The Lord of the Dynamos

Last updated

"The Lord of the Dynamos"
Short story by H. G. Wells
The Lord Of The Dynamos (opening illustration) by Frank Rudolph Paul.png
Opening illustration for the story in Amazing Stories magazine, 1929.
CountryUnited Kingdom
Genre(s) Science fiction
Publication

"The Lord of the Dynamos" is a British short story by H. G. Wells. It was originally published in the Pall Mall Budget (6 September 1894), and then included in the collection The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents , published by Methuen & Co. in 1895, and subsequently in his Complete Short Stories. [1] It deals with what Wells describes as "certain odd possibilities of the negro mind brought into abrupt contact with the crown of our civilisation" and the narration displays racist attitudes common among British society of the time, in addition to the overt thuggish racism of the character Holroyd.

Contents

Plot summary

Azuma-zi, a character of ill-defined but dark-skinned race, apparently of South-East Asian origin, arrives in London from the Straits Settlements on board a steamer where he was a stoker. He speaks no English and is bewildered by the turmoil of London; he loses all the money he has earned serving on the steamer and eventually finds work, again as a stoker, in a power station at Camberwell which supplies power to an underground electric railway (given the date of publication, this can only be the City and South London Railway, although the power station supplying this line was actually at Stockwell).

The power station is in the charge of one James Holroyd, an electrician from Yorkshire. He is a bully and a racist; he drinks whisky while on duty and beats Azuma-zi with a rod of copper wire. He is irreligious; he lectures Azuma-zi against religion, and suggests to him that the largest and most impressive of the three dynamos in the plant is more of a "Gord" than the one preached by missionaries.

Azuma-zi is powerfully impressed by the humming, whirling machinery and comes to believe that the big dynamo is indeed a god. He starts to worship it; he salaams to it when he arrives at work, prays to it to save him from Holroyd, cleans and polishes it with devotional care, and anoints it with oil – by which he unintentionally damages an area of the insulating varnish on the coils, and on discovering this Holroyd orders him to stay away from the machine with threats of violence.

Holroyd's bullying and Azuma-zi's dynamo worship combine to convince Azuma-zi that his god disapproves of Holroyd and eventually that it desires Holroyd as a human sacrifice. Azuma-zi surprises Holroyd, trips him and throws him against the exposed live terminals on the end of the dynamo, where he is electrocuted. Investigation of Holroyd's death is extremely perfunctory; the police are not called, Holroyd is presumed to have committed suicide, and nobody thinks to suspect Azuma-zi of murder.

Holroyd is replaced by a character named only as "the scientific manager"; in contrast to Holroyd's bullying, he takes very little notice of Azuma-zi at all. Nevertheless, impressed by the swift death inflicted on Holroyd by the dynamo, Azuma-zi decides to make the scientific manager a sacrifice as well. The scientific manager fights back, and manages to keep himself clear of the live parts until a third person happens to arrive on the scene, at which Azuma-zi panics, abandons the struggle and seizes the live terminals in his own hands.

Racism

While Holroyd is depicted as a thuggish, unthinking bully who "liked a nigger [as an assistant] because he would stand kicking", the narration, although sympathetic to Azuma-zi, nevertheless describes him in terms that would be considered unacceptable in modern times. He is described as a "savage" and a "mere black", and it is implied that his worship of the dynamo is not merely the result of culture shock, but also owes something to the "negro mind".

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bram Stoker</span> Irish novelist and short story writer (1847–1912)

Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish author who is best known for writing the 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula. During his lifetime, he was better known as the personal assistant of actor Sir Henry Irving and business manager of the West End's Lyceum Theatre, which Irving owned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Bernard Shaw</span> Irish playwright, critic, and polemicist (1856–1950)

George Bernard Shaw, known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond. He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as Man and Superman (1902), Pygmalion (1913) and Saint Joan (1923). With a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

<i>Heart of Darkness</i> 1899 novella by Joseph Conrad

Heart of Darkness (1899) is a novella by Polish-English novelist Joseph Conrad in which the sailor Charles Marlow tells his listeners the story of his assignment as steamer captain for a Belgian company in the African interior. The novel is widely regarded as a critique of European colonial rule in Africa, whilst also examining the themes of power dynamics and morality. Although Conrad does not name the river on which most of the narrative takes place, at the time of writing, the Congo Free State—the location of the large and economically important Congo River—was a private colony of Belgium's King Leopold II. Marlow is given a text by Kurtz, an ivory trader working on a trading station far up the river, who has "gone native" and is the object of Marlow's expedition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Irving</span> English stage actor of the Victorian era (1838–1905)

Sir Henry Irving, christened John Henry Brodribb, sometimes known as J. H. Irving, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility for season after season at the West End's Lyceum Theatre, establishing himself and his company as representative of English classical theatre. In 1895 he became the first actor to be awarded a knighthood, indicating full acceptance into the higher circles of British society.

Boynton v. Virginia, 364 U.S. 454 (1960), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court. The case overturned a judgment convicting an African American law student for trespassing by being in a restaurant in a bus terminal which was "whites only". It held that racial segregation in public transportation was illegal because such segregation violated the Interstate Commerce Act, which broadly forbade discrimination in interstate passenger transportation. It moreover held that bus transportation was sufficiently related to interstate commerce to allow the United States federal government to regulate it to forbid racial discrimination in the industry.

Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism, is the pseudoscientific belief that the human species can be subdivided into biologically distinct taxa called "races", and that empirical evidence exists to support or justify racism, racial inferiority, or racial superiority. Before the mid-20th century, scientific racism was accepted throughout the scientific community, but it is no longer considered scientific. The division of humankind into biologically separate groups, along with the assignment of particular physical and mental characteristics to these groups through constructing and applying corresponding explanatory models, is referred to as racialism, race realism, or race science by those who support these ideas. Modern scientific consensus rejects this view as being irreconcilable with modern genetic research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abraham Van Helsing</span> Fictional character created by Bram Stoker

Professor Abraham Van Helsing is a fictional character from the 1897 gothic horror novel Dracula written by Bram Stoker. Van Helsing is a Dutch polymath doctor with a wide range of interests and accomplishments, partly attested by the string of letters that follows his name: "MD, D.Ph., D.Litt., etc.", indicating a wealth of experience, education and expertise. He is a doctor, professor, lawyer, philosopher, scientist, and metaphysician. The character is best known through many adaptations of the story as a vampire slayer, monster hunter and the arch-nemesis of Count Dracula, and the prototypical and the archetypical parapsychologist in subsequent works of paranormal fiction. Some later works tell new stories about Van Helsing, while others, such as Dracula (2020) and I Woke Up a Vampire (2023) have characters that are his descendants.

<i>The Snakes Pass</i> 1890 novel by Bram Stoker

The Snake's Pass is an 1890 novel by Bram Stoker. It centers on the legend of Saint Patrick defeating the King of the Snakes in Ireland, as well as on the troubled romance between the main character and a local peasant girl. The Snake's Pass was Stoker's second imperial fiction novel, and was first published in the United Kingdom in 1890. The novel is a precursor to Stoker's Dracula.

<i>The Jewel of Seven Stars</i> 1903 novel by Bram Stoker

The Jewel of Seven Stars is a horror novel by Irish writer Bram Stoker, first published by Heinemann in 1903. The story is a first-person narrative of a young man pulled into an archaeologist's plot to revive Queen Tera, an ancient Egyptian mummy. It explores common fin de siècle themes such as imperialism, the rise of the New Woman and feminism, and societal progress.

Crimson Dynamo is the name of several characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics who have all been powered armor–wearing Russian or Soviet agents who have clashed with the superhero Iron Man over the course of his heroic career.

In persona Christi is a Latin phrase meaning "in the person of Christ", an important concept in Roman Catholicism and, in varying degrees, to other Christian traditions, such as Lutheranism and Anglicanism. In Catholic theology, a priest is In persona Christi because, in the sacraments he administers, it is God and Christ who acts through the instrumentality of the priest. An extended term, In persona Christi capitis, “in the person of Christ the head,” was introduced by the bishops of the Vatican Council II in the Decree on the Ministry and Live of Priests, Presbyterorum Ordinis, December 7, 1965.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tarapith</span> Temple town in West Bengal, India

Tarapith is a town and Hindu pilgrimage site located in Rampurhat subdivision of Birbhum district of the Indian state of West Bengal. The town is particularly known for its Tantric temple and its adjoining Hindu crematory ground. The Tantric Hindu temple is dedicated to the goddess Tara.

<i>Legend of the Sacred Stone</i> 2000 Taiwanese film

Legend of the Sacred Stone is a 2000 Taiwanese puppetry feature film written and directed by Chris Huang, a spin-off from the glove puppetry wuxia television series Pili. It reflects the traditional Taiwanese style of glove puppetry known there as budaixi, supplemented by computer-generated imagery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Count Dracula</span> Title character of Bram Stokers 1897 gothic horror novel Dracula

Count Dracula is the title character of Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic horror novel Dracula. He is considered the prototypical and archetypal vampire in subsequent works of fiction. Aspects of the character are believed by some to have been inspired by the 15th-century Wallachian prince Vlad the Impaler, who was also known as Vlad Dracula, and by Sir Henry Irving, an actor for whom Stoker was a personal assistant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural impact of Elvis Presley</span>

Since the beginning of his career, American singer Elvis Presley has had an extensive cultural impact. According to the monthly magazine, Rolling Stone, "It was Elvis who made rock 'n' roll the international language of pop." The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll describes Presley as "an American music giant of the 20th century who single-handedly changed the course of music and culture in the mid-1950s". His recordings, dance moves, attitude, and clothing came to be seen as embodiments of rock and roll. His music was heavily influenced by African-American blues, Christian gospel, and Southern country. In a list of the greatest English language singers, as compiled by Q magazine, Presley was ranked first, and second in the list of greatest singers of the 20th century by BBC Radio. Some people claim that Presley created a whole new style of music: "It wasn't black, wasn't white, wasn't pop or wasn't country—it was different." As most singers in his time created music geared for adults, he gave teens music to grow up with.

<i>The Apprentice</i> (Irish TV series) Irish TV series

The Apprentice is an Irish reality television series, in which a group of aspiring young businessmen and women compete for the chance to win a job as "apprentice" to Bill Cullen, an Irish businessman.

<i>Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet</i> 2009 novel by Jamie Ford

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is a historical novel by Jamie Ford. The story is told in two parallel storylines, one following 12-year-old Henry Lee's experiences during the Second World War, and the other depicting Henry 44 years later as a widower with a college-aged son. The plot centers around the forced evacuation of Japanese Americans to internment camps; the book depicts the pain and trauma of separation through the friendship of the Chinese-American Henry and his Japanese-American friend Keiko.

<i>The Mystery of the Sea</i> 1902 novel by Bram Stoker

The Mystery of the Sea is a mystery novel by Bram Stoker, first published in 1902. It tells the story of an Englishman living in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, who meets and falls in love with an American heiress. She is involved with the intrigues of the Spanish–American War, and a complex plot involving second sight, kidnapping, and secret codes unfolds over the course of the novel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Holroyd</span> Australian lawyer and politician

Arthur Todd Holroyd was an Australian lawyer and politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council between 1851 and 1856. He was also a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for two periods between 1856 and 1857 and again between 1861 and 1864.

References

  1. Lawrence, T. E. (1997). Patrick Parrinder (ed.). H. G. Wells: The Critical Heritage. Routledge. p. 313.[ dead link ]