Like Father, Like Son

Frankenstein
Mary Shelley
Pages 149-166

"'Peace, peace! learn from my miseries, and do not seek to increase your own,'" (Shelley, 156).

With the conclusion of Frankenstein's narrative, the audience is reminded of the frame story nature of the novel. It returns to Walton's letters to his sister, and Walton resumes the position of narrator. Walton tells his sister and the audience that Frankenstein's story is to be taken as truth due to his emotional connection to its telling and the factual evidence presented to Walton such as the letters and the sighting of the creature. Also, the second sighting of the creature and his interaction with Walton referring to Victor as his creator confirm this notion.

The end of Frankenstein's story also completes the end of his downward mental spiral. He has degraded to the state which he had earlier detested; he is a monster consumed with the thought of the destruction of his enemy, much like the monster he had created. In his obsession with the elimination of the beast preoccupied with causing his misery, Frankenstein became the same thing that he was trying to destroy. This reversal of roles illustrates the dynamic nature of the characters of both the creation and the creator. Their respective evolutions paralleled each other; one rose in his intellect and understanding while the other degraded in their mental health.

By ending the story through the eyes of Walton, Shelley was able to leave the reader with a secondhand perspective in order to dispel any doubt or suspicion of Frankenstein's story. This deliberate change in the point of view, as with all of the other various viewpoints throughout the story, adds to the depth of the meaning of the work by allowing for a multitude of interpretations of the actions. It allows the reader to freely analyze the actions of the characters and the action of the story in general. Overall, it was very effective and made the story more interesting.

Hitting Rock Bottom

Frankenstein
Mary Shelley
Pages 136-149

The letter from Elizabeth that opens this section allows the reader to gain an outside perspective of just how far Victor has fallen from his prior state. "Yet I fear that the same feelings now exist that made you so miserable a year ago, even perhaps augmented by time," (Shelley, 138). Elizabeth's fear is true. Victor himself even acknowledges that "misery had her dwelling in [his] heart," (Shelley 137). However, the two still have their marriage, and Elizabeth intends to live happily ever after. However, Victor's knowledge of the creature's threat haunts his memory; he continues to believe that his life is destined to be ended by the monster on the night of his wedding. This is ironic because the reader is able to infer that the threat was made in regard to the life of Elizabeth. The murder of Elizabeth would further destroy the mentality of Victor and would enter him into a state of solitude similar to that of the monster. And through the successful murder of Elizabeth and the subsequent death of the father, the monster succeeded in reducing Victor to a barbaric mental state.

Mirror Image

Frankenstein
Mary Shelley
Pages 120-136

For the second time in the story, Victor Frankenstein is in the process of animating physical life. The two events are very similar in their most basic nature, but the second is presented in a sort of mirror image to the first event of creation. Mirror being the most import word in that phrase because in a mirror, the image is the same, but everything is in reverse from the original. This reversal juxtaposes the two events to highlight the change experienced by Frankenstein as a result of the events which have occurred between the two creations. In the first creation, Frankenstein eagerly anticipates the animation of his creature, and he is full of hopes and dreams that his experiment will fulfill. On the other hand, the second creation is preceded by feelings of doubt and visions of the horror that could occur as a result of the creation. "Had I a right, for my own benefit, to inflict this curse upon everlasting generations?" (Shelley, 121). Also, both creations end with the monster opening the door to interact with his creator. The monster now eloquently is able to speak and even threaten his creator whereas he had barely been able to communicate at their first interaction.

The death of Henry Clerval also sends Victor back into a state of physical and emotional despair. These constant emotional breakdowns illustrate Victor's progressive mental deterioration at the hands of the creature.

I Can Have It, But You Can't...

Frankenstein
Mary Shelley
Pages 104-120

After the creature finishes his story and presents his request to Victor, Victor has trouble complying to create a mirror image of the creation which has caused him so much misery. "Shall I create another like yourself, whose joint wickedness might desolate the world?" (Shelley, 104). However, all the creature truly desires is to have a being with whom he can form a relationship in order to bring him happiness and fulfillment in life. After all, Victor himself has such a companion.

In Victor's life, there are several people who bring him happiness. For example, Elizabeth and Victor's father offer familial support, and Henry Clerval is his always reliable friend. These people together offer Frankenstein the happiness for which the creature searches; therefore, it is ironic for Victor to deprive him of such relationships. This also explains the reasoning behind the creature's murder of William and his threat to destroy the heart of Victor. Through this desolation of his family, the creature is able to force Victor to be in compliance with his desires.

However, as Victor approaches the creation of the creature's companion, he is filled with a doubt that he will be able to complete the task. "But now I went to it in cold blood, and my heart often sickened at the work of my hands," (Shelley, 120). This is also ironic because the creature has already created great despair and turmoil in the life of Frankenstein. Who is to say that the creature is not bound to repeat his actions if Victor fails to honor his promise? What would Victor do if he lost the remainder of his loved ones? In the end, he must complete the female creature in order to protect his loved ones and his own sanity.

A Slippery Slope

Frankenstein
Mary Shelley
Pages 81-104

"I shall relate events, that impressed me with feelings which, from what I had been, have made me what I am," (Shelley, 81). Opening this section with this statement by the creature, Shelley offers an explanation that the reader can connect to the murder of William Frankenstein. Recalling what had previously occurred regarding the murder of the young boy, the reader can deduce that this section would detail the negative events that transformed the creature from a eloquent and polite creation to a murderous beast.

The first human character to alienate the creature from his relation to humans is Safie. She appears as a foil character to the creature; she embodies everything that the creature wishes to be. Safie is beautiful and able to bring happiness and companionship to the DeLaceys. On the other hand, the creature attempts to raise himself above Safie in the only aspect which he can: his intelligence. "I improved more rapidly than the Arabian" claims the creature about the pairs learning of the French language (Shelley, 84). Throughout the section, the creature is also rejected by Felix DeLacey, the girl which he saves from drowning, and the young William Frankenstein. All of these characters and their respective negative rejections of the beast help to shape his hatred for humans, especially his creator, Victor Frankenstein, "to him towards whom I have sworn eternal revenge," (Shelley, 102).

The section then proceeds to end with a request from the creature as a solution to his change in character. He asks Victor for a companion, a relationship through which he can experience the companionship that humans had failed to provide him.

Look Who's Talking

Frankenstein
Mary Shelley
Pages 61-81

Frankenstein's second encounter with the creature is a complete reversal compared to their first meeting. Whereas on their first interaction the beast "muttered some inarticulate sounds," this second meeting in the mountains presents the creature with a scholarly eloquence (Shelley, 35).

This dynamic evolution of the creation persuades Frankenstein to listen to the creature's tale. "I felt what the duties of a creator towards his creature were, and that I ought to render him happy before I complained of his wickedness," (Shelley, 70). Recognizing this responsibility, however, also presents a new aspect to the characterization of Frankenstein. The monster uses biblical references to compare Victor Frankenstein to God, the ultimate creator. His allusions to "Adam" and the "fallen angel" describe his plight (Shelley, 69). He was supposed to be the joy of his creator's heart, yet he is viewed as the antithesis. The creature simply wants to understand the reasoning behind Frankenstein's rejection of him and also to share his story with his creator in hopes of some sort of empathy.

When the creature begins his narrative detailing his travels and self-taught education (yes, Shelley implements yet another narrator into the story), the audience is given a detailed description as to how the creature has become this dynamic character. Through his steady observance of human life, he has been able to become, in a psychological sense, a fully functioning person. However, his physical appearance still segregates him from the rest of society. I feel as though the creature will continue to develop, and his development will either bring him closer or further separate him from that which is his greatest desire: companionship.

Frankenception

Frankenstein

Mary Shelley

Pages 40-60

Just when I thought the story already had a depth of narrators, I began reading Chapter Six. The frame story added another dimension to itself with the introduction of its newest narrator Elizabeth. The original frame story has now became a story being told within a story to a man who is telling the story to yet another person. Confusing, I know.

However, with the re-implication of the letters as a device to tell the story from different viewpoints, Shelley is able to add even more diversity to her story. Also, it helps to bring the importance of Victor's family, especially Elizabeth, back to the forefront of the story after the preoccupation with the creature and its effects on Victor. Elizabeth's reentering into the story and the dilemma that she presents to Victor help to call him back to his roots. Yet, coming home is not as always as happy as it may seem. The accusation and subsequent death of Justine paired with the hunch that his own creation had murdered one of his family members took their respective tolls on Frankenstein. He cannot forgive himself for the creation of a beast that had led to the death of two of the people for whom he had cared the most. "Thus spoke my prophetic soul, as torn by remorse, horror, and despair, I beheld those I loved spend vain sorrow upon the graves of William and Justine, the first hapless victims to my unhallowed arts," (Shelley, 60).

Again, Frankenstein foreshadows that his destiny, or his creation of life, will have awful and terrifying consequences as the story develops.

THE CREATURE

Frankenstein
Mary Shelley
Pages 29-40

Finally, we are presented with the creation of the creature. However, it is very different than what popular culture has made it out to be. There is no horrendous storm. There is no terrorizing of the townspeople by a henchman named Igor. There was no proclamation of "IT'S ALIVE!" It was simply the generation of life in the school room of Victor Frankenstein.

This generation of life might be the event which was foreshadowed in the previous sections; Frankenstein's creature could lead to his eventual doom. "I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body...but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart," (Shelly, 35). This statement by Frankenstein is ironic in the fact that the thing to which he had devoted so much of his time disappointed him upon its completion. The reader expects that Frankenstein would rejoice and be excited that he succeeded in the goal of his studies; however, he is downtrodden and even experiences a breakdown in his physical and mental health. This is dramatically ironic because it is the opposite of what is expected to occur in the story. Also, the reappearance of Henry Clerval reiterates the importance of his small social circle to the stability of the character of Victor Frankenstein.

Foreshadowing... and Doom.

Frankenstein
Mary Shelley
Pages 14-29

In the first three chapters of the novel, foreshadowing plays a very prevalent role. It is ubiquitous in the section, consuming everything from character descriptions to the innermost thoughts of Victor Frankenstein. To begin, the introduction of Frankenstein's family further adds to his own characterization. We are first presented with his mother, Caroline Beaufort, who emphasizes the passiveness of women throughout the story. His mother also possesses the intrinsic caring nature of the archetypal mother character. "This, to my mother, was more than a duty; it was a necessity, a passion, - remembering what she had suffered, and how she had been relieved, - for her to act in her turn the guardian angel to the afflicted," (Shelley, 16). Also, his "more than sister" Elizabeth enters the story in this section (Shelley, 17). Elizabeth is beautiful and extremely good-natured, and she will come to play an important role in the course of the story.

Frankenstein also directly characterizes himself. He constantly refers to his destiny that he discovered in his adolescent years. He also speaks of his father's rejection of the matter of his studies, and how it even further piqued his curiosity. "It is even possible that the train of my ideas would never have received the fatal impulse that led to my ruin," (Shelley, 21). The use of the various references to his impending doom in this section foreshadow a dark outcome for the life of Victor Frankenstein.

The Letters

Frankenstein
Mary Shelley
Pages 1-14

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein opens with a series of letters exchanged between Robert Walton and his sister Margaret Saville. These letters set the story up in a very particular structure: a frame story. Walton is the first character introduced to the audience in the novel, and he is also the first narrator by which the story is told. It is through him that we receive our first glimpse of the creature and the first perception of Victor Frankenstein. The frame story structure of Frankenstein allows the reader to watch the story of its namesake unfold from different viewpoints. Instead of learning of Victor Frankenstein's plight directly, the audience is told the story through Frankenstein's recollection of the events that shaped his character."'You may easily perceive, Captain Walton, that I have suffered great and unparalleled misfortunes. I had determined, at one time, that the memory of these evils should die with me, but you have won me to alter my determination,'" (Shelley, 13).

In addition to an indirect understanding of the story, the frame story structure of the novel offers room for bias to appear. This bias can occur in the retelling of the story because it is told through a personal perception and then recorded by yet another person. Therefore, the reader is the second person to hear the story from the original source which calls in to question its reliability. It also allows for certain details to be exaggerated or underplayed; however, the reader, as with most literary works, has the responsibility to interpret and understand the work according to his own ascertainment.

An Inconvenient Answer

"APO 96225"
Larry Rottman

Question #2, page 847
Can you relate the material in this poem to the attitudes of the American public toward the war in Vietnam?

With the information provided in question one, I was able to confirm my notion that the poem was about the Vietnam War. The war was a very controversial issue in the American public. Technically, it was not a war, but an abuse of presidential power that angered many American citizens. One of the largest of the original complaints about the war was that President Johnson was not looking for a definite win in the country but rather a negotiated peace. The Kent State University shooting also added to the controversy surrounding the war.

The Vietnam War was the first war to be televised in the United States. For the first time, Americans were able to witness the atrocities of war within the comfort of their own living rooms. They had asked to be informed of all that was going on, and they were granted their wish. However, they were not so happy with what they were seeing. Just as the mother in the poem does not relinquish her inquiry into her son's life until she hears the truth, the American people had always wanted to be fully informed until they actually saw of what they were being informed. "'Please don't write such depressing letters. You're upsetting your mother.'" said the father reflecting the feelings of the American people (Rottman, 846). Citizens were pleading "Please don't show such depressing images," yet they were simply being given what they asked. They wanted to know, didn't they?

Truth about Society

"Much Madness is divinest Sense"
Emily Dickinson

The motivation behind this poem comes from society's expectations and definitions of sanity. It's short, brief statement reveals a much larger truth. Dickinson is calling into question the idea that society is the body that judges what is correct through the minds of the majority. "'Tis the Majority/ In this, as All, prevail-" (Dickinson, 830). With this aphorism, Dickinson reveals the truth that society dictates what is acceptable. All the beliefs of the majority are what are acceptable and to be the leading form of thought. If an individual chooses to accept this general truth, "you are sane," (Dickinson, 830). However, if one is to reject the common beliefs, "you're straightway dangerous," (Dickinson, 830).

With knowledge of the meaning of this poem, the reader cannot help but to connect it with the life of Emily Dickinson. She was often declared mad in her lifetime, and these declarations continued even after her death. Her retreat from society, though, allowed her to observe society from an outsider's perspective. Ergo, she was able to comment and critique the workings and interactions of a society of which she was once a part.

A Journey through Emily Dickinson

"I felt a Funeral, in my Brain"
Emily Dickinson

This poem is FULL of figurative language. To begin, the entire poem in itself is an extended metaphor. I think that it is a comparison of the author's current mental state to a funeral. Within this extended metaphor, there are many other literary devices of which Dickinson takes advantage. For example, "A Service, like a Drum - Kept beating" in lines 6-7 is a simile (Dickinson, 776). There is also a synecdoche in line 9 and another in line 17.

However, the most important thing that Dickinson does with her language is guide the reader on a journey through her thoughts through her references to various parts of her inner being. We begin our voyage in Dickinson's brain; it is literally the organ that controls her bodily functions, but it is figuratively the house of the funeral. We are then transferred to her sense. Finally, a knowledge of what is occurring enters her brain. This causes her brain to then become transformed into her mind or a realm of conscious thought. From the mind, Dickinson leads us to her soul; we enter the emotional aspect of the poem. After the soul, we are presented with her being and finally, reason.

Earlier in the poem, Dickinson had referred to "breaking through" with sense, and again she references a break-through with reason (Dickinson, 776). This comparison of sense and reason lead the reader to believe that the author believes that the two play a very similar role in our individual psyches.

On a completed unrelated note, however, imagine how much fun it is to literally interpret this poem. A bunch of little men conducting a funeral in Emily Dickinson's head...

Miss Brill: Point of View

"Miss Brill"
Katherine Mansfield

The point of view in "Miss Brill" contributes greatly to the overall meaning of the story. It is told in third-person omniscient point of view, meaning that we get to observe Miss Brill from an outside perspective while still gaining insight into her perceptions of the world around her. This combination of information allows the reader to sympathize with Miss Brill while still maintaining a rational view of the whole situation. The isolation felt by Miss Brill is conveyed through her thoughts, but the comments of others around her also help to cast her out from society. In the end, this specific point of view lets the reader classify Miss Brill as they choose: an elderly woman slowly losing her grip on reality or a social outcast deserving of our pity.

Miss Brill, suggested to be an old woman herself, refuses to relate with the old people on the benches around her claiming that "they were odd, silent, nearly all old, and from the way they stared they looked as though they'd just come from dark little rooms," (Mansfield, 184). To add to her isolation, Miss Brill views her life as a musical, giving her thoughts an unrealistic feel. Participating in the drama of her life does not allow Miss Brill to connect to anyone negatively or positively. Even the people for whom she does not care are still viewed as characters performing their stage directions in the theatre of life.

Have a Little Pity

"Bartleby the Scrivener"
Herman Melville

In "Bartleby the Scrivener," the narrator invokes pathos in his audience through the focus on the main character of the story. Progressively presenting more and more characteristics of Bartleby, Melville develops a similarly growing feeling of sympathy within the reader. He is first presented to the audience after he is hired to help fulfill the extra work that the Lawyer has accumulated. Bartleby is hardworking and works routinely to soon become the most efficient scrivener in the office. However, a stark contrast arises in his character when he first says "I would prefer not to" and fails to give a reason (Melville, 648). His repetition of the phrase throughout the story calls into question his motivation behind the saying.

The combination of this repetition paired with his strict schedule made me question whether or not Bartleby might be autistic. I also thought that his living in the office might suggest that he is homeless. These attributes all contribute to the reader's pity toward the character, but only to a certain extent. Eventually, Melville presented so much sympathetic presentations of Bartleby that I began to lose interest in his dealing. It became very redundant almost to emphasize the feelings of the Lawyer toward his scrivener. "So true it is, and so terrible too, that up to a certain point the thought or sight of misery enlists our best affections; but in certain special cases, beyond that point, it does not," (Melville, 658).