The Body Snatcher: Why Peer Pressure rules the Upper Society

Mumu The Tricked discusses the Body Snatcher, one of the stories in Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Tales!

TITLE: “The Body Snatcher” (pgs. 67-84 from Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Tales)

AUTHOR: Robert Louis Stevenson

GENRE: Dark Fiction

PAGES: 18

FORMAT: Paperback Book; story available for free on this website: https://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/BodySnat.shtml

PRICE: US $7.95

Peer pressure is a terrible thing; can you imagine how it must feel, being manipulated into betraying your own morals for approval from the higher society? How else can you move up in the social cast without being scared into silence about misdeeds? That’s what Fettes had to suffer in this tale. Here lies “the Body Snatcher”, a twisted tale written by the same author as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide, Robert Louis Stevenson.

He was convinced by the man named Macfarlane to keep quiet about where the fresh bodies come from for their anatomy studies. Macfarlane was his professor in anatomy, after all. However, some students began to recognize the dead; they were alive yesterday, according to them. Fettes began to realize what happened, yet Macfarlane convinced him to be quiet and convinced him that he was doing a good deed. Macfarlane had the tongue of a snake, able to play mind games and convince Fettes whatever he did was right, regardless of hte morality in question.

It’s certainly disgusting how Macfarlane quickly justified the murders as necessary for this profession. How this mentor, K—, started the trend and how it continued to that day. It’s shocking how murder and dissection just began to seem as normal parts of the trade. Even though Fettes struggles with the decisions, ultimately, he does nothing about it- attempts to throw the money back at Macfarlane instead of telling the police, remains quiet although it tears him up inside as Macfarlane and K— are pioneers in the field, even though they are also murderers. Fettes becomes complicit with the knowledge of these murders for the goodness of his study, there were even some hints of these victims being sinful and wrongful. Until the very end, he struggled with his morality and that was where karma finally got them.

In truth, if they simply stopped doing what they were doing in the name of science; then their fantasy girl, who is referred to as Grey, wouldn’t have been the next victim of the trade. This woman, after their love interest, someone they fantasized about, made them stop for a moment in horror, like they couldn’t believe she would be considered a sinful woman. One drops the lantern, one screams and the horse carries the dead body all the way back to their town.

The end is ambiguous. It’s not hinted at whether or not they will continue the trade after that incident. Perhaps they will, already too deep to emerge out from it unscathed- knowing too much to not be complicit. Maybe Fettes will finally get some sense knocked into him where he can stop these monstrosities from occurring. Only the author will know, unless someone wants to do a continuation of the short story.

Mumu the Tricked loves to read and write. It’s easier to sit still and work with their eyes and hands than move around some days. They are hoping to become a successful author and book reviews are quite fun, too. Thank you!

PLEASE NOTE: The views and opinions of the staff of Memento Mori Ink do not necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or Crystal Lake Publishing, nor do the views or opinions of Crystal Lake necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or its staff. Thank you for understanding.