Category Archives: Group 2
If You Can Make It There, You’ll Make It Anywhere
I was thoroughly enjoying W.E.B. DuBios’s “The Comet” as it explored the issues of race relations and the fear of being alone. Being set in New York City, it almost felt like a thoughtful episode of Sex and the City. But instead of another round of cosmos (the martini cocktails), the characters deal with the […]
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Frankenstein a Hero?
The question is as mockingly simple as it is impossible to definitively answer: does Victor Frankenstein end up redeeming himself in the ending pages of the book? Does he come to face his mistakes and die just as tragically as his creation? I’m inclined to say yes. Consider what we know about the good doctor […]
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Which came first, the Monster or Frankenstein?
As our discussion of Frankenstein has progressed, I am still attempting to place Frankenstein on what we can call the monster-creator spectrum: does Frankenstein’s final explanation that “[his] duties toward [his] fellow creatures had greater claims to [his] attention” … Continue reading → Continue reading
“…not because they are easy, but because they are hard…”
As I finished the book, there were a million questions I wanted to know the answers to, and enough response material to fill several books, so I am going to focus on one thing that I cannot help but address. … Continue reading →
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Storm Warning
One of the most important scenes in the story was when Frankenstein changed his mind and decided to “never to resume [his] labours” in creating a female mate for the monster. In breaking his promise, he directly defied the monster and knew that the creature will seek revenge and retribution in some form. Throughout Chapter […]
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Contradictions abound in Frankenstein
“That is also my victim!…in his murder my crimes are consummated; the miserable series of my being is wound to its close! Oh, Frankenstein! Generous and self-devoted being! What does it avail that I now ask thee to pardon me?” (emphasis mine, p. 240) I think this line encapsulates much of the contradictory emotions propelling the novel. […] Continue reading
Loneliness
Upon completing this novel, I was stricken with the sense of isolation and loneliness. This idea is placed within the novel between the three characters who the reader sees a narrative from: Walton, Frankenstein, and the monster. Walton desires a companion on his explorations, describing his longing within the letters he writes to his sister. […]
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Why is Frankenstein SF?
In class, Professor Sample suggested that science fiction (SF) is often about voyages, both literal and metaphorical. It’s easy to see why this might be the case: if humans possess a primal urge to venture into the unknown, science—and its handmaiden, technology—has been, and is still, essential to fueling that drive. However, the voyage narrative […] Continue reading
“I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open,”
Upon reading this novel for the past two days, naturally my subconscious embeds the images portrayed in what I found to be one of the more terrifying scenes in the first volume. In other words, I had a nightmare just last night about when the monster created by Frankenstein first opens its eyes and comes […]
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Frankenstein is not weird
Although I have never seen any of the many film adaptations of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, I have already read the novel once before in its entirety. Usually, rereading a book is a rewarding experience for me, but in this particular … Continue reading → Continue reading