The Strange Island Of Dr. Moreau is a very brilliant book by H.G. Wells. Another favorite book of his is the one entitled, The Sleeper Awakes.
Time Machine was also another good book of his but for different reasons entirely.
H.G. Wells was very much a utopian socialist of some kind and a globalist also yet out of all his writings those two books of his were the only dystopian ones.
Were they written because he eventually lost faith in his utopian ideals? Something I’m very much interested in studying for this author.
Today I am only going to concentrate on his book The Strange Island Of Dr. Moreau. Why?
For me, this was his greatest accomplishment of literature out of all of his writings. For me his book while being purely fictional was entirely an illustration of what I see as the disintegration of civilization or society in general and an expression of anarchy in its most sublime purest form. That’s how I interpreted it and in this thread that is how I shall go forth explaining some of my own philosophical views within his writing.
I myself prefer the 1996 cinema adaptation of this literature piece.
In the beginning of the book we find the character Edward Prendick. I ignore this character entirely as he is just the casual narrator of the entire book discussing the events as they unfold but also because as a character I find him to be a rather useless moralizer trying to moralize everything including that which he understands very little of. He does this out of his own fear and because of the convenience it leans him. No, we’re not going to discuss much about that character.
What is more interesting is the island itself and the activities that went on there since for me the island itself can very well be interpreted as a symbolic metaphor for civilization or the entire human world itself. Of course beyond the genetically manipulated mutants the most interesting character is Dr. Moreau himself.
What’s interesting about Dr. Moreau is that he came to the island to create the most perfect human being as he idealized that to be.
A perfect human being without avarice and one that was nonviolent. A perfect human being without malice that was in constant harmony with its surroundings.
This reminds me of governments and nation states who’s aspirations are very similar through social engineering.
Of course another reason he came to the island is because his bio-genetic experiments practiced were illegal everywhere else. He needed isolation and seclusion to go on with his experiments. He said that out of his bio-genetic experiments would come the great progress of the creation of the most perfect being.
It’s interesting he utilized the word progress like so many of the world leaders and those in positions of power or authority also use it today.
Once you understand however that civilization is a constant ongoing controlled experiment also instead of people spontaneously living the meaning behind the word progress becomes all the more clear.
The striving for the most perfect ideal human being came with many consequences in that pretty soon Dr. Moreau created hundreds of hideous half animal half human mutants. Pretty soon the entire island was populated by these mutants. Order had to be established or else the mutants might get out of control.
Eventually Dr. Moreau is not only a scientist on mission of experimentation but eventually takes the role of god.
He looked at himself as god with the mutant animal community that he created as his children.
This reminds me in real time of how when the world reached the seven billion mark that nation states and governments everywhere have assumed a secular position of godhood.
Now, what does every controlled experiment or society need? By necessity it needs enforced laws.
That’s exactly what Dr. Moreau had created for his test subjects that later would become the community that he became a god of.
At first he did this through creating several commandments which through a sycophant or useful idiot called Sayer Of The Law he achieved.
The laws revolved around prohibition against bestial behavior and the praise of Moreau as a god.
Of course that success was only temporary because eventually the mutant animal community rebelled as such controlled populations usually do.
Eventually Dr. Moreau would have to do something radical like implant everybody within the mutant animal community with microchips that inflicted great pain at the press of a button which he controlled. Biological microchips? Where else have I heard this from before? 
Within overnight all of the mutant animal community changed from being rebellious to utter submission and obedience towards Dr. Moreau.
However all was not well on this island utopia as there were two mutant animals looking to rebel.
It all started when one day Hyena observed Montgomery Moreau’s assistant killing a rabbit for dinner. The problem with this is that the law forbids all bestial behavior where vegetarianism was strictly enforced.
Hyena being a half man and hyena thought to himself that if they can eat the flesh of animals, why couldn’t he also? The seeds of rebellion were sown along with his faithful friend Leopard man. Now, why would Moreau enforce vegetarianism or outlaw bestial forms of behavior?
Quite simple really, if you’re going to enslave and control a population you need to strip it of all of its natural primal instincts. You need to radically alter its nature or remove it completely.
What happens next is that Leopard man was seen killing and eating rabbit. Upon discovering this Dr. Moreau held a public trial against Leopard man where one of his assistants kills him. In all of this Hyena man was undiscovered even though he was Leopard man’s accomplice.
This reminds me how in our world there is all these stringent laws, beliefs, and powers in place forcing human beings to live very unnatural lives or at the very least forbidding them to act upon their natural impulses.
Hyena man grieved for Leopard man many days. Leopard man was his great friend and comrade in defiance.
Hyena man’s grief eventually turned into anger and rage.
Hyena man could do nothing with the microchip in his abdomen. His only recourse and the ultimate form of rebellion was to find a way to have it removed.
With great pain he clawed his way into his own flesh and removed it where for an entire day he was bleeding out.
This reminds me of how an independent individual seeking freedom must overcome the control and mental spell the rest of the world has over them.
Eventually Hyena man was discovered to have been an accomplice of Leopard man but a peculiar thing happened when the other mutant animals caught him to take him back to Dr. Moreau. News of his removing the microchip caught fire and the seeds of rebellion began to spread all across the island where even Moreau’s personal assistants got caught into it promising Hyena man firearms for the planned insurrection.
Without the microchips there was no pain. There was no control.
What about the laws? As Hyena man so much proclaimed that all bestial behaviors be permitted, that the eating of flesh to be allowed, to have multiple sexual partners be permitted, that the thrill of the hunt be enjoyed, and that all mutant animals to be allowed to walk or run on all fours. Moreau’s law be damned as his words would become the new laws.
Without having themselves controlled, why could they not live the life of gods also? Why could they not be like god as well?
Suddenly a violent coup d’état and backlash was organized with Moreau’s death as the goal.
The experiments would turn on their creator. The children would turn on god desiring to be gods themselves.
[This reminds me of another author. One Mary Shelly with her book Frankenstein. Another favorite piece of literature of mine.]
The mutant animals gathered into a mob and went to the house of Moreau. Startled Moreau went for the device to inflict pain on their implants but to his shocked the implants were removed.
In a violent frenzy of Moreau’s actions the angry mob without hesitation descended upon Moreau killing him where upon his dead corpse they feasted upon his flesh.
They now were able to feed upon and drink the blood of a once held god in order to become gods themselves.
Eventually at the end of this story they begin burning all of the community down to a cinder and in a mad sexual orgy followed with murder celebrated their new fond independence reverting back to their more animal inclinations of existence.
For me this story symbolizes many things. For one, it shows that no matter how you try to strip human beings of their animal instincts that it all rather becomes a futile endeavor as those animal instincts will always reemerge.
It shows the impossibility of striving for the perfect human ideal.
It shows the complete instability of civilization where it is an inevitability that whatever fictional order it has immersed itself with that it will inevitably disintegrate into chaos and anarchy.
It shows how easily one can lose control of enforced order just because of a few tiny instances which then in a ripple effect have much larger consequences.
It also shows the depravity of the soul concerning those in control or those who would call themselves authorities.
The absurd experiment on the island with grave consequences mirror reflects the grand experiment of human civilization.
It illustrates how the mob and slaves will eventually violently overthrow their so called masters over a period of time.
For me the grand experiment of human civilization will have a very similar devastating outcome but on a much larger scale.
As H.G. Wells stressed upon, the sleeper eventually awakens.