Footprints without Feet — study notes

Read the chapter itself in your supplementary reader, Footprints without Feet (NCERT). This lesson is SOYL's explanation and analysis; it does not reproduce the text.

H. G. Wells (1866–1946) was an English writer and one of the founders of science fiction. The chapter is adapted from his novel The Invisible Man (1897), the story of a scientist who discovers how to make himself invisible. It is told by a third-person narrator and moves from London to the village of Iping.

The mystery. Two boys in London see bare footprints forming on a house's steps with no one in sight, follow them, and lose the trail when it fades.

The explanation. The walker is Griffin, a scientist who took rare drugs that made his body transparent. Lawless by nature, he burnt his landlord's house when the landlord tried to turn him out, and had to strip to escape unseen.

Winter in London. Freezing and homeless, he hid in a department store overnight, taking clothes and food, but was chased out in the morning and lost them. He then robbed a costume shop of a disguise, hurting the owner.

Iping. Disguised, he took rooms at the village inn kept by Mrs Hall, stayed hidden with his chemicals and was rude to anyone who disturbed him. The villagers were curious.

The end of the secret. Short of money, he took cash from the clergyman's desk unseen; the Halls found his room empty while his things seemed to attack them. Questioned by Mrs Hall, he lost his temper and unmasked himself. Constable Jaffers tried to arrest him, but Griffin stripped, knocked him out and escaped.

• Misuse of science: a great discovery serves only crime.
• Lawlessness: fire, theft and assault.
• Power and its price: being unseen means cold, hunger and flight.
• Isolation: Griffin trusts no one and belongs nowhere.
• Curiosity and fear: ordinary people try to explain the impossible.
• Humour and irony: characters misread what the reader understands.

Message: knowledge without moral responsibility harms others and, in the end, the one who holds it.

Brilliant (discovers how to make the body transparent). Lawless and vengeful (burns the landlord's house). Violent (robs and hurts the costume-shop owner; knocks out Jaffers). Cunning (builds a face from a disguise). Short-tempered (unmasks himself in anger). Lonely (ends as a hunted outsider).

In answers, pair each trait with a specific episode.

The two boys are curious and follow the prints. The landlord tries to evict Griffin and loses his house. Mrs Hall, the Iping landlady, is curious, then frightened, and blames spirits for the moving furniture. The clergyman and his wife are robbed by an unseen thief. Jaffers, the constable, bravely tries to arrest Griffin and is knocked unconscious.

• Mystery opening: effect before cause.
• Flashback: the discovery and the fire are explained after the opening.
• Fast action: fire, chase, robbery, struggle.
• Dramatic irony and humour: the villagers and Mrs Hall misread events.
• Science fiction: the impossible made believable.

SOYL practice sentence (not from the chapter): The swing in the empty park kept moving long after the wind had dropped (effect before cause).

Key words for discussing the chapter: transparent, invisible, lawless, evict, disguise, constable, landlady, science fiction. Use them in your own sentences, for example: Griffin's disguise gave an invisible man a face the villagers could see.

How this book is examined: the board sets 3-mark short answers (40–50 words; two of three) and a 6-mark long answer (100–120 words) from Footprints without Feet, on character, theme and values. It does not set extracts from this book. SOYL’s commentary passages in the question bank are extra practice; they are not part of the chapter tests.

Short answers (3 marks): point + evidence + explanation.

Long answers (6 marks): a clear stand; three points with evidence in your own words; a link to a theme or value; a one-line conclusion. Extrapolation tasks (Mrs Hall's diary, Jaffers's report, a letter from Griffin) must stay consistent with the chapter.