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The Shrinking Man

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The Shrinking Man
AuthorRichard Matheson
LanguageEnglish
Publication date
1956
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint
ISBN0312856644

The Shrinking Man is a novel by Richard Matheson published in 1956. It was adapted into a motion picture called The Incredible Shrinking Man in 1957 and then remade for a 2010 film to star Eddie Murphy. The novel was retitled The Incredible Shrinking Man in later editions.

Plot summary

While on holiday, the protagonist (Scott Carey) is exposed to a cloud of radioactive spray shortly after he accidentally ingests insecticide, the radioactivity acts as a catalyst for the bug spray, causing his body to shrink at a rate of approximately 1/7th of an inch per day. A few weeks later, Carey can no longer deny the truth: not only is he losing weight, he is also shorter than he was and deduces, to his dismay, that his body will continue to shrink.

The abnormal deceleration of his body initially brings teases and taunting from local youths, then causes friction in his marriage and family life because he loses the respect his family has for him because of his diminishing physical stature. Ultimately, as the shrinking continues, it begins to threaten Carey's life as well; at one and a half feet tall, he has a battle with the family cat that drives him outdoors, where he is attacked by a swallow in his garden; the conflict drives him through a window into the cellar of his house. Although he survives on the cheese left over in a mousetrap for a while, his size is eventually reduced to less than half an inch, at which point he is forced to engage in a victorious battle with a black widow spider that towers over him.

As Carey continues shrinking, he realizes that his original fear that he would shrink into non-existence is incorrect; that he will continue to shrink, but will not disappear as he originally feared, and utters his famous closing line: "If nature existed on endless levels, so also might intelligence . . . Scott Carey ran into his new world, searching."

Inspiration

Author Richard Matheson says he was initially inspired to write the story from a scene in the comedy film Let's Do It Again. "I had gotten the idea several years earlier while attending a movie in a Redondo Beach theater. In this particular scene, Ray Milland, leaving Jane Wyman's apartment in a huff, accidentally put on Aldo Ray's hat, which sank down around his ears. Something in me asked, `What would happen if a man put on a hat which he knew was his and the same thing happened?' Thus the notion came."[1]

References

  1. ^ Stephen King's Danse Macabre, Chapter 9, Pg. 201

Sources

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