Chapter 5: Footprints without Feet (Footprints without Feet)

The remark is fully justified, because Griffin broke the law again and again. When his landlord tried to eject him, he set fire to the house in revenge. In the London store he broke open boxes and wrappers and helped himself to clothes, food and wine. He later attacked a shopkeeper from behind and robbed him of all the money he could find. At Iping he was strongly suspected of the burglary at the clergyman's house, where the desk was opened and the housekeeping money was missing, and finally, while he was being arrested, Jaffers, the constable, was knocked unconscious as he tried to hold on to him.

Griffin set fire to a house, stole, robbed, attacked people and resisted arrest, so he was indeed lawless.

As a scientist Griffin was brilliant. He carried out "experiment after experiment" and finally, by swallowing certain rare drugs, made his body "as transparent as a sheet of glass". This was a remarkable discovery.

But he was not a responsible scientist. He misused his discovery for selfish and criminal ends instead of using it for the good of people. He did not think about its consequences either: he became a homeless, penniless wanderer who could not bear the winter cold and had to steal to survive. He was a gifted but irresponsible and hot-tempered man.

Brilliant in his research, but irresponsible and selfish in the way he used his discovery.

Sample answer (opinions may differ). Being invisible would have some attractions. One could watch events without disturbing them, avoid danger, help others secretly and escape bullies or unwanted attention.

The disadvantages are serious. Griffin's story shows that an invisible person has no clothes that go unnoticed, is cold, lonely and hungry, and cannot live among people in the normal way. Others would fear and distrust him, and the temptation to do wrong would be great. Griffin himself had to wander without clothes, money or a home. On the whole, I would not like to become invisible.

Sample answer. Yes, many forces cannot be seen: magnetism, gravity, electricity, and the force of the wind or of sound. Many aspects of matter are also invisible to the naked eye, for example atoms and molecules, germs and bacteria, and the cells of living things.

If we could see them, the world would look very different and very crowded. We would see magnetic lines of force around magnets and the Earth, germs on our hands and food, and tiny creatures in a drop of water. It would help us fight disease and understand nature better, but it might also be confusing and frightening to see so much all the time.

Sample answer. Glass and water are transparent because they let visible light pass straight through them. They absorb and scatter very little of the light that falls on them, so we can see through them clearly.

Making a man invisible would be extremely difficult. The human body is made of materials, such as skin, blood and bones, that absorb, reflect and scatter light, and that is why we can see it. To be invisible, a person would have to let all the light pass through without any change. A further problem is that eyes need to absorb light in order to see, so a truly transparent man might not be able to see at all. With advances in science, some kinds of partial invisibility may become possible one day, but a fully invisible human being is very unlikely.