Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde Summary

574 Words3 Pages

Thinking about Science Fiction

In 1886 Robert Louis Stevenson wrote The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This story could be classified into many different types of genres including suspense, mystery, horror and science fiction. Science fiction itself can have many different definitions. I read a blog entry by Bo Fowler called, The Science of Fiction that helps to define science fiction in a more accurate way. By using critical thinking and these resources I intend to prove why this story is science fiction. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is science fiction because of the physical transformation that occurs to the body of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
The physical changes are evident when reading this story. Dr. Jekyll invents a potion that splits him into two separate people. The two …show more content…

By breaking this definition down into two parts and using easier terms, I was better able to understand what Suvin is explaining. Science fiction is a literary genre where there is a presence of a strange new way of thinking. In the story, Dr. Jekyll drinks a potion and his physical body changes. Drinking a liquid that can create such a physical change is a new way of thinking. The second part of the definition is: the main way to convey this is through an imaginative framework opposed to what we know is true. We must use our imagination to think about how this could occur. The transformation from Dr. Jekyll with his physical characteristics into the completely different Mr. Hyde with his physical traits is presently impossible. We know in our current reality this is not true but we can imagine science one day creating such a