In the first chapter of the book Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde there are several moments that make you think a lot harder and makes you scratch your head. For me that moment is when Enfield tells Mr. Utterson about how when he cashed the check the bank put the name under Dr. Jekyll even though the check was given to them by someone named Mr. Hyde. This puzzled Mr. Utterson because he knows Dr. Jekyll and is his lawyer. He had never heard of Mr. Hyde. I was confused as well as it is very weird to have a man give you a check with someone else's name on it. In the next chapter, Mr. Utterson sees Jekyll's will and notices that Jekyll mentions Hyde which totally confuses Utterson.
I can't believe the kind of things that were going on in Enfield's story. For instance, I could not believe a little girl was walking around at 3:00 AM. Actually, in today's society, anyone walking at 3 in the morning is completely unheard of. Let alone a child being up and awake at this time. I can't believe how much life has changed in the last 200 years. I also don't understand why they would just take a check from a complete stranger but I guess that was also acceptable at that time. If you told someone that you took a check from a complete stranger who owed money to you, he would think you are crazy because the stranger could easily fool you, leave, and you would never see them again.
I think that the lesson is that humans have evolved a lot throughout time and we have changed from our barbaric ways to become the civilized people we are today. However, I also realize that in 100-200 years from now, people will think that were totally uncivilized and we will be far more sophisticated than we are today.
I agree seeing Mr.Hyde give a check which had the name of Jekyll is quite confusing, especially to Utterson which that and the will inspire his investigation to take place. As said in class the little girl being out at 3:00 am, especially in this time period is a bit bizzare, but this is probley just a flaw is Stevenson's writing. Who really knows though maybe he's commenting on Jack the Ripper who was there in Britan, somewhere close in that time period. Since he killed women during night, he could be saying that they shouldn't of been out in the first place. Also about the check, they didn't just take it from Hyde, he agreeded to wait with them in the bank. Also that would be a good lesson now, but the book was written in the 1800's ; good thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the incident involvig the check was abnormal. I also believe that walking around at 3 in the morning was insane. I think that was simply a flaw in Stevenson's writing. He just wished to make the incident work out well, but he accomplished this in an amaturish way. I also agree with your theme that people have become more intelligent as the years progress. They keep intellectually improving, and this progress will continue. However, I believe that evil is increasing in our world. As you can see, the check was handed to Hyde by another individual. The thought of cheating another person hadn't alluded the minds of people during that age. Now, people are finding all sorts of ways to cheat others. I guess that another theme that can be concluded is; society keeps decaying morally, and each person is responsible for that. I think that our views about this story will change throughout our reading of the book.
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