The Invisible Man: Detailed Summary of the Chapter 7 & 8

Detailed Summary of the Chapter 7 & 8

Dear students, in the previous chapter 6 of this novel, you’ve come to know that Mrs. Hall got fainted when she found the furniture of the room moving of its own and the bed clothes suddenly gathered into a heap that leapt to one side and the chair started moving towards her. She thought that it was all done because her mother’s spirit was annoyed at the way the stranger was living in her inn. He was an irreligious, who never visited the church regularly. Thus she was very much panicked at the incidents that took place in the chapter 6.

Now, let’s see what is there in the chapter 7.

The stranger had come into the little parlour of the inn at about half past five in the morning and remained there up to nearly mid-day. The blinds were down, the door was shut and he was alone. He rang the bell thrice to get breakfast. For the third time, he rang the bell rather vigorously and continuously, but he received no response.

In the meantime, the news about a burglary spread at the vicarage and the people started assembling there in twos. Mr. Hall, assisted by Wadgers, went off to find Mr. Shuckleforth, the magistrate to take his advice. No one dared to go upstairs to know what the stranger was doing at that time.

The stranger was striding up and down violently every now and then and twice came an outburst of curses, a tearing of paper, and a violent sound produced by the smashing of bottles also came.

As the time passed a little group of scared but curious people grew. Among these people was Mrs. Huxter, some gay young persons wearing brightly shining ready-made jackets and ties made-up of stiff type of cloth because it was Whit Monday, the day meant for celebrations. They were all curious to know about the matter there. Young Archie Harker tried to peep under the window blinds while standing outside to see what the stranger was doing inside his room. He could see nothing, yet other young boys of the village Iping also did the same. It has been mentioned earlier that the people of Iping celebrated the Whit Mondays with full enthusiasm. But it was the finest of all the Mondays. There was a row of nearly a dozen booths, a shooting gallery and also there were three yellow and chocolate wagons.

The gentlemen wore blue jerseys, the ladies white aprons and quite fashionable hats with heavy plume (/plyume/).

Inside the parlour, there was darkness as the window blinds were down and the stranger was there, maybe fearfully. He was occasionally heard swearing at the boys who were standing outside the windows. During this time, the stranger had smashed half a dozen bottles and a pungent smell was also spread in the atmosphere.

Then he uttered loudly “Mrs. Hall,” and at this, somebody went in a fearful manner to call her. Mrs. Hall appeared after some time. She was a little short of breath, but somewhat fierce in her behavior. She was holding a tray in her hands, in which she produced a bill to the stranger, but he complained of the delay in sending breakfast to him. He also complained as to why she had not prepared his meals and also not responded to the bell he rang several times.

At this, she asked him why her bill was not paid by him. He replied that he had told her already that three days back that he was waiting for his money. She continued saying that he could not grumble for the delay in breakfast if her bill was not paid on time. She also added that he should keep his swearing to himself.

The stranger looked angrier than before. And the conversation continued in bad temper. Mrs. Hall also indirectly mentioned to him about the coins he had found. It made him more annoyed and he stamped his foot to vent out his anger.

She also wished to know from him as to what he had been doing in her chair upstairs and how he could appear in an empty room without using the door.

Then suddenly he raised his gloved hands clenched, stamped his feet and said, “Stop!” He said all that with such a violence that everyone present there silenced immediately.

He also threatened them by saying that they did not know who and what he was. After that he swore that he would show them what he was.

First of all, he removed the false nose and there opened a black cavity. He stepped forward and handed Mrs. Hall that false nose which she took in her hand fearfully. The moment she saw it, she screamed loudly, dropped and staggered back. The nose which was a pink and shining piece rolled on the floor.

Then he removed his spectacles and the people present in the bar were stunned to see all that. He also took off his hat and with a violent gesture tore at the whiskers and bandages. For a few seconds, they resisted him. But feeling horrified, they came out.

Mrs. Hall stood there gaping in surprise and shock and shrieked at what she had seen. She also stepped quickly towards the door to go out.

The bandages and false hair flew in air across the passage into the bar giving an awkward look. The people started tumbling on one another in panic. The stranger stood there shouting some incoherent words.

The people in the village heard shouts and shrieks and they also saw in the street a group of people coming out of ‘Coach and Horses’.

They also saw Mrs. Hall fall down and Mr. Teddy Henfrey jumped to avoid tumbling over her. After that, they heard MIllie screaming because she happened to see the headless stranger from behind when she was coming out of the kitchen to see what had happened there.

As soon as the news of the unusual incident spread, the villagers including sweet-seller, vendors, little boys and girls, rustic dandies (…who care a lot for their clothes and appearance), smart wenches (young women), smocked (wearing long garments) elders and aproned एप्रण्ड  gypsies (…who travel from one place to the other for livelihood and live in groups) began running towards them. Within short time, a crowd of approximately forty people assembled there. Everyone was so excited to know the facts that they continued speaking together creating a babble (talking in a silly and confused manner, especially when many people speak together). Mrs. Hall was picked up almost in a state of swoon.

Whenever any unusual incident occurs, people stand making small groups and in each group, you will find a person narrating the incident in his own way.

This thing also happened in front of the ‘Coach and Horses’. After some time, a procession was seen marching forward resolutely towards the inn. Firstly, Mr. Hall appeared, who seemed very red in anger and determined by the way he was walking. Then Mr. Bobby Jaffers, the village constable, appeared. Mr. Wadgers followed after them and Mr. Jaffers had a warrant to arrest the stranger.

Mr. Hall led the constable to the parlour and flung open its door saying, “Constable, do your duty!”

 Jaffers was the first to enter and he was followed by Mr. Hall and then Wadgers entered. They saw the headless figure in front of them in the darkness. He was having a half eaten piece of bread in one gloved hand and a piece of cheese in the other.

Mr. Hall uttered indicating towards the stranger, “That’s him!”

The stranger warned the constable to keep away from him.

Suddenly, he threw down the bread and cheese aside and Mr. Hall also grasped the knife that was lying on the table to save himself. Then the stranger threw his glove at Jaffers’ face and he also reacted quickly and gripped the stranger’s handless wrist and also caught his invisible throat. During his attempt to overpower the stranger, Jaffers received a powerful kick on the shin (the front part of the leg below the knee). It made Jaffers shout loudly but he did not loosen the tight grip on him. Mr. Hall threw the knife towards Wadgers, who seemed to act like a goal-keeper. He stepped forward as Jaffers and the stranger swayed and staggered towards him. They were clutching and hitting each other. Then they fell on a chair that came in their way and it was crashed.

After that, Jaffers instructed Mr. Hall to catch the stranger’s feet so that he may fall down. But before he could do so, he received a forceful kick in his ribs. It kept Mr. Hall away for some time. Seeing the decapitated (headless) stranger, who had rolled over and got the upper side of Jaffers, Mr. Hall retreated towards the door, keeping the knife in his hand, collided with Mr. Huxter and the Sidderbridge, who were coming to rescue Jaffers, the saviour  of law and order. At the same time, three or four bottles fell down from the cupboard and a very pungent smell spread in the room.

Then the stranger cried all of a sudden saying, “I’ll surrender” although he was successful in keeping Jaffers down. Leaving him down, he stood up abruptly panting. He was looking a strange figure, headless and handless as he had pulled off the right as well as his left glove.

The onlookers must have been felt most surprised to hear the words coming out from the empty space above a headless and handless figure.

In the meantime, Jaffers also stood up and produced a pair of handcuffs, but the stranger started undoing buttons of his waistcoat and soon his clothes seemed to be hanging in the air showing empty space in them. In a way, he was under the process of becoming completely invisible.

Some more men folk had then entered the room and it became a closely crowded place. Huxter was surprised to see all that. Ignoring the stranger’s abuses, he exclaimed that no one had ever heard of such a scene.

The stranger was complaining that his activities could not be associated with crime and he wonders why the policeman had assaulted him in that way.

At this Jaffers explained to him that he had committed a burglary and stolen money from a house and, therefore, he had got warrant to arrest him.

The stranger pleaded to Jaffers that he was ready to surrender and he should not handcuff him. But the constable did not accede to his request.

At this, the half invisible stranger sat down and, before anyone could understand his next activities, he started making himself fully invisible. He removed the slippers, socks and trousers one by one and kicked them off under the table. After that, he sprang up again and flung off his coat. Suddenly realizing what was happening, Jaffers said, “Here stop that” and gripped at the waist coat, and struggled to keep a tight hold on him, but the shirt slipped out of his hold.

Then he instructed others to hold him and told them that if he was able to remove his clothes, he would become invisible. Everyone present there was crying ‘Hold him!’ Only a fluttering white shirt in the air was visible to the crowd.

Then the shirt sleeve planted a blow in Mr. Hall’s face and stopped him from stepping forward.

Within the next moments, the stranger was completely invisible and the people present there were crying “Hold him! Shut the door! Don’t let him loose! I got something! Here it is!” It seemed that everybody was being hit by the invisible man at that time.

Then Sandy Wedgers might have thought to save the people from being hit by an invisible figure, so he opened the door. People started rushing out of the room making a jam-like situation at the door.

The hitting continued and Phipps’ front tooth was broken. Henfrey was injured in the cartilage of his ear, Jaffers felt as if he had caught something that came between him and Huxter.

Jaffers shouted ‘I got him!’ and kept struggling and wrestling with his face that turned purple because of the swelling caused by the blows he received by the invisible man.

The extraordinary conflict reached the house door and also went down the steps of the inn. Jaffers cried in a voice as if his throat was strangled, but he kept his hold on the invisible man very tight. He also kept his knees playing so as to hit the person in his grip, but at last fell down on the gravel with his head downward. Then his fingers relaxed and the tight on the invisible person was loosened.

There were excited cries of ‘Hold!’ and then suddenly a stranger came at once rushing in and caught hold of something and missed it and fell over the constable’s prostrate body.

Next a scream that came halfway across the road was heard. It was a woman who had been hit by somebody while she was crossing the road. Then a dog was kicked and it yelped and then ran growling into Huxter’s yard and with that the transit of the invisible man was completed.

For some time the people stood there amazed and kept gesticulating. After that they scattered away as a gust scatters the dead leaves.

But Jaffers lay there on the gravel quite motionless with face upward and knees bent.

Chapter 8

In Trnasit

This chapter introduces us to another character, named Gibbons, who is an amateur naturalist of the district. He was lying in the open space at the hill-slope, quite lost in his thoughts. He was almost in a dozing state, and suddenly he heard some sound as that of a man who was coughing, sneezing and then swearing in a wild manner. Gibbons looked here and there to confirm as to who was there, but found none. But still, he was able to hear very attentively swearing by a man. The pitch of voice was growing to a height, decreased to a lower level and then suddenly died down at a distance. It seemed to him that the sound was going in a direction of Adderdean. Then it was raised up due to a sneeze and ended.

Gibbons’ peace of mind was disturbed by that unusual occurrence that he experienced. He was in a philosophical and tranquil state of mind and it disappeared at the voice he had heard around him. He stood up at once and quickly moved towards the steepness of the hill that led him to the village. He did so as fast he could.

Chapter 6 of the novel ‘The Invisible Man’

Chapter 6 of the novel ‘The Invisible Man’

Summary

The Furniture That Went Mad

In the previous chapter, you have come to know about the theft in Mrs. And Mr. Bunting’s house. The stranger entered their house and stole money because day by day he was unable to meet out his daily expenditure.

In this chapter, we find that Mr. Hall and Mrs. Hall had woken up earlier than before. Then they went silently down in the cellar to take care of the beer that was under the process of preparation. The moment they entered the cellar, Mrs. Hall remembered that she had forgotten to bring a bottle of sarsaparilla (a kind sweet liquid prepared from this plant) from their room. Mr. Hall went upstairs to get it. While going upstairs, he found that the door of the stranger’s room was open, but he kept going on towards his room and found the bottle there. Picking up it, he started returning and suddenly he noticed that the front door was simply on the latch. He also remembered that the previous night it was properly closed by Mrs. Hall. His curiosity increased and he proceeded towards the stranger’s room to see something more there.  He rapped at the door of his room upstairs. There was no response. He rapped again. When he found no reply, he pushed the door in and entered. Mr. Hall found everything as he had expected. The bed and the room was also empty. His garments, the bandages were all lying scattered on the bedroom chair and along the rail of the bed.

In the meantime, Mrs. Hall became impatient as Mr. Hall was not going down with the bottle which she needed immediately. So she started calling him aloud from the cellar.

At this, Mr. Hall tried to tell Mrs. Hall by going downstairs that the stranger’s room was quite open at that time. At first, she could not understand the whole matter, but, at last, she decided to see the empty room for herself. Mr. Hall, still holding the bottle in his hand started moving upstairs first, followed by his wife. As both of them came up the cellar steps, they heard the front door open and shut, but seeing it closed, neither of them said any word to each other. Then, Mrs. Hall passed her husband in the passage and ran upstairs. She also heard someone sneeze. As she was going on first, she thought that it was Mr. Hall who was sneezing. She at once flung open the door and entered the room.

She heard a sniff close behind her head. She thought it might have been Mr. Hall just behind her. But the moment she turned behind ascertain it, she found that her husband was at a distance from her. But soon he came near her. She came near the bed and bent forward and touched the pillow and the bed clothes to feel the warmth on them. But she felt it all cold. It meant the stranger must have left his bed before one hour or more.

As she did all that, a most extraordinary thing happened. The bed-clothes gathered themselves together, leapt to one side as a heap. It all happened as if a person had rolled up the bed-clothes into a heap and then threw them to one side.

After that the stranger’s hat hopped off, and after a whirling flight in the air was it was hit straight at Mrs. Hall’s face. Then some other things like sponge from the wash-stand, chair, coat and trousers, etc. were all flung aside carelessly, and the chair suddenly started moving towards Mrs. Hall. Both the husband and the wife went out of the room in panic. The door was slammed violently from behind then and was locked from inside. After some time, everything became quiet and calm.

Mrs. Hall was so much petrified at this unusual scene she had ever seen in her life that she was almost fainted. With a great difficulty, Millie and Mr. Hall were able to bring her downstairs.

She became so much panicked that she started speaking as if she was in delirium. She was constantly saying that it was all done by the stranger and it was he who had stirred the spirits in the room by doing irreligious activities. He himself was irreligious and also he misused the furniture that was used by her mother, so the spirit of her mother got annoyed and started throwing the things into the air. She was also talking about his goggled eyes and bandaged head. She also wished that her husband must lock the stranger in the room and held him responsible for all the misdoings as he never visited the church on Sundays. She also mentioned that normally a person never kept such a big number of bottles in his possession as he had in the room.

Mr. Hall again tried to make her drink some more drops of a liquid so that her nerves would become steady.

After that, Millie was sent to call Mr. Sandy Wadgers, the blacksmith, who was told by Millie that Mrs. Hall’s furniture was behaving in a most extraordinary way. He soon reached the inn and Mrs. Hall and her husband wanted the blacksmith to lead him to the stranger’s room at once. But he seemed to be in no hurry as he wanted to study the facts before taking further step.   Therefore he talked with Mr. Hall about the case while passing through the passage. In the meantime, Mr. Huxtar also joined them. They could not reach a decision, so they decided to know the facts first.

As they were busy discussing all that, the door of the room upstairs opened itself and they were wonderstruck to see the stranger’s muffled figure stepping downstairs, perhaps staring more sternly than ever form under his those unreasonably large blue glasses of his goggles. He came down stiffly and slowly staring all the time while walking down the steps. The he stopped and said to them, “Look there!” At this, they all saw towards the point where he was indicating with his gloved finger. He was pointing towards the bottle of sarsaparilla that was left by Mr. Hall near the cellar door. Then he entered the parlour and suddenly, viciously slammed the door in.

They kept staring at one another without uttering any word until the sound created by the slammed door died down.  After that, Mr. Wadgers said that he would like to go I and ask for an explanation for all that he had done there. Mr. Hall took some time to give his approval to what Mr. Wadgers saying.

Then Mr. Wadgers went upstairs and knocked at the door, opened it and said, “Excuse me…”

“Go to the devil!” came a tremendous voice from the room and ordering him to shut the door.

Thus his brief interview was terminated!

The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse by William Saroyan for CBSE Class XI

The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse by William Saroyan

Synopsis of the Lesson

This is an interesting story about two boys. They belonged to a family, which was famous for its honesty. The boys had a craze for horse-riding. One day, the narrator’s cousin, Mourad, bought a beautiful white horse for riding. He had stolen it from some place. The narrator was shocked to think that Mourad had stolen the horse. Such a thing had never happened in their family. But the narrator also wanted to enjoy the ride. So he cooperated with his cousin in keeping the stealth a secret. They continued enjoy horse-riding for many days early in the morning. They used to hide the horse somewhere in a barn. One day, they came across the owner of that horse and he recognized it, but he could not blame the boys for the theft of his horse. It was because he knew that the boys belonged to a reputed family. The next morning, the narrator and his cousin left the horse at its usual place.

Main Points of the Story

One day, Mourad, the narrator’s cousin woke him up early in the morning at four o’clock. He was sitting on a beautiful horse. The narrator could not believe his eyes. He always longed for horse-riding. Mourad and the narrator belonged to a family that was very famous for its honesty. It was known as Garoghlanian family. They had been famous for the honesty for about eleven centuries. Every member of the family felt proud of being a Garoghlanian. They believed in the right and the wrong and never took advantage of anybody in the world.

The narrator could not believe that his cousin could steal the horse. But the reality was before his eyes, so he had to believe it. Then the narrator that stealing a horse only for a raiding was different from stealing money or for selling the horse for money. After that, the narrator jumped down on the yard from window of his room. He sat on the horse’s back behind Mourad, who was considered one of the craziest members of his family. He was considered the natural successor of the craziness found in his family.

His uncle Khosrove was also a crazy fellow. He was a big man with a big head and black hair on it. He had very long moustaches on his face. He was a man of irritable temple. He was also very impatient in his behaviour.  He would stop anybody by saying, “It is no harm; pay no attention to it.”

Once Khosrove’s own son, Arak, came running at a barber’s shop, where he was getting his moustaches trimmed. Arak told him that their house was on fire. Khosrove stood up at once and roared, “It’s no harm; pay no attention to it.

Thus Mourad was the natural descendant of Khosrove.

At present Mourad and his cousin were enjoying riding. Mourad was also singing while riding. After sometime, Mourad told the narrator to get down of the horse because he wanted to have the ride alone.

The narrator obyed and got down of the horse. He also told Mourad that he would also like to have a ride alone.

Mourad kicked the horse and it soon started galloping. The horse crossed a field of dry grass and then an irrigation ditch. He returned after five minutes.

Now it was the narrator’s turn to enjoy the ride alone.

He also leapt to the back of the horse and kicked it. The horse reared and snorted. Then it ran suddenly. Instead of running across the field and then to the irrigation ditch, it ran down road to the vineyard of Dikran Halabian. The horse threw the narrator on to the ground while jumping on the vines.

The narrator and Mourad made a search for it and after half an hour, Mourad came back with the horse. They thought of hiding the horse at a secret place.

The narrator also came to know that Mourad had been enjoying rides for the last many days. They went home and the narrator had his breakfast.

That afternoon, the narrator’s uncle Khosrove came to his house to sip coffee and smoke a cigarette.

Another visitor, named John Byro, also came there. He complained that his white horse had been missing for a month.

The narrator’s uncle Khosrov and John Byro had an argument on the loss of the horse. Khosrove advised John Byro to forget about the horse and not to give any importance to money.

John Byro got angry and went out of the house.

The narrator went to Mourad’s house and told him all about John Byro’s visit to his house. The narrator requested Mourad not to return the horse until he learnt how to ride. Mourad agreed not to return it for six months.

One morning, on the way, they came across John Byro, the owner of the white horse.

He recognized the horse and he knew that it was his own horse, but still, he could not make a claim over it because he knew the reputation of the narrator’s family. He just called the horse the twin of his horse.

Early next morning, the narrator and his cousin left the horse to John Byro’s barn.

That afternoon, John Byro came to the narrator’s house. He showed the horse to the narrator’s mother. He said that his horse had become stronger and better tempered than before. Then the narrator’s uncle became irritated. He shouted, “ Your horse has been returned. Pay no attention to it.”