In the short story, “The Thing in the Moonlight”, H.P Lovecraft analyzes the presence of helplessness among humans. Lovecrafts use of figurative language perfectly portrays how people often think they are in control and are guiding themselves but in reality, they are helpless. This may not seem to be the case when the text is read, but if it is carefully studied, one can begin to see the correlation between being totally helpless and this story. Right at the beginning, Morgan, the protagonist, is put into a situation that he did not necessarily want to be in. “Suddenly an unconquerable urge to write came over him” (Lovecraft 1). In this situation, he is helpless as he cannot conquer the urge that comes over him. He essentially has no control…show more content… He is doomed from the beginning to do carry out the trek because he is unable to oversee his actions and is limited in what he can do by his helplessness. Despite the cliff being steep, he still climbs it because he is weak and powerless when it comes to helping himself do the right thing. Lovecraft also utilizes symbolism to further portray how helplessness may be present even if one thinks they have control. As the story ends, it is stated that Morgan is waiting for awakening to get out of the horrible dream that he is in; however, it never arrives. “It has been the same each day. Night takes me always to that place of horror” (Lovecraft 1). This symbolizes the life that Morgan lives, that is, a repetitive one in which he always ends up at the same problem; no matter how many times he may undergo the journey. This occurs because he is unable to break the belief that he is in control of what he's doing since in reality, he is not. Morgan is unable to run away from this problem and even when he seems to make a victory, such as finding the train, they only temporarily last. Sometimes, people are simply powerless or incapable of doing something even if it seems as if they can help
