Thematic Reflection

Thematic Reflection

Madness, Mayhem, and Malevolence

            Many of the books we read this semester consisted of madness, mayhem, and malevolence. There was a lot of killings and death throughout the books. Two in particular books we read that contain madness, mayhem, and malevolence are And There Were None and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.         

            In And There Were None, a group of people were invited to Indian Island, none of them knowing each other nor why they had been invited to this island. The island was in the middle of nowhere; therefore people were not living on the island. To make it even weirder, once the group got settled into the house they would be staying in, a recording of a person’s voice came on accusing everyone of murder.

That same night, Anthony Marston dies of choking on his drink. This was not the last death on the island. One by one all the characters die off, and those who remained alive before being killed, watched their back at all times. It turns out that Justice Wargrave faked his own death and was the murderer after all. He thought that since everyone in the group had killed someone in their past, they had to pay for what they did. In all he killed nine people and left Vera Claythorne to kill herself. He conned everyone into thinking that one of them was the murderer. The invitation for all the people to come stay at this island was a way for Justice Wargrave to get what he wanted, a taste of murder!

            In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, evil played a very big role and it caused a couple of deaths. Henry Jekyll is a doctor who is well liked in his community. He likes to engage in activities and enjoys being at parties. However there is another side of Dr. Henry Jekyll that no one else knows about except for him of course. He has a dark and evil side that he has never shown before. The doctor suspects that there is not only one side to a man, but two – good and evil. Dr. Jekyll becomes curious about this unknown and secretive side.

            Jekyll decides to try to separate these two sides, so an experiment takes place in his laboratory. This experiment brings Mr. Hyde to life. In the book, Mr. Hyde is thought to be a separate man, but turns out to be Dr. Henry Jekyll. Dr. Jekyll figures out he can become Hyde anytime he wants by drinking the mystery potion he came up with. Mr. Hyde would be the evil side, while Dr. Jekyll’s side was friendly. Hyde was a strange, small, ugly man which made it easier for Dr. Jekyll to become the evil man. Mr. Hyde was also cruel and violent. No one liked him and all tried to stay away from him. One day when Hyde was out in town, he trampled a young girl and kept on walking, not ever turning around to see if anyone noticed. But people did and became angry. Another time he killed an innocent man walking down the road.

            Dr. Jekyll liked that he could get away with cruel things and no one would ever know it was him. It was a way to do the evil things he always wanted to do. Jekyll became obsessive with this evil side, not knowing he was about to change his life in a bad way. He used the mystery potion so much that he started randomly changing into Mr. Hyde without even trying. Every day it got worse and worse. He never knew when he might change into evil. He would change unexpectedly, his clothes would be too big for his body, he was ugly and cruel. Dr. Jekyll could no longer control his evil side. It was now bigger than his good, friendly side. The one and only way to fix this problem was not only to kill Mr. Hyde, but also himself.

            When madness and evil comes into play, no one becomes a winner. Justice Wargrave became a madman and Dr. Jekyll ended up dead. Neither could control themselves no longer. Everyone has a side to them that is not always good, but you learn how to control that side and not let it get out of hand. Both Justice Wargrave and Dr. Henry Jekyll thought they could become a better person by having a side that was evil. Throughout the books there was a consistent use of madness, mayhem, and malevolence.