1. Why were the two boys surprised and fascinated?
The two boys were highly surprised. They saw fresh muddy imprints of a pair of bare feet. They wondered what a barefooted man doing on the steps of a house in the middle of London. They saw only the footsteps but didn’t see the man whose marks they were. As they gazed, a fresh foot mark appeared from nowhere. The boys followed them fascinated. The marks became fainter and disappeared altogether.
2. What was the explanation of the mystery of the footmarks? Who was responsible for them?
The explanation of the mystery of the footmarks was really simple enough. Those footmarks were of a scientist. He was Griffin. Griffin carried out many experiments. He succeeded in proving that the human body could become invisible scientist, Griffin.
3. How did Griffin succeed in becoming invisible? What was the result of his experiments?
Griffin was a brilliant scientist. He had carried out experiment after experiment. He wanted to prove that the human body could become invisible. His experiments succeeded. He swallowed certain rare drugs. His body became as transparent as a sheet of glass. Its status didn’t undergo any change. It remained solid as glass.
4. How and why did a brilliant scientist like Griffin degenerate into a lawless and homeless wanderer?
There can’t be any doubt that Griffin was a brilliant scientist. After all, the man who discovered invisibility of the human body couldn’t be an ordinary person. But he misused the discovery. He utilised it for his petty interests. He indulged in petty thefts, burglaries and beatings of innocent persons. He made illegal and unlawful entries in stores and shops only to feed and dress himself without paying anything. All these illegal activities made him a lawless person and an anarchist.
5. How did Griffin become a homeless wanderer without clothes and money? Or who set his landlord’s house on fire and why?
Invisibility made Griffin a lawless person. He was living in a rented house in London. His landlord disliked him. He tried to eject Griffin. The scientist was determined to take revenge. In revenge, Griffin set fire to the house. Now he became a homeless wanderer without money. To become invisible, he had to remove his clothes completely.
6. What made Griffin be in a big store in London?
Griffin was a homeless wanderer without money. He had to be without clothes to remain invisible. It was a bad time of the year for such a person in London. It was mid-winter. The air was bitterly cold. He couldn’t do without clothes. So, he decided to slip into a big London store for warmth.
7. What did Griffin do in a big store in London?
First of all, a clothes wanderer in mid-winter needed some warmth. As the doors of a big London store were shut, Griffin first looked for clothes. He broke open boxes and fitted himself out with warm clothes. He became fully dressed with shoes, an overcoat and a hat. Then he fed himself on cold meat, coffee, sweets and wine taken from the grocery store. Finally, he lay down to sleep on a pile of quilts.
8. What mistake did Griffin make while he was in a big London store? What should have he done? (Or) why did Griffin find himself invisible and naked in chill January again after running from the big London store?
No doubt, Griffin got what he was searching for in the big London store. He dressed himself fully and fed himself on cold meat, wine etc. he lay down comfortably and slept on a pile of quilts. If he had woken up early before the coming of the employees in the morning, all might have been well. Fully dressed, he was easily seen now. He panicked and began to run. He was able to escape only by throwing all his clothes away. So, once more, Griffin found himself invisible but naked in the chill January air.
9. Why did Griffin hurry to Drury lane, the centre of the theatre world?
The invisible but naked Griffin decided to try the stock of a theatrical company in London. He hoped of not only finding clothes of himself but also something that would hide the empty space above his shoulder. He hurried to Drury Lane, the centre of the theatre world. He made his way, invisible, upstairs. He came out a little later. He was wearing bandages round his forehead, dark glasses, false nose, big bushy side- whiskers, and a large hat.
10. Why did Griffin decide to leave London and come to the village of Iping?
Griffin wanted to get away from crowded London. He wanted to live alone in isolation away from the searching eyes of the people. So he took a train to the village of Iping. He wanted to lead a peaceful and undisturbed life in the village. He booked two rooms at the local inn.
11. How did the arrival of Griffin at the Iping inn was taken by the people and the landlady Mrs. Hall?
Griffin arrived at an inn in the village of Iping in winner. It was quite unusual event in that season. Moreover, the stranger was of an unusual appearance. It set all tongues wagging in the village. Mrs. Hall, the landlord’s wife, tried to be friendly with him but was snubbed. She was prepared to excuse Griffin’s strange habits and irritable temper because the eccentric scientist had paid her in advance.
12. Why did the landlady Mrs. Hall try to be friendly and prepared to excuse Griffin’s irritable habits?
It was winter. It was quite unusual to visit Iping in winter. So, Mrs. Hall, the landlady felt obliged to get a guest in such a season. So, she tried to be friendly with him. Griffin snubbed her and asked her not to disturb him for anything. Mrs. Hall was prepared to excuse the strange guest because he had paid her in advance. She thought him an eccentric scientist. She tolerated the strange habits and irritable manner of the eccentric scientist.
13. Why did Griffin have to burgle a clergyman’s house in Iping?
All the stolen money didn’t last long. He had no more ready cash. He pretended to Mrs. Hall that he was expecting a cheque to arrive at any moment. He needed money immediately. The burglary committed by Griffin in a clergyman’s house very early in the morning was a desperate attempt to steal some cash.
14. Describe the burglary committed very early morning at a clergyman’s house in Iping.
A clergyman and his wife were awakened by the noises in the study. When they came downstairs, they heard the chink of money being taken from the clergyman’s desk. He flung open the door and cried, “Surrender!” They were surprised to realise that the room was empty. The desk was open and money missing. They looked under the desk, behind the curtains and even up the chimney. They found nobody anywhere. The poor couple couldn’t realise that the invisible man, Griffin, decamped unseen with the money.
15. What did Mr. and Mrs. Hall do when they found Griffin’s room wide open? Why were they surprised?
The landlord and his wife work up early. They were surprised to see the scientist’s door wide open. Usually it was shut and locked. He was furious if anyone entered his room. The bedclothes were cold. It meant that the scientist must have woken up long ago. The bandages and clothes that the stranger always wore were lying about in the room.
16. Describe he strange behaviour of Mrs. Hall’s furniture. How did the chair start moving and push Mr. and Mrs. Hall out of the room?
All of a sudden, Mrs. Hall heard a sniff close to her ear. A moment later, the hat on the bed-post of Griffin‘s room leapt up. It dashed itself into her face. Then, the bedroom chair pushed them both out of the room. The door was locked after them. All these strange activities were done by the invisible man.
17. Why did Mrs. Hall think that the room was haunted by ghosts? What did the neighbours think about the strange incident, the movement of furniture in the stranger’s room?
Mrs. Hall was highly surprised and terrified to see the furniture in her guest’s room moving and dancing. She saw how the chair pushed her and husband out of the room and the door was shut and locked behind them. She thought that the room was haunted by spirits and ghosts. The strange had somehow caused those spirits to enter into her furniture. The neighbours thought that the trouble was caused by witchcraft.
18. What and why did Griffin show himself to Mrs. Hall and why were the people in the bar horrified?
Mrs. Hall wanted to know how the stranger came out of an empty room and how he entered a locked room. And what he had been doing to her chair upstairs. This made Griffin furious and he cried, “Very well-I’ll show you.” Suddenly he threw off bandages, whiskers, spectacles and even nose. Mrs. Hall was shocked and the people in the bar were horrified and found themselves staring at a headless man!
19. Why no one knew where to lay hands on Griffin during the encounter of the invisible man with the constable, Mr. Jaffers?
Mr. Jaffers was informed and he arrived to arrest Griffin. He was quite surprised to find that he had to arrest a man without a head. The policeman ran to get hold of a man who was throwing off one garment after another, at last, Griffin became invisible when he threw off his shirt finally in the air. The constable was struggling to arrest him. Those who came to Jaffers’s help were hit by blows that came from nowhere. Jaffers was knocked down unconscious. Griffin had shaken himself free and no one knew where to lay hands on him.