The Elephant Man

The Elephant Man I gave the shopkeeper the money and he opened a door at the back of the shop. We went into a little room. The room was cold and dark, and there was a horrible smell in it. A creature sat on a chair behind a table. I said a creature because it wasn’t a man or a woman, like you or me. The creature didn’t move or look at us. It sat very quietly on the chair in the cold, dark, dirty room, and looked at the table. The creature had a cloth over its head because of the cold. On the table in front of it, there was a dead flower. “Stand up!” said the shopkeeper, loudly. The creature stood up slowly. It took the old cloth off its head, and put it on the chair. I looked at the creature and felt sad. I am a doctor, so I know a lot about accidents and ill people. I see horrible, ugly things every day. But this creature was the worst of all. There were no men or women in the hospital like it. It wore some old trousers, but no shirt, coat or shoes, so I could see its body very well. Its head was the most interesting thing. It was very big, like an enormous bag with a lot of books in it. The head didn’t have much hair, and there was another bag of brown, dirty skin at the back of it. Its skin came down below its neck. I couldn’t see one of its eyes very well, because a lot of skin came down in front of its face, too. An enormous red tooth came out of its mouth, under its nose. It looked like an elephant’s tooth. The mouth and nose were like holes in the face. The face couldn’t smile or laugh or look angry or sad, because the skin couldn’t move. It was dead, like an elephant’s face. “Walk, Merrick!” said the shopkeeper angrily. “Come on, quickly, move!” He hit the creature with his hand. Slowly, the creature walked across the room, but it couldn’t walk well. Its legs were very big and fat, and it had a bad back. It couldn’t walk far without a stick. “All right, thank you,” I said. “Let it sit down. I don’t want to see it any more.” I felt ill, and the smell in the room was very bad. “Yes, sir,” said the shopkeeper. We went out of the room and closed the door. The shopkeeper smiled at me with its yellow teeth.