NOVEL-The Invisible Man CH19 Certain First Principles (Important Question Answers)

CH19 CERTAIN FIRST PRINCIPLES 

IMPORTANT QUESTION ANSWER

Question 1: ‘The secret is out, I gather it was a secret”. What did Mr. Kemp mean by this statement and what was the object behind it?

Answer: “The secret is out, I gather it was a secret, ” by this statment, Mr. Kemp meant that the entire people residing in qpd around Iping had come to know about the invisible man. His hiding at the parlour was no longer a secret and everyone has come to know this. And sooner or later he would be caught. Though this statement seems to be used to scare Griffin, but in reality it was meant to extract the truth from him rather it was used as a threat. Mr. Kemp, being a scientist and an old friend of Griffin really wanted to help him and for that he wanted to inquire about his invisibility.

Question 2: Which subject fascinated that invisible man and why?

Answer: The Invisible man was initially a student of medicine, However, subsequently he switched over to Physics because he was fascinated by light and its wonderful characteristics. He was attracted by the marvels and miracles of that were there in the subject of Physics. He also had curiosity and a desire to find out a method to change colors of substance without changing their fundamental properties. He also wanted to carry out a research on this topic using various principles and laws of physics such as reflection, refraction. All this phenomena were concerned with light and its properties. He also enchanted by the phenomena of visibility and invisibility of objects. He had a loose theory on invisibility and he wanted to find out methodology to figure it out. It was,  therefore, he was, therefore, he was fascinated by the subject of Physics. 

Question 3: What do you understand by the title “Certain first Principles”, the invisible man and Mr. Kemp are discussing about?

Answer: The chapter “Certain first Principles” receives its title, because a considerable part of

the chapter covers a conversation on some principles about light under the subject of Physics. Mr. Kemp and the Invisible man are involved in a deep conversations on those scientific principles. As Griffin,(the Invisible man) shows with Mr. Kemp how he was fascinated by light’, he states the principles of Refraction. Refraction and absorption of light. Griffin gives Mr. Kemp a long and detailed talk on those principles, as to how and why those phenomena take place and how its application can lead to visibility and invisibility of objects. There is also a detailed talk given by the Griffin about various parts of human body made up of transparent tissues. It is because of this fact that many scientific principles are discussed in this chapter, it has been given an appropriate title.

Question 4: Did the study of medicine and knowledge about physiology, in any way, help the invisible man in his discovery of invisibility? If yes, then explain how.

Answer: Yes, it seems quite so. Knowledge about Physiology acquired through study of medicine provided a lot of help in guiding Griffin, the invisible man in his discovery of invisibility. By studying medicine, he acquired a lot of knowledge about human physiology especially the fact that all the parts of human body, barring acouple of things are made up of transparent tissues. It was this very knowledge that encouraged him and helped him to propound the theory of human invisibility and convert it into a reality along with the principles he learnt in Physics covering reflection, refraction and absorption of light. In this way, his invisibility was really an outcome of the combination of both these knowledge acquired in medicine and Physics.

 CHARACTER-BASED

Question 1: Draw a character sketch of Mr. Oliver, the professor.

Answer: As illustrated in this chapter, Mr. Oliver is a Professor by profession but a journalist by instinct. Griffin was his student. Oliver was a scientific founder. As described by Griffin, Oliver was a thief of ideas. He was, as stated, a journalist by instinct, always in an attempt to steal idea, theory, thesis, fact and research conceived and developed by others and,to receive *11 the credit for some other’s work. As a result, he was always prying at every one whom he came into contact. It is therefore, evident, that he was not a trustworthy person even being into a holistic profession of teaching and do not form a good opinion of himself among his press and students. People would like to keep distance from him to prevent any kind of intellectual harm.