The Dunwich Horror

Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 1929

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-4

Chapters 5-7

Chapters 8-10

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Chapters 8-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 8 Summary

At Miskatonic University, Armitage tries to decipher Wilbur’s diary. When he finally breaks the code, he discovers “a style clearly shewing the mixed occult erudition and general illiteracy of the strange being who wrote it” (699). In the entries, Wilbur describes learning magic from his grandfather and his efforts to contact the Old Ones. He mentions that through the use of certain spells and magic powder, he can view what is otherwise invisible to humans. Armitage is horrified by what he reads, as are Rice and Morgan when he tells them about the diary’s contents. He refuses his doctor’s orders to stop work, and he prevents his wife from reading the deciphered diary. When finished, he slumps into a fever and mumbles incoherently to himself. He wants to save the world from a “terrible elder race of beings from another dimension” (701).

When he has recovered from his fever, he begins making plans with Rice and Morgan. Deciding not to notify the police, Armitage prepares chemicals and spells to deal with whatever was growing in the Whateley household at the time of Wilbur’s death. As he refines his plan, Armitage reads a bemused news report about strange events in Dunwich. He knows the “entity” in the Whateley house has escaped.

Chapter 9 Summary

Armitage, Rice, and Morgan drive to Dunwich. Sensing an atmosphere of “quiet dread,” they question the locals about recent events. A dispatch of local police has also gone missing. As night falls, Armitage prepares to do battle with the invisible entity while the people of Dunwich lock themselves in their homes. The birds call “threateningly” as Armitage, Rice, and Morgan wait. The night passes without incident, however, so the next morning the men hatch a plan. As they discuss what to do, a storm brews. A group of locals warns them that the entity is now attacking a nearby home. They have gathered together all capable men in Dunwich to attack the entity. Armitage tells them that because the entity was created by magic, it can only be killed by magic. They go to the ruins of the house, where the Bishop family are all dead. They track the entity, which Armitage cannot describe to the locals, as it seems “wholly outside the sane experience of mankind” (707).

Chapter 10 Summary

Armitage, Rice, and Morgan venture up the mountain alone in pursuit of the entity. The locals watch them from below using a telescope. A local named Curtis watches through the telescope as the men from Arkham confront the invisible entity. They spray it with a powder, temporarily rendering it visible. The sight of the entity is so horrifying that Curtis recoils in fear and is reduced to a quivering, mumbling wreck. He mutters about a barn-sized, egg-shaped entity covered in squirming tentacles and bulging eyes. When Earl Sawyer picks up the telescope, he sees the three men on the mountainside perform a magic spell. Birds sing strangely—“a singularly curious irregular rhythm quite unlike that of the visible ritual” (709). Dogs bark in the distance and the skies darken. The men hear an inhuman voice calling out. The words are barely discernable but reference Yog-Sothoth. The three men from Arkham continue with the ritual. Eventually, the immensely loud and horrific words are in English, and the entity screams for help from its “father,” Yog-Sothoth. A lightning strike hits the entity and kills it. Dogs howl and birds fall dead from the trees.

Armitage, Rice, and Morgan descend from the hill and explain that the entity is dead: It has been “split up into what it was originally made of, and can never exist again” (711). The entity, he explains, was the child of Yog-Sothoth, summoned by Old Whateley using magic. Wilbur hoped that, he could use the entity to bring Yog-Sothoth into the human dimension, which would have destroyed everything. Most of the entity has now been returned to the strange dimension where Yog-Sothoth resides. Armitage explains that he plans to burn Wilbur’s diary. He recommends that the people of Dunwich dynamite the place where the entity died and pull down the ritualistic standing stones that men like Old Whateley use in their dark spells. The entity, he explains, was Wilbur’s twin.

Chapters 8-10 Analysis

Wilbur’s diary is an important part of The Dunwich Horror. Armitage believes that there is important knowledge contained within the diary but cannot access it due to the complexity of Wilbur’s cryptography. In this sense, the diary embodies the theme of Cosmic Horror: There is a vast store of terrible knowledge that exists just beyond humanity’s comprehension. Just as the Old Ones bide their time in another dimension, waiting to be unleashed with the right spell, Wilbur’s diary contains thoughts and ideas that have the power to terrify Armitage but exist beyond his understanding. To understand the information in the diary, Armitage must do what no one else in Dunwich has ever attempted: He must try to understand Wilbur himself, who is almost as mysterious as his father, Yog-Sothoth. When Armitage deciphers the code, he begins to understand the nuances of Wilbur’s character. The complexity of the code contrasts with the immaturity of the writing, forcing Armitage to remember that Wilbur was barely a teenager, even if he was nearly nine feet tall. Though he may have seemed like a dangerous, mature man, Wilbur was actually an immature and naïve teenager who did not comprehend the consequences of his actions. He was trying to satisfy his family’s expectations, adding an element of pathos to Wilbur’s depiction as a terrifying figure.

As the climactic battle between Armitage and the entity draws near, the environment changes. Throughout The Dunwich Horror, nature has signaled that magical events are transpiring. Important moments in the lives of the Whateley family have been accompanied by birdsong, which starts and stops in line with moments of death or destruction. Similarly, Wilbur has the ability to inspire a fierce aggression in any dog he encounters. Wilbur kills a dog, and he himself is killed by a dog, showing how the Whateley family rejects, and is rejected by, nature. With the Whateleys all dead or missing, the entity is free from the house and causing destruction in Dunwich. While the arrival of Yog-Sothoth might have been avoided (and, by extension, the world saved), the entity is still dangerous. As it embarks on a murderous rampage, the world changes, a storm gathering overhead. The changes in the environment reflect the dire situation of the characters. The sky becomes dark and foreboding, reflecting the fear and anxiety of the humans. In another sense, the cosmic horror that has been implied throughout the novel is arriving in Dunwich. The world is not darkening but clarifying, finally revealing its true, hidden nature, deliberately ignored by the humans for so long. The behavior of the birds and the dogs now makes sense, as human understanding has finally caught up to the dreadful truth that has been apparent to animals for so long.

The final showdown between Armitage and the entity takes place on a distant mountainside. The narrative focus remains with the people of Dunwich, who watch from far away as Armitage and his colleagues fight the invisible entity. The framing of the scene embodies the ideals of cosmic horror, in that the true nature of reality is so dreadful that it is impossible for humans to comprehend. The fight unfolds from the perspective of Curtis, who watches through a telescope. Rather than describe the entity in all its gory detail, the narration shows readers the entity’s horrific nature by showing the effect it has on a normal person, Curtis, who loses his sanity when he sees the entity’s true form. The entity is, in a literal sense, horrifying. The horror is too overwhelming to convey in words, so it must be understood through human reactions. Physical details, like tentacles, scales, or eyes, may seem horrifying, but the true scale of awe and fear that the entity and the Old Ones inspire is only possible to comprehend through the powerful effect it has on people like Curtis.