The central thesis of this book is to utilize the notion of the heroic ideal and the immortality projects that humans pursue to fulfill that ideal. This analytical framework will shed light on how characters in select novels impose their will on and subjugate animals in a futile attempt to avert death.

Table of Contents – Introduction - An Ancillary Note about Death as It Relates to Nature -The Relevance of Becker in Relation to Analysis of the Fiction in Question/Death is a Star when Red in Tooth and Claw - The Island of Dr. Moreau-A Case Study for the Argument Against Immortality - When The Killing is Done-A Case Study for the Argument Against Immortality - The Impact of Terror Management Theory - A Note about Taming the Tiger - Why Islands? - Islands and Legacy-Isolated Monuments and Arbiters of Immortality - The Island of Dr. Moreau- Playing God on an Island Refuge - Post humanism- Manifestations and the Denial of Reverence - Futile Attempts at Immortality - Additional Observations of Moreau’s Botched Attempts at Immortality Further Revealed - What is Nature? A Definition of Terms - The Problematizing of Dominion in the Context of Wayward Immortality Projects - Dominion from within and Dominance from without - The Significance of Island Utopias - Dominion Meets Its Match-Island Wars-The Islands Strike Back - Keeping the Beast at Bay- Reflections on the Human Animal - Dominion as a pseudonym for Colonization - Dominion as a pseudonym for Colonization - Fiction as an alternate/ersatz form to dominion - Should Mercy have a place in the execution of dominion over animals? - Should a stop be put to dominion when human life is at stake? - Concluding - Works Cited