Finally Finished: The Dunwich Horror

I've been trying to finish and reread Lovecraft's older works to get an idea of his style. I recently finished The Dunwich Horror, one of my favorite stories of Lovecraft. 

Set in a small town called Dunwich, the story opens with a local pastor preaching about the evils he's encountered while in the town. The preacher later disappears and the story focuses on Old Whateley, a type of wizard whom the townsfolk fear and avoid. Through an unknown source, his daughter become pregnant and gives birth to a young man named Wilbur. The local animals fear him, except for the whippoorwills who seem to hang around when someone dies to snatch their soul. Old Whateley and his grandson attend terrible ceremonies for Yog Sothoth in the woods where there are rocks jutting out of the ground. This is likely a reference to Arthur Machen's work. The story later goes on the credit Machen's story "The Great God Pan" in a later chapter. Eventually, Old Whateley and his daughter pass on. Old Whateley dies of old age and the mother seems to disappear during a ceremony. The way Lovecraft describes Wilbur is amazing. There's this crawling terror underneath as you learn how Wilbur grows at an astonishing rate if only to provide assistance in whatever ceremonies Old Whateley prepared. It's as if the boy was born to be his replacement, his reincarnation in a sense. Wilbur grows to a monsterous seven feet and cloaks himself with large clothing. The dogs panic and bark at him when he walks by and strange gashes appear on the the family farm's cows. Eventually the cows disappear in the barn. All this leads up to Wilbur approaching the Miskatonic Library and asking to borrow a copy of the Necronomicon. For what purpose, he won't say but the librarian holds on to the book. This leads to Wilbur sneaking in and attempting to steal the book but the guard dog rips his throat. The on site professors get a glimpse of Wilbur's true form, a skirt of tentacles around goat legs and a long, furry tail. It's something not of this world and, for the plot's sake of keeping things quiet, the body conveniently dissolves after death as the men watch. Thus the secret is kept safe and the proof goes up in smoke. The crisis seems to be adverted until an invisible force rips through the town of Dunwich. The professors are able to clue together what Wilbur was trying to do with notes from his home and his Grandfather's texts. Wilbur was trying to perform a ritual to allow this invisible monster to drag our world into another realm like an anchor. The three men are able to perform a ritual dance to dismiss the beast from our world. The only surviving professor notes how the monstrosity could be seen in the twilight and it was a mass of tentacles, eyes and mouths atop of which sat a head that looked a lot like Wilbur. It seems that Wilbur had a twin brother he was taking care of and without him there to provide for it, the monster attacked the town. It's this interesting story about a failed attempt to destroy the world and what happens when a plan is left unfinished. The story is filled with poorly written narrative dialogue. At no point do two people share a conversation, instead the speaker narrates what is happening. I doubt Lovecraft cared for the country folk he based his story upon. His description is unflattering at best and he implies incestual relationships and inbred intelligence. Lovecraft does no favor to himself with a quick solution found to the invisible monster stomping through the town. I think he weakens his story by being purposefully vague about the rituals needed to banish the monster and the effort that went into preparing for it. That said, Lovecraft does an excellent job of describing the monster and Wilbur. They both emit a toxic smell that the reader can almost smell through the story. There's also a few scenes of trees parting and breaking and the grass being flattened by an invisible body. Lovecraft lets us know that something is amis the moment that Wilbur dies, as if something is left unfinished at his house. It's a ticking time bomb the reader becomes aware of before the characters are able to comprehend. The whole story is told in a way that makes it feel as if it was town gossip or an old tale best forgotten. I've also noticed that Lovecraft almost forgoes a protagonist. The story follows Old Whateley, then Wilbur, then the professors who dismiss the monster. I think Lovecraft does this to distance the importance of a protagonist. There's no hero, no true victory as most of the group dispelling the monster dies, and a lingering feeling of nearly avoiding a global disaster. I think Lovecraft avoids protagonists to feed into the theme of how unimportant we are in the grand scheme. 

Despite the flaws of Lovecraft's inability to write dialogue or paint a scene, I found the story enjoyable. I'll be moving on to his other stories next and writing my thoughts about them.