УНИВЕРЗИТЕТ „ГОЦЕ ДЕЛЧЕВ“, ШТИП

ФИЛОЛОШКИ ФАКУЛТЕТ, КАТЕДРА ЗА АНГЛИСКИ ЈАЗИК И КНИЖЕВНОСТ

Практична настава

Студент: Марија Пеева Индекс: 162621

Review
The Shadow over Innsmouth by H.P. Lovecraft

Introduction

The Shadow Over Innsmouth is a horror fantasy novel published in November–

December 1931 by American author H. P. Lovecraft. It incorporates many shared
features of the Cthulhu Mythos, including place-names, legendary beings, and
invocations, and uses its motif of a malign undersea culture. In the fact that there
are a number of books on the topic, this is the only one that was written when the
author was still living. It has its own film version as well as a number of parallels
in other forms of popular culture.

Plot

There are five chapters in the novel. The narrator starts the first chapter by telling
the reader about a secret federal investigation that took place in the destroyed town
of Innsmouth, Massachusetts, and that the story revealed to them by the narrator
himself was the explanation for the investigation. He then goes on to detail the
events that led up to his initial involvement in the topic. He then goes on to outline
the events surrounding his initial interest in the area, which is located along the
route of his twenty-one-year-old tour through New England. When waiting for the
bus to Innsmouth, he occupies himself in the nearby town of Newburyport by
collecting facts from locals, much of which has superstitious overtones. The
second chapter describes his journey into Innsmouth, which is portrayed in great
detail as a decaying, largely abandoned town full of dilapidated buildings and
people who walk with a distinctive shambling gait. The narrator portrays the
inhabitants as having the "Innsmouth look," which includes "queer small heads
with flat noses and bulgy, stary eyes." Just one person in town seems to be average,
a young clerk from Arkham who works at the nearby First National grocery store.
The clerk provides the narrator with a map of the town as well as the name of a
resident who may be a decent source of information: an ancient man called Zadok
Allen, who is known to open up about the town when plied with drink. The
dialogue between Zadok and the narrator takes up the entirety of the third chapter.
Zadok, who is very mature, has seen a lot of the town and goes on and on about the
Deep Ones, who are fish-frog men who dwell under the water. Those that sell them
human sacrifice seem to receive riches in the form of fish as well as fantastically
crafted gold jewels. The fourth chapter describes the night the narrator was forced
to spend in town after learning that the bus on which he arrived had engine
problems. The writer has no choice but to stay in a filthy hotel for the night. He
hears sounds at his entrance, as if someone is attempting to enter, while attempting
to sleep. The narrator wakes up unharmed in the final chapter and easily walks to
the next town. Over time, he continues to do research on his family history,
uncovering some troubling facts in the process. It eventually becomes apparent that
he is a descendant of Obed Marsh himself, and the narrator's awareness that he is
transforming into one of the beasts is accompanied by nightmares. As the story
ends, the writer, who is now a student at Oberlin College, tells us that his horror at
the thought is giving way to recognition, and that he will be perfectly content to
live in the city of Y'ha-nthlei, deep beneath the sea, for the rest of his life. He also
has a cousin in a mental institution who is much more changed than he is, that he
intends to liberate and take with him.
Characters

Barnabas Marsh is the grandson of Obed Marsh and the landlord of the Marsh
refinery at the time of The Shadow over Innsmouth, and is known as Old Man
Marsh. Barnabas' father was Onesiphorus Marsh, Obed's son by his entirely human
wife; however, Barnabas' mother was an actual Deep One who was never seen in
public.

Obed Marsh is a wealthy sea captain and the founder of the Esoteric Order of
Dagon. He is the leader of the elite Marsh tribe. Zadok Allen referred to him as the
one who first summoned the Deep Ones to Innsmouth. He was imprisoned in 1846
after the towns around Innsmouth grew wary of his crew. In 1878, he passed away.

Allen Zadok is one of Innsmouth's only fully human inhabitants, as well as an

addict. Lovecraft uses his drunken ramblings to reveal much of the town's hidden
history to the protagonist. Allen, who was born in 1831 and was abducted and
sacrificed by the Esoteric Order of Dagon, vanishes and dies in 1927.

Robert Olmstead is a well-known landscape architect. The story's narrator and

author is Olmstead. On a tour of New England in search of genealogical material,
he stumbles upon Innsmouth and learns more than he bargained for.

Grocery store clerk is An unidentified adolescent of around seventeen years old

who is a native Arkhamite and therefore fully human. His bosses moved him to
Innsmouth, and he and his family despise the thought of him living there, but he
can't afford to leave. He is overjoyed to meet the narrator and tells him about the
mysterious goings-on in Innsmouth.

Setting

The story takes place in New England in the late twentieth century. It is set in three
cities: Newburyport, Arkham, and Innsmouth, which is the focal point of the novel.
Some of the characters described the town like a large dense construction, but there
was a foreboding lack of observable life. There was only a wisp of smoke coming
from the tangle of chimney-pots, and the three tall steeples loomed stark and
unpainted against the seaward horizon. One of them was cracking at the top, and
where the clock dials should have been, there were just black gaping holes. The
huge huddle of sagging gambrel roofs and peaked gables screamed wormy rot, and
as we advanced along the now-descending lane, I could see that many of the roofs
had completely caved in. There were also several wide square Georgian houses
with cupolas and hipped roofs. These were all far out from the sea, and one or two
seemed to be in good shape.

Theme

Fear or hatred towards the other - those who are distinctly different from you and
your friends and relatives - is an apparent example. Those others, on the other
hand, can seem exotic and enigmatic as well as repulsive at times. Another is
secrecy: family secrets, small towns with outsider secrets, charismatic cult secrets,
and so forth.
Conclusion

Worlds in which men transform into fish-like creatures, and fish-like creatures
yearn for human sacrifices, storming the beach late at night if their carnal wish is
not granted. This is the case in H.P. Lovecraft's incredibly imaginative story of sea
madness and a village with a menacing aspect that no fair man might possibly
imagine. When a man travels to a dark, mysterious village known for frightening
rumours and missing person accounts, he discovers that the reality can be much
more terrifying than fiction. In reality, truths will often lead to entirely different
universes. The struggle is gruesome at first, but as Lovecraft's story progresses, it
becomes terrifying; one man's battle for survival in a land invaded by the
unfathomable... The story's buildup is just right, and this legendary poet, who may
be history's most famous, succeeds in holding the reader glued to the page. This
story is full of creepy atmosphere and frightening descriptive work, as is typical of
Lovecraft's work. We're plunged into this bleak and endlessly dangerous setting,
and we're just as uneasy as the story's narrator. The Shadows Over Innsmouth is an
outstanding work of fiction that ranks as one of the scariest and most beautifully
put-together projects in history. The Call of Cthulhu may usually win the award for
best Lovecraft story, but I think The Shadow Over Innsmouth is just as good, if not
better.