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Sophia Gillmer
Dan Benston
English 111
2 February 2016
Natural Selections Influence on Curiosity
H. P. Lovecrafts book, The Shadow over Innsmouth, explores how natural selection
influences humans curiosity by demonstrating the narrators desire to learn more about the
secretive. This curiosity seems to be passed down to him by his ancestors, who, we shockingly
discover descended from Innsmouth and share his similar thirst of knowledge. While his
curiosity possibly comes solely from his interest in understanding the mysterious city, it also
seems likely that his relationship to Obed Marsh, the man whose own curiosity leads to the
creation of the secretive city could be a selected trait passed down through his ancestor leading
him on this adventure. All the characters throughout the book reap the consequences of their
curiosity making this reoccurring theme that much more interesting. Throughout, the narrators
curiosity leads him to continue making discoveries until he finds out too much about the city,
similar to the citizens of Innsmouth citizens whose interest in what the narrator discovered
prevent him from leaving the city. H.P. Lovecraft wrote this book during the peak of the eugenics
craze proving that even the subtlest hints of natural selection can have big meaning. With this
information the reader can acknowledge even though, at points it is harder to believe the shared
genetics between the narrator and the fish people due to their similar curious nature
incomparable to other human-like species, especially when warned about the dangers they could
encounter. I will prove this point first by showing the curiosity of the fish people, because their
curious nature is harder to see. I will then go into the curiosity of the narrator whose actions are

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easier to see, but harder to prove the relationship to natural selection. I will finally show how my
claim fits into the bigger picture that curiosity, passed down through generations benefits a
species. This claim is hard to prove due to the fact that it is difficult in such a short time period to
see whether a trait is naturally selected for. This essay should prove, however, that the characters
curiosity cannot simply be by coincidence, and rather has been passed down through generations.
Due to the high enthusiasm about evolution during the time this book was written, it only makes
sense that H.P. Lovecraft alludes to this topic.
H.P. Lovecraft creates a race of people in the city of Innsmouth whose horrific
appearance go hand in hand with their mysteriously disturbing nature. The citizens of the
neighboring towns fear the mysterious city which initially leads to the narrators curiosity. Even
when the narrator describes the most normal citizens of Innsmouth evoking a feeling of bizarre
horror (10). The reader knows from this instance to be skeptical and afraid of the future events.
While the town seemed deserted, the distribution of the few faint sounds (14) created a scene
where the reader was curious about the actions of the townspeople. Who are they? Why are they
so secretive? The narrator declares that [he] heard. They ought naturally to have come wholly
from the visibly inhabited housesThere were creakings, scurryings, and hoarse doubtful
noises; and [he] thought uncomfortably about the hidden tunnels suggested by the grocery boy
(14). Hidden tunnels and creaking, while spooky also evoke a mysterious image. The reader asks
themselves why are the deep ones hiding, what are they doing here? After the narrator met old
Zakok, the reader can conclude the fish people snooped around in order to watch the narrators
every move. Without any noise or obvious signs, Zadok knew that the fish people had been
watching them, and they had been caught. Zadok scares the narrator and the reader when he says,
Git aout o here! Git aout o here! They seen usgit aout fer your life! Dunt wait fer nothin

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they know naow (24). The combination of these two quotes shows that not only do the
citizens of Innsmouth have something to hide, and the narrator should worry about taking
advantage of the mans drunkenness for his own personal gain, but it also shows the curious
nature of the fish people. Throughout the novel the fish people continue to haunt the narrator
because now they want to know more about the narrator. The fish peoples curiosity seems to
stem from the secrecy of their past and the author creates this mystery in order to demonstrate
the narrators similarity to the deep ones. Just as the narrator is obsessed with finding
information from the drunk man, the fish people also obsess over the narrator finding
information about their town.
The narrator, however, demonstrates very clearly his curious nature just by going to
Innsmouth to begin with. Most people questioned his judgement, but he decided to go anyway.
Furthermore, he pestered the citizens even though the more information he found, the more he
found himself in trouble. But not only is he curious, he also describes peculiar things as curious.
The repetition of this word adds to the unusual air of this town. He thinks things such as, a
curious sort of buzz or roar seemed to be increasing in the direction of Town Square (32), or
My father seemed to notice it, too, for he began looking at me curiously and almost
affrightedly (41). The usage of the word in this situation does not necessarily show his curious
nature, but rather shows his fascination with abnormal things. He notices simplicities that others
might ignore. But his fascination with digging deeper into the story of Innsmouth, and into the
history of his family leads him to discover some horrific things about his life. The narrator claims
his life had changed due to his curiosity, and while at first I assumed it was for the worse, after
reading the final paragraph later realized that his curiosity, along with the curiosity of his greatgreat grandpa, Obed Marsh, led them to a different world that allowed them to obsess over

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fascinating and abnormal things. Unlike other people, their desire to learn more created lots of
opportunities. I use this example, because while the narrators curiosity is obvious, being the
great great grandson of a man whose curiosity led to what some would say disastrous, and
horrific selective traits, being curious about the town made him not kill himself, and accepting of
his new fate that once would have put him, like his cousin into a mental institution.
And while these claims might seem like they are just a coincidence, it seems to me that,
the narrator is one of the only people brave enough to learn about the mystery of Innsmouth.
Most people overlook it, or think they are better than solving the mystery, but the narrator,
seeking an adventure at the beginning of the story, decides to ignore peoples suggestions and
learn about this untouched region. The narrator wanted to learn about the towns history, and the
fish people wanted to learn about the curious man, who unlike most humans decided to visit.
Obed Marsh also explored the island curiously after meeting a queen from the island. Even
though citizens of the town advised that he stay away from the island, Obed continued to come
back because of his curiosity and the promise of gold. The island of the unknown was also worth
exploring because of the fish people. The sacrifices that occurred twice a year all seemed very
strange to Obed, and instead of asking about their strange ways, he instead decided to see for
himself. Zakok told the narrator stories about how Obed Marshs curiosity almost seemed
childish in that he obsessively thought about the fish people. They thought what theyd got was
well wuth all theyd had to give upan I guess Obed kind o come to think the same hisself
when hed chewed over old Walakeas storyabit. Walakea he shewed Obed a lot o rites an
incantations as had to do with the sea-things, an let him see some o the folks in the village as
had changed a lot from human shape (19). Obed chewed over old Walakeas story showing
that his curiosity, similar to the fish people and to the narrator, all could not be helped, and that

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they are all slightly obsessed. While it would have been logical for the characters to be more
cautious about exploring a secret land before causing problems in the town, they instead went
with their instincts and decided to investigate the area. While this act of thoughtlessness and
obsessive decision making did lead to some unfortunate interactions, the characters also
benefitted from their decisions. Obed Marsh gained riches and a relationship with the fish people
that wouldve otherwise been frowned upon, and the narrator came to accept his unfortunate
genes. Their decisions, while they can be seen as coincidence, show that natural selection effect
on their family has been passed down through generations. Without Obed Marshs interest in the
island of the fish people, the curiosity would have never struck anyone else because Obed Marsh
would have never been successful without the help of the fish people, and would have never
made Innsmouth into a city made of people who others are afraid of.
When thinking of evolution, specifically Darwin, it is easy to forget the horrors that could
occur, through evolution and natural selection. But H.P. Lovecraft takes a turn on the word
evolution and shows how it can negatively impact a society. People who have fish traits have
killed themselves and locked themselves up in mental hospitals, showing that no one has
benefited from this change overtime. The devolution of the species created a mysterious
environment that people feared visiting. Very few people have been to visit Innsmouth since the
time of Obed Marsh. While throughout most of my interpretation of what I read it seemed like
natural selection negatively affected the narrator in that he never went to the city he would have
lived a happier life as a human not knowing about his terrible fate. The very last paragraph of the
book seems to show the narrators acceptance of his fate and seems happy to have figured it out in
the way that he had rather than waiting until later. His whole life he judged his family for having
this gene, but now that he has come to accept it, instead of killing himself, like many people in

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his family had done, he decided to embrace his fate. It seems that the fish people are being
selected for in this situation. Without the curiosity trait being passed down, more people would
not continue with the fish people, or continue to live as fish people before killing themselves.
H.P. Lovecraft shows the significance of curiosity being thought of as a naturally selected trait by
explaining the history of the narrators family towards the end of the book, and the references to
Obed Marshs family towards the beginning of the book. This proves curiosity cannot just be
pure coincidence, but rather passed down through generations. The narrators discovery was
bound to happen because his relation to the mysterious fish people, and Obed Marsh shows that
curiosity is in his genes and it only makes sense that he would continue his search to discover the
mysteries of the town just like his great-great grandfather.