# Skinner — The Food of the Gods character guide > Skinner in The Food of the Gods by H. G. Wells. **Role:** supporting **Also known as:** the Skinner, Mr. Skinner, Mrs. Skinner **First appearance:** 0006-ii-the-experimental-farm ## Snapshot A Hickleybrow farm labourer whose chicks fatten monstrously on Bensington's Herakleophorbia, until the Food gets into the family pudding and into him. ## Who they are Skinner is the practical man on the ground at the experiment's first real test site, writing Bensington cautious letters about feed running short and a milk pudding that went disastrously wrong. He is proud of his management, boastful about the birds he and his wife raised at the other place, and quietly convinced that rank growth always stops. His farm is where the Food stops being a laboratory curiosity and becomes flesh, appetite, and consequence. ## Relationships ### [Professor Redwood](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/characters/professor_redwood) _professional_ Skinner is a servant and assistant to Redwood, though he becomes unreliable and treacherous. ### [Young Redwood](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/characters/young_redwood) _rivalry_ Skinner is hostile and exploitative toward Young Redwood, acting as a treacherous servant turned enemy. ### [Lady Wondershoot](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/characters/lady_wondershoot) _professional_ Lady Wondershoot employs Skinner as a servant, but their relationship is marked by mutual distrust and manipulation. ### [The Vicar](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/characters/the_vicar) _social_ Skinner and the Vicar interact as members of the same rural community, sharing a common hostility toward the giants. ### [Professor Redwood](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/characters/professor_redwood) _professional_ Skinner is a servant and assistant to Redwood, though he becomes unreliable and treacherous. ### [Professor Redwood](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/characters/professor_redwood) _professional_ Skinner is a servant and assistant to Redwood, though he becomes unreliable and treacherous. ### [Young Redwood](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/characters/young_redwood) _rivalry_ Skinner is hostile and exploitative toward Young Redwood, acting as a treacherous servant turned enemy. ### [Lady Wondershoot](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/characters/lady_wondershoot) _professional_ Lady Wondershoot employs Skinner as a servant, but their relationship is marked by mutual distrust and manipulation. ### [Young Redwood](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/characters/young_redwood) _rivalry_ Skinner is hostile and exploitative toward Young Redwood, acting as a treacherous servant turned enemy. ### [Lady Wondershoot](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/characters/lady_wondershoot) _professional_ Lady Wondershoot employs Skinner as a servant, but their relationship is marked by mutual distrust and manipulation. ## In the story ### [Book I: The Dawn of the Food](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/chapters/book-i-the-dawn-of-the-food) Farm caretaker; flees the farm with the Food after the giant chicks appear. ### [The Experimental Farm](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/chapters/ii-the-experimental-farm) Hired as the farm manager; his slovenly habits and dialect are noted. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/chapters/i) Hired with his wife to manage the experimental farm; shows skepticism about Bensington's methods. ### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/chapters/ii) Writes to Bensington about the chicks' growth; shows the farm and discusses the chicks. ### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/chapters/iv) Plying Bensington's chicks with Herakleophorbia IV, while wasps also carry the paste to their broods. ### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/chapters/v) Arrives in a panic, reporting the chaotic growth caused by the Food and pleading for help. ### [Mrs. Skinner's Flight](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/chapters/vi) Mentioned as having left the farm; Mrs. Skinner expects him to return. ### [Chapter VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/chapters/viii) Returns to Hickleybrow, inquires about his wife and the giant wasps, then walks to the Experimental Farm and disappears. ### [III: The Giant Rats](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/chapters/iii-the-giant-rats) Mentioned as having disappeared, and his warning about giant rats is recalled. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/chapters/i) Mentioned as having disappeared two nights prior. ### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/chapters/iv) Mentioned indirectly through the tangled kitchen garden; not present in the action. ### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/chapters/vii) The Skinners' living-room is mentioned as a location where guns are retrieved. ### [Chapter VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/chapters/viii) Mrs. Skinner is depicted struggling to open a tin of Herakleophorbia, releasing the Food into Cheasing Eyebright. ### [I: The Coming of the Food](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/chapters/i-the-coming-of-the-food) Mrs. Skinner is referenced as having fled with the Food to Cheasing Eyebright. ### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/chapters/ii) Mrs. Skinner is described as an inelegant but resolute old woman carrying a bundle, who passes the Vicar and his friend, unknowingly bringing the Food into the village. ### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/chapters/iii) Referenced as 'since defunct' and remembered for bragging about his management of hens. ### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/chapters/iv) Mrs. Skinner appears in the background, smiling knowingly at the commotion caused by the giant baby. ### [The Discovery at Cheasing Eyebright](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/chapters/vi) Mrs. Skinner is discovered at her daughter's cottage; Skinner himself is absent and unaccounted for. ### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/chapters/vii) Mrs. Skinner is blamed and interrogated about the Food, retreating into the role of an inconsolable widow. ### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/chapters/iv) Mrs. Skinner is referenced as deceased; Mrs. Caddles has become more assertive since her death. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/chapters/i) Mentioned in the context of the first giant rat outbreaks: 'Six times since the day of the Skinners there had been outbreaks of giant rats.' ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/characters/skinner - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_food_of_the_gods_se/characters