Overall, I think that “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” was an adequate book.
I found the story a little tedious, almost how the author didn’t just get to the actual point of the story, especially in the last chapter, which was especially hard to read, particularly because it was tedious and boresome for me. Although I didn’t really enjoy the story a lot, I did like the messages that Stevenson conveyed throughout the novel. I really appreciated the message conveyed about the dualities of human nature, and I think it’s a good takeaway from the book. An example of such dualities could be those intrusive thoughts that you have from time to time, where you may be on a tall building and have those intrusive thoughts to jump off the edge. However, the reason for these thoughts generally isn’t because you have a messed up mind, but it’s simply that you as a person, have those thoughts because you are afraid of such things happening, like jumping off that edge. Another element I found interesting in the book was how Stevenson showcased morality, and consequences. For Dr. Jekyll, his thought process had the idea that if he was transformed into Mr. Hyde, he didn’t have to worry about the consequences, or morality, or anything about being a bad person. Who cares? It would be Mr. Hyde, not him, and he could live with the ability of being able to commit heinous actions whilst still being a good person on the other side. Point being, this reference also has a connection to those intrusive thoughts you can have, and I think the message does a nice job of swiftly making the reference.
As for my feelings on the characters, I’ll talk about Dr. Jekyll, since he and Mr. Hyde were both the main characters of the book. I felt that Dr. Jekyll took things that we think about, like intrusive thoughts, and turned it into something that gave him the ability to actually follow through with those thoughts, and I found it interesting how it was done. I see why he did it, and I really found it quite interesting because of how the key events in the book unfolded. I have a neutral stance on Dr. Jekyll, because I don’t really think that there is much to agree or disagree on, as most of us do have intrusive thoughts, and it is natural. However, the destruction and lives taken during the novel are tragic, and there’s no dispute against it, as well as the morality of still committing such actions at all is still terrible. Just because he was a different individual whilst committing such actions, it’s still just the principle behind the actions at all.
I feel that this story was adequate, but definitely not as good as the novels we have read as a class during this school year.