His second

character is as an irritable person. He likes to treat other people with unpleasant

manner. When he talks to other person, he often uses harsh and rude tone. Bad temper

and lack of emotional control is also part of his characters. His temper can be easily

blown away only by something insignificant. When he gets angry, he tends to break

some objects to ease his anger. Jack Griffin is also a very ambitious and very dedicated

person. He will do anything in order to be successful on his effort. Another character of

him is a devious person. He hardly to give his trust to another, even he knows the other

person well. In Kemp’s house, he fears that Kemp will betray him and report him to

the law enforcement. All of these characters can be seen from the events that Griffin

experiences.

After finishing the first problem formulation, the writer moves forward to the

next question. In the second problem, the writer will discuss what the backgrounds of

Jack Griffin’s motivation are. By applying the theory of human motivation, the writer

51

managed to answer this problem. The first motivation of Jack Griffin in performing his

experiment is that he wants to achieve personal glory and fame as the fulfillment of

esteem needs. He wants to get famous and make fortune for himself. Another factor

that influences him is the fact that he is an albino. At that time, albinism is considered

as a disgrace. By inventing something through science, he wants to be acknowledged

by other people. He works so hard for this experiment. He spends all his resources to

support the experiment. After he becomes invisible, he experiences many unpleasant

events that in fact, put his life on danger. From this point, his motivation has changed

from chasing personal glory and fame to the effort of restoring his visibility. After

experiencing so many dangerous events because of his invisibility, it makes Griffin

regret his effort to be invisible. At the first time, he thinks that invisibility will bring so

many advantages to him. Instead of advantages, Griffin gets so many troubles because

of his invisibility. Because of that, he later starts again his experiment to restore his

invisibility.

Furthermore, the writer is able to answer the last problem about the influence of

motivation towards Griffin’s behavior and how that behavior leads him to his self-

destruction. Basically, to answer this problem, the writer uses the data from the first and

second problem. Throughout the novel, it is clearly seen that Griffin motivation gives

major effect to his behavior. His high level of motivation makes him do whatever it

takes to achieve his purpose. He even commits crime in order to support his

experiment. He also works in secrecy because he fears that someone will steal his idea

and this makes him become a very mysterious man. His ambition also makes him

willing to leave behind everything that can disturb him form the experiment. He loses

his sympathy to others, even to his own father. His frustration because of the

52

experiment has led him to be an aggressive person. He often shows his aggressiveness

by breaking objects and threatening other people. Furthermore, his aggressiveness leads

him to uncover his invisibility. As a result he is hunted by the whole people in the

village while he tries to kill Kemp. He meets his death in the hand of a navvy who

struck his head with a spade. Along Griffin’s death, his invisibility also fades away.

53

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abrams, M. H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publisher, 1993

Atkinson, Rita L, Richard C. Atkinson, Ernest R. Hilgard. Introduction to Psychology. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovic Publishers, 1983

Baron, Robert A. Psychology - third edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon Company, 1992

Beck, Robert C. Motivation: Theories and Principles. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1987

Beresford, J. D. H. G Wells. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1915

Guerin, Wilfred L, Earle Labor, Lee Morgan, Jeanne Resman C., John Willingham R. A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature, Fourth Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999

Holman, C. Hugh, and William Harman. A Handbook to Literature. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1986

McClelland, D. Human motivation. New York: Scott, Foresman, 1985

Murphy, M. J. Understanding Unseen. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1972

Murray, Edward J. Motivation and Emotion. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1964

Perrin, Lawrence. Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. New York: Harcourt Brave Jovanovic, Inc., 1974

Petri, Robert L. Motivation: Theory and Research. Belmont: Wadsworth, Inc., 1981 Smith, Ronald E., Irwin G. Sarason and Barbara R. Sarason. Psychology: The

Frontier of Behavior. New York: Harper and Row Publishers, Inc., 1982

Spear, Peter D, Steven D. Penrod, and Timothy B. Baker. Psychology: Perspective on Behavior. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1998

Webster’s New World Dictionary. New Delhi: Oxford and IBH Publishing Co., 1975

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Woody, Thomas. Life and Education in Early Societies. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1968

Online Refernces:

Gunn, James. The Science of Science-fiction Writing. <http://www2.ku.edu/~sfcenter/CSSFLJ.htm> (3 February 2008)

Lacey, Josh. Reading The Invisible Man Is a Depressing Experience.

<http://www.infinityplus.com/invisibleman.htm.> (14 January 2008)

Sirabian, Robert. The Conception of Science in Wells The Invisible Man. Fall 2001. <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3708/is_200110/ai_n8976172/pg_5> (25 February 2008)

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APPENDIX

The Summary of The Invisible Man

The story starts in the small English village called Iping when a stranger

comes to the village and go toward an inn named The Coach and Horses. The

stranger wears a long, thick coat and gloves, and his face is completely hidden by

bandages, large goggles, and a wide-brimmed hat and looks like very mysterious. The

stranger is extremely reclusive and always wants to be left alone. He also spends most

of his time in his room working with a set of chemicals and laboratory apparatus. He

only leaves the inn at night. Because of that, he becomes the talk of the village.

Meanwhile, a burglary occurs in the village and the victim is never being able

to see the thief. One morning, the stranger is angry because his meal hasn’t served

yet. Mrs. Hall confronts the stranger complaint with the question about the bill. The

stranger is in rage and he reveals that he is invisible. He removes his bandages and

goggles to reveal that there is nothing beneath it. As Mrs. Hall and other people in the

bar are in horror, the police attempt to catch the stranger but he throws off all his

clothes and escapes.

The Invisible Man flees to the downs, where he frightens a tramp, Thomas

Marvel, with his invisibility and forces him to help him. Together with Marvel, he

returns to the village. There, Marvel steals the Invisible Man's books and apparatus

from the inn while the Invisible Man himself steals the doctor and vicar's clothes. But

after the theft, Mr. Marvel attempts to slip out from the Invisible Man. The Invisible

Man chases after him, attempt to kill him.

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Marvel runs to the nearest town where he hides in an inn. The Invisible Man

attempts to break in through the back door but someone notices him and shot him.

Because of that he is injured. In desperation, he enters a house to take care of his

wound. Apparently, the house belongs to Dr. Kemp. He reveals to Kemp his true

identity that he is Kemp’s former college friend.

Griffin explains to Kemp that after leaving the university he was desperately

poor, and determined to achieve something through science, he began work on an

experiment to make people and objects invisible, using money that he stole from his

father. He performed the experiment using a cat as a guinea pig, but when the cat's

owner, Griffin's neighbor, realized her cat was missing she made a complaint to their

landlord, and Griffin perform the experiment to himself in order to escape from the

responsibility

He burns the apartment to cover his tracks and his experiment. Soon, he

suddenly became overwhelmed with his invisibility. But, the reality is far from his

imagination. After struggling to survive from a series of dangerous events, he stole

some clothing from small shop and took settled at The Coach & Horses inn to reverse

the experiment. He then explains to Kemp that he now plans to begin a Reign of

Terror he plans to use his invisibility to terrorize the nation with Kemp as his

associate.

Realizing that Griffin is insane, Kemp is not willing to help him and instead

report to the police about Griffin’s existence. When the police arrive, Griffin attacks

Kemp and a policeman before escaping. The next day he leaves a note on Kemp's

doorstep announcing that Kemp will be his first target to kill.

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Soon after that, the Invisible Man breaks in to the house and tries to kill

Kemp. Kemp runs down the hill to the town below. In that place he alerts a navvy

that the Invisible Man is approaching. When Kemp is pinned down by Griffin, the

navvy strikes him with a spade and knocks him to the ground. The Invisible Man dies

of the injuries, and his naked and shabby body slowly becomes visible on the ground

after he dies.