Constructing the Unknown: Village Gossip and Cultural Identity Formation in H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man

Abstract

This study examines the role of gossip and rumor in the construction of social identity in H. G. Wells’s The Invisible Man. While previous scholarship has predominantly focused on invisibility, scientific modernity, alienation, and technological anxiety, limited attention has been given to the communal processes through which Griffin’s identity is discursively produced. Employing a qualitative interpretive design grounded in philosophical hermeneutics, the study analyzes narrative passages, dialogues, and communal conversations that contribute to the formation of social meanings within the village of Iping. The analysis draws upon Hall’s theory of representation, Foucault’s concept of discourse, and Goffman’s theory of stigma to investigate how gossip functions as a cultural technology of identity formation. The findings reveal four interconnected processes. First, gossip operates as an epistemic response to social uncertainty, enabling villagers to transform ambiguity into shared knowledge. Second, repeated narratives generate stable identity categories that progressively redefine Griffin as a stranger, victim, criminal, anarchist, lunatic, and supernatural threat. Third, these discursive constructions facilitate processes of othering through which difference is converted into social exclusion. Finally, the accumulation of gossip and rumor culminates in mythification and moral panic, transforming Griffin into a symbolic embodiment of communal anxiety. The study argues that Griffin’s identity is not discovered through factual knowledge but produced through collective interpretation and representation. By foregrounding gossip as a mechanism of cultural meaning-making, this research offers a new perspective on The Invisible Man and contributes to contemporary discussions of discourse, identity, representation, and social knowledge in literary and cultural studies.