Parent's Guide to Pets: The Invisible Man

Monday 3 May 2021

The Invisible Man

Have you ever read H.G.Wells story 'The Invisible Man'?

I thought of it again when watching a fascinating documentary on Frank Lloyd Wright by Jonathan Adams, architect, and Welshman. Frank Lloyd Wright's parents journeyed from Llandysul, Wales in a migration of the Lloyd Jones clan in 1844 to Wyoming in Wisconsan USA. Lloyd Wright's father had been a Baptist minister, but converted to Unitarianism when he married Lloyd Wright's mother, and joined the clan.

The family bought land which became the valley where his second family home was built- Taliesin (which is said to mean 'Shining Brow' in welsh, though Adams and googletranslate could not corroborate this. Google suggests Ael Disglair instead.) The second home was for Lloyd Wrights second family. In 1914, the tragedy of the murder of his second wife and her children was made all the more poignant by the fact that it was a senseless murder by a trusted servant. Julian Carton had been given notice to quit, because he had been behaving strangely, but the Lloyd Wright servants lived as relative equals in their large egalitarian household. Carlton never explained why he committed the murders, and then burnt down the house. He died from starvation having drunk bleach, which damaged his oesophagus. Carlton was a black American of Barbadian decent.

I am amazed that Lloyd Wright went on to restore Taliesin. This must have been a very brave act. The house caught fire again in 1925, but this time it was an electrical fault. It must evoked painful memories.

In the Invisible Man, Wells eludes to skin colour. People see darkness in the Invisible Man's body after a dog has torn at his trousers, they remark that his nose is pink. Perhaps he is 'piebald' and ashamed of his skin. After the Invisible Man, who we discover has the name Griffin, is felled and killed by a navy's spade, his lifeless body becomes visible, and we discover that he is albino.

Why are American jails full of black men? The right wingers point to their criminal culture. The left wingers note their position at the bottom of society - invisible. The right wingers say 'join us- get on your bike'. The left wingers say 'what have we done?'

Perhaps the opposite of the Invisible Man was the 'Elephant Man', who was the most wonderful and beautiful person by all accounts. He was noticeable, but had to become invisible to protect himself, wearing a bag on his head. Perhaps 9 invisible men lash out and attack, and 1 is extraordinary and restrained. But the lashing out is to be expected.

I wondered whether Lloyd Wright was able to resist the racism of the age despite the powerful generalising associations of skin colour?

And what about Jonathan Adams? Do his building evoke Lloyd Wright?