The novel “The Shrinking Man”, later published as “The Incredible Shrinking Man”, by Richard Matheson was published for the first time in 1956.
Scott Carey is enjoying what looks like a normal vacation day on a boat when a strange cloud hits him. Initially, the cloud appears to have had no effect on him, but after a few days Scott realizes that he’s getting smaller, slowly but with no end to it. He undergoes a series of medical tests, but nobody can find a cure for his condition.
When he’s less than two centimeters tall, Scott risks becoming the victim of a spider that becomes his increasingly mortal enemy. His struggle for survival becomes increasingly difficult because of the spider that seems relentless in trying to make him its meal. Even if he defeats it, he has little time left before his height drops to zero.
“The Shrinking Man” is developed on two parallel timelines that start from the beginning of Scott Carey’s condition and from the final part of his shrinking. This choice allows Richard Matheson to start the novel with a contrast between a situation in which the protagonist must fight for his life against a spider that is gigantic for him and a situation that is part of his normal life, the last of this type before his condition manifests.
For Scott Carey, normalcy is to be part of the American middle class in the 1950s. He has some problems related to situations that concern work and family that cause him to be dissatisfied, but he does what’s expected of him, which is what was expected at that time from a man with a family. When he starts shrinking, all his daily life is shattered.
The timeline that tells the initial phase of Scott Carey’s misadventure tells of his shrinking as a weakening. His relationships with others also depend on his size, so those relationships change as well. His is a traditional family, but when he reaches the point of being significantly smaller than his wife, she no longer considers him as a husband nor as the the family head. His authority over his daughter also collapses along with his size.
Richard Matheson greatly develops Scott Carey’s psychological aspect, linked to his loss of self-confidence when he progressively loses his role in his family. In his traditional view, he’s no longer a man, a situation that gets worse day after day, increasing his frustration and his sense of helplessness. Reading the novel today, he’s a protagonist who may not arouse particular sympathy for the attitude that today is strongly male-dominated.
The timeline in which Scott Carey is small enough to become a spider’s prey has more horror tones. At that point, the surrounding environment seems alien to him, and the spider is a monster that wants to devour him, so he engages in a deadly fight with it. However, Richard Matheson develops the psychological part of the protagonist for this part as well. At that point, he’s in a situation of total solitude, and has moments of despair, but the author manages to create a complex mental situation.
Shortly after its first release, “The Shrinking Man” was adapted into the movie “The Incredible Shrinking Man”. Richard Matheson also wrote the screenplay for a sequel that was never shot. The novel also inspired the movie “The Incredible Shrinking Woman”, which however is a comedy.
“The Shrinking Man” is a short novel by today’s standards, and intense, especially in the part concerning the fight between Scott Carey and the spider. The protagonist’s strong characterization with the subtle connections to society of the 1950s, made it a science fiction classic that in my opinion must be part of the collection of anyone who appreciates this genre.
