Analysis
"The Damned Thing" deals with how the human race takes the view of the natural world for granted because the human race expects certain things from what only they could see and hear. There are things in the natural world the human eye cannot see and the human ear cannot hear that should evoke the emotion of terror for the human race.
In the story, Morgan states in his diary the human eye is an imperfect instrument because its "range is but a few octaves of the real chromatic scale." Morgan is saying there are colors the human eye cannot see. He uses the example of chemists detecting the presence of actinic rays the human eye is unable to see without the use of scientific instruments. He also states the ear is an imperfect instrument because "either end of the scale are notes that stir no chord in that imperfect instrument, the human ear." He uses examples of him seeing a flock of black birds fly away simultaneously when they could not see each other because of a hill and tree tops. He inferred "there must have been a signal of warning or command, high and shrill above the din" which he did not hear.
Morgan comes to believe these assumptions of humans having imperfect instruments because of his experiences and first hand encounters with things in nature he couldn't explain, like with some of the examples stated above. Also his experience and curiosity with the damned thing lead to Morgan’s assumptions. He knew the damned thing could see certain colors, hear certain things and smell certain things the human race couldn't because of his own observations and inferences about the damned thing he wrote about in his diary. The damned thing has a great advantage over the human race because the damned thing was "of such a color." It could smell, hear and most importantly see things Morgan or any other human being couldn't. This scared Morgan very much because he stated his realization was terrible and insupportable. He thought he was becoming mad.
The 'damned thing' is not further detailed in the story. The damned thing is supposed to be horrific in relation to humans not knowing what it could do or what it will do next. The human race is at a disadvantage because of their imperfect instruments and cannot know what the invisible beast, or what any animal in nature, will do next.
Read more about this topic: The Damned Thing (short Story)
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