# Back to the Beast explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Manly Wade Wellman.

## What happens

Dr. James Lawlor's journal details his experiment with a serum designed to reverse evolution, allowing him to witness his ancestral forms. Initially successful, he regresses from a primitive man to a beast-like creature. When his clumsy, transformed hands fail to mix the counter-agent, he is trapped in a downward spiral of devolution, losing speech and humanity. The journal ends with his decision to commit suicide by arsenic rather than continue his descent into a primordial state.

## Themes in this chapter

### Science vs. Superstition

Lawlor's rational scientific approach to evolution is undermined by his inability to control the experiment, leading to a monstrous outcome that defies his expectations.

### Transformation and Duality

Lawlor's physical transformation from a refined scientist to a beast highlights the duality of human nature and the thin line between civilization and primal instincts.

### Isolation and Otherness

Trapped in his laboratory and unable to communicate, Lawlor becomes an isolated 'other,' alienated from humanity by his own experiment.

## Character check-ins

### James Brock

Lawlor's servant who brings food and checks on him, but is unable to understand the transformation.

### Dr. Lawlor

The protagonist and author of the journal, who undergoes a horrific devolution experiment.

## Key lines

> Do not meddle with the scheme of things as nature has planned—delve not into her mysterious past.

Do not interfere with nature's design or explore its hidden history.

_Lawlor's warning against scientific overreach, encapsulating the chapter's moral._

> I can not bear to look in the mirror, for I see only a dark, hairy form, hunched over the table, a pencil clutched in its paw.

I cannot stand to see my reflection, which shows a dark, hairy beast hunched at the table, holding a pencil like an animal.

_Illustrates Lawlor's complete loss of human identity and self-loathing._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters/back-to-the-beast
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_37_se/chapters