Lovely Literature

"...but trust him not. His soul is as hellish as his form, full of treachery and fiend-like malice. Hear him not; call on the manes of William, Justine, Clerval, Elizabeth, my father, and the wretched Victor, and thrust your sword into his heart. I will hover near , and direct the steel aright." (153).

Poor Victor...he has gone through such turmoil in such a short amout of time and he still cannot seem to win in the end. I kind of wish he got to his creation so he could confront him again instead of the mocking game that the creature created. At this point in the novel, the main story is over and we are on to Walton's frame story again as it began. The frame stories were extremely important in this novel because it gave the differing perspectives of the three main characters involved in the creation whether directly or indirectly. It gave the monster's point of view on how he lived and was treated, it gave Walton's view on Victor, and it gave Victor a chance to redeem himself for creating such a terrible monster. It was important to have every aspect in this novel because without the monster's story we would not have any remorse whatsoever and we would see him merely as an evil being with no conscience and no chance of goodness inside him. I find it interesting that he claims that he was good and that the toils of mankind turned him evil, but at the same time it annoys me because if he was so good, why couldn't he stop with the whole killing thing? He committed the ultimate sin, not once, but multiple times. Something I wonder after reading this novel is how does he receive redemption after he dies since he is not a mortal being? Does he go straight to hell or does nothing happen? I know it's not real but it would be interesting to hear someone's take on what would happen to him. In the end, he still has humanlike characteristics that cause his anguish and his regret for his actions, but he turned out to embody evil more than good throughout the course of events.

"In the mean time I took every precaution to defend my person, in case the fiend should openly attack me. I carried pistols and a daggar costantly about me, and was ever on the watch to prevent artifice; and by these means gained a greater degree of tranquility." (page 142).

Once Victor decides it is time to wed Elizabeth before he is killed or before she finds another man, he takes every single precaution to ensure that he will be alive before their ceremony and hopefully they can then get away before the monster can find them. It amazes me that he was so concerned about keeping himself safe but he didn't stop to think that the monster was killing everyone close to him so to make him suffer but to not yet kill him. It reminds me of a horror movie because after they are married and are residing in Evian, Victor tells Elizabeth to go to sleep and he will be there soon after he checks the perimeter. Soon after, he hears the screams from her room and realizes the mistake he has made. He has made many fatal mistakes in this story and it is a wonder he hasn't realized the implications of them yet. It's amazing to me because he is such a smart, well-educated man and yet he doesn't seem to think ahead. I think the anger, fear, exhaustion, and revenge has been clouding his vision for many years since the monster was created and it has completely altered his life and well being. Victor basically doesn't have a well-being any more and he has given up on anything and everything in his life except for hunting down his creation and destroying it. The only thing I wonder in all of this...and maybe I missed it...was where is Ernest his brother now?

"Ay, sir, free enough for honest folks. Mr. Kirwin is a magistrate; and you are to give an account of the death of a gentleman who was found murdered here last night." (page 127)

Frankenstein at this point has already decided that he is finished with dealing with this monster situation. He has toiled over this new creation for many many hours and days, but he has realized that he would be more of a monster if he created another being. His problem is that he could not handle the grotesqueness of this new monster and he would not be able to tell if the new creation would like the original creation and vice versa. The female creation could even hate the world more than the male creation and he would not be able to tell what the outcome would be then. Also, Victor must have given them reproductive organs because he mentions them having more demon babies...which would just be wonderful of course. The dead would be reproducing...hm....

So the monster is at it again. One of the themes my group has been studying is depravity, or sin, and the monster who claims that he was once good has only been showing off his evilness. He has apparently killed again and he is framing his creator once again. He threatened Victor with the fact that he is more powerful than his creator and he will be with him on his wedding night because Victor destroyed his second creation and broke his original promise. The creation has zero remorse anymore. He does not care what repercussions could occur and he does not care about his creator and his well being. Basically, he is sick of being treated like a monster...but well...he is a monster. He is almost making the situation worse by actually acting as a monster now. The theme of depravity is prevalent in the story, but as I continue reading the end of this novel, I can see that sin will become more prominent and prevalent in the main ideas.

If you were wondering, yes that is the legitimate German pronunciation of "Frankenstein." :]

"It was a place fitted for such a work, being hardly more than a rock, whose high sides were continually beaten upon by the waves. The soil was barren, scarcely affording pasture for a few miserable cows, and oatmeal for its inhabitants, which consisted of five persons, whose gaunt and scraggy limbs gave tokens of their miserable fare." (page 119).

As Victor is touring Europe with Henry Clerval, he realizes that it is important for him to get this monster business out of the way and just create the "bride" for the creature so he doesn't have to toil and slave over it anymore. Remembering the anguish the creation took on his body, mind, and soul before, he is having a difficult time bringing himself to making another monster. He can barely handle himself just thinking about the horrendousness of the monster, and yet he is willing to put himself through pain again so he can try to save his family and humanity from this awful infestation. He sends Henry off and then retreats to this sad little place where no one else lives. He seriously has some depression issues or something because he puts himself in situations in which he will be hurting himself or depriving himself of his basic needs. He needs to have people in his life...not monsters....who he can be happy with and not have to worry about making some creation that would ruin his life. The description of the new setting he is planning on working in is even miserable and decrepid sounding. There is one thing to say for Victor though. When he is determined, there is not much that will deter him.

"....and I did not strive to control them; but, allowing myself to be borne away by the stream, I bent my mind towards injury and death. When I thought of my friends, of the mild voice of De Lacey, the gentle eyes of Agatha, and the exquisite beauty of the Arabian, these thoughts vanished, and a gush of tears somewhat soothed me. But again when I reflected that they had spurned and deserted me, anger returned, a rage of anger, and, unable to injure anything human, I turned my fury towards inanimate objects." (99).


The creature shows that he is actually a round, dynamic character in a way. He is present throughout the entire story and he ends up being well developed even though he has only been alive for a year. He has excellent speech, he is literate, and he knows the ways of mankind. Not many people who are fully developed and are real even have his knowledge that he portrays. At the same time though he is very contradictory at times because he cannot make up his mind about his feelings. He has very real, humanlike emotions, yet he cannot control them as easily as other humans can. The creation has a difficult time realizing what feelings are rather than concrete words, but he figures out anger and hatred pretty quickly. He also ends up learning about love and connection as he felt like he had with his "friends" that he spied on for a year. He realizes that he can never be like them and it puts him in a deep depression and extreme anger toward his creator because he was abandoned and absolutely no one wants him. This makes him turn to anger and malice. It portrays almost a disgusting view of humankind because the fact that he was able to learn mischief so easily in less than a year from humans shows the values of society today. While the monster has not had the same "upbringing" so to speak as humans do or should, he has learned valuable lessons about what he should or shouldn't do. Unfortunately, he has been acting in ways he should avoid because of his lonely nature.

"I had admired the perfect forms of my cottagers-- their grace, beauty, and delicate complexions: but how I was terrified, when I viewed myself in a transparent pool! At first I started back, unable to believe that it was indeed I who was reflected in the mirror; and when I became fully convinced that I was in reality the monster that I am, I was filled with the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification. Alas! I did not yet entirely know the fatal effects of this miserable deformity." (page 80). The creature is incredible eloquent for only being alive for a year or so. He learns the way of the world quickly by learning how to act, eat, breathe, and speak, but he cannot speak to many people since he is so horribly ugly. He had watched a family for a long time and he wanted to be friends with them and look like them. However, when he looked in the pond, he could not even stand the sigh of himself. He hated himself and his creator for giving him life that he abhorred so much. He scared himself and his deformities made everything worse. I think he resembles a person with terrible self esteem because of his looks. Now I fully understand that he is in a different situation because...well..he isn't real and he was randomly given animation, but he still has developed humanly feelings. He feels self conscious and quite honestly he hates himself because of how he looks. He has developed so many human characteristics that it amazes me. I don't understand how he can become like a human, but this is one of those things I think I just need to accept because it's not a real situation. The creature has a long way ahead of him though and Frankenstein also does because he has to deal with everything the creature makes him put up with.

"I expected this reception," said the daemon. "All men hate the wretched; how, then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyong all living things! Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us. You purpose to kill me. How dare you sport thus with life? Do your duty towards me and I will do mine towards you and the rest of mankind. If you will comply with my conditions, I will leave them and you at peace; but if you refuse, I will glut the maw of death, until it be satuated with the blood of your remaining friends." (page 68) So Frankenstein now meets his creature again, but this time the creature can talk and basically fully function. He speaks of his misery as this ugly spawn and how he scares all of hte people he meets. His anger spawns from the fact that his creater left him immediately when he realized the horrid mistake he made. He makes a deal in this quote with Frankenstein which adds foreshadowing to the plot. As we find out later in the plot, Frankenstein is being asked by his creature if he could make another creature like him in a woman form so he may have a companion (Bride of Frankenstein maybe? :)). If Frankenstein refuses or does not follow through, the creature will destroy more of human kind, focusing on Frankenstein's family and friends. This brings foreshadowing because Victor had such a hard tim emaking the creature then stomaching it. I don't think he could make another one because he nearly died of sickness trying to make the creature which he worked for so ridiculously long on. There is no way he would be able to remain healthy and sane by making another creature. Therefore, it is going to be interesting on who the creature kills that is close to Victor. He has already killed William (I think) which then caused the death of their servant, and Victor's mom is already dead. Currently the death tole is rising for the Frankenstein family. His creature sure is a bargainer...

"It's Alive!!!!!" (The depressing realization that this quote is not actually in the book. Awesome.) "How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form?" (page 35) Frankenstein is a rather complex character. His characterization so far is peculiar because we first meet him in the north where he is near death. Then, he decides to tell the story of his misery the last few years to a complete stranger. I suppose when you are sitting around on a ship for 24 hours a day for several days, you're going to learn a lot about the people with you though. This quote from chapter five when Frankenstein finally breathes life into the inanimate body brings on more complexity of his character. Why would Frankenstein be so disgusted and caught up by his creation after he obsessively worked on it for two years? The creation took over his life and even his health and then he just ends up throwing it to the wind and making it fen for itself. I realize that he did not understand the gravity of his creation until the moment it tremored and woke up for the first time, but the fact that he put every single ounce of himself into the creation until the very last moment is just confusing. How can he be so enamored with his project, knowing the beautiful and horrific features of it, and then just let it all drop? I feel like he doesn't exactly think things through. Rather, he is impulsive and goes more on intellect than common sense.

"Elizabeth was saved, but the consequences of this imprudence were fatal to her perserver. On the third day my mother sickened; her fever was accompanied by the most alarming symptoms and the looks of her medical attendants prognosticated the worst event. On her death-bed the fortitude and benignity of this best woman did not desert her. She joined the hands of Elizabeth and myself. 'My children...my firmest hopes of future happiness were placed on the prospect of your union.'" (pages 23-24) This quote establishes the reason that Elizabeth was brought into the Frankenstein family so many years ago. She was adopted by Victor's parents with the intention that she would end up marrying Victor. This is extremely different from our society hundreds of years later because we would never consider adopting someone so they could marry another person they would then be related to. In this case, a brother and adopted sister would be an extremely odd pairing. Nevertheless, Victor seems to be madly in love with his Elizabeth from a very young age and he speaks about her in beautiful terms. I suppose it's better than being blood brother and sister and wanting to get married. That just plain freaks me out...and probably the rest of society as well. Even though I haven't gotten through much of the story yet, I have a feeling Elizabeth will be an important character in many ways but especially because she is Victor's love and she will somehow be affected by the newly created creature.

"This expedition has been the favourite dream of my early years. I have read with ardour the accounts of the various voyages which have been made in the prospect of arriving at the North Pacific Ocean through the seas which surround the poles." (page 2) Frankenstein is set up as a frame story so we begin with the first narrator, Robert Walton, who is an explorer and a scientist looking to reach the North Pole. At one point he mentions his goal is to find the reason why needles point North and another goal of his is to find a safer and quicker passageway to Asia and other continents on the other side of the world. Walton seems almost pretentious in a way because he has a hard time making friends since he is so involved in his explorations, but at the same time he is afraid that he is not smart enough to be friends with the type of people he would like to be friends with. He speaks about being a "romantic" because he wants someone to share in his triumph if he reaches the North Pole or someone to console him if he doesn't reach the North Pole. He has been working very hard to get to this point, and he needs someone to share it with. Walton speaks so highly of his dream that he doesn't speak much about his life otherwise. We know that he has a good relationship with his sister since he is writing her multiple letters, including all of Frankenstein's journey, but he doesn't mention much about the rest of his family or keeping in contact with them. He does mention, however, that his explorations and his project has been such a big part of his life that he hasn't had time to make friends or strengthen relationships. Until Frankenstein comes along....

"He had reached an age where death no longer has the quality of ghastly surprise, and when he looked around him now for thefirst time and saw the height and splendor of the hall and the great rooms opening out from it into other rooms, his grief began to be mixed with awed pride. " (168) Our perceptions of people after they die tend to be skewed in many directions. Some people end up hating people more after they die, but many people tend to focus on how great the person was, even if they were...well...terrible. Gatsby's dad, now granted he was his dad so that changes the perspective even more, was in complete awe of what Gatsby had made with his life. He always knew that his son would reach great heights, because that's what parents do. They think of the best possible situations for their children and when disaster strikes, it's the other person's fault or the other person is "a madman." Parents are really good at that though, no matter how mean or rude their children were to them. Gatsby completely cut ties with his parents, yet his dad was so proud of him for everything he became. He also didn't question how Gatsby became so rich, so he ignored that fact that there were possibilities of illegalities in the way his son got his money. He also ignored that there were no people at his funeral even though he was apparently so well liked and so popular with his parties. Death skews everything and throws it out of proportion, especially with our relationships and views on others.

"Through this twilight universe, Daisy began to move again with the season; suddenly she was again keeping half a dozen dates a day with half a dozen men, and drowsing asleep at dawn with the beads and chiffon of an evening dress tangled among dying orchids on the flood beside her bed." (151) The motif and symbol of death resounds in this work but in a subtle way for the most part until the end of the novel. This quote is embedded in the story that covers the majority of chapter 8 when Gatsby tells Nick more of his life story, focusing on the times when he met Daisy and was trying to keep her to himself. This quote tells when Daisy began to stop waiting for Gatsby because he was still poor, he was at Oxford for a few months, and apparently she cannot wait for her "true love" for six months to get back home. She began to drift back into her old habits and eventually found Tom Buchanan to marry. She told Gatsby in a letter while he was still at Oxford, and that one of the reasons she was marrying Tom was because he was somewhat of high stature in society and he was wealthy enough to keep her secure and give her what ever she wants. Back to the symbol of death, this quote speaks of the dying orchids on the floor when she fell asleep. The orchids are a reminder of the short-lived "loves" that she had that came and went as quickly as the flowers bloomed and died in her household. I feel like Daisy never really had "love" with any of these men, not even Tom nor Gatsby because she could never be satisfied. In the end, Gatsby, her longest standing orchid, died too without so much as her showing up to give her condolences.

"Myrtle Wilson's body, wrapped in a blanket, and then in another blanket, as though she suffered from a chill in the hot night, lay on a work-table by the wall, and Tom, with his back to us, was bending over it, motionless." (138) At this point, Myrtle has been killed because she ran out in front of a yellow car which so happened to be Gatsby's car. Previously, Tom had been driving the car and told George that it was his car, so at first George suspected him until Tom told him that it was really Jay Gatsby who the car belonged to and he didn't even stop to see if Myrtle was okay when he ran her over. I believe Tom was really just nervous because he didn't want George finding out about his affair with Myrtle. He wanted it to remain mysterious who the man was that she was having an affair with because he was a coward. I think he was afraid that if George found out then he would kill Tom...because...well he ends up killing Gatsby. And people do crazy things for love. I find it interesting that Tom was so upset over Myrtle's death because I don't think he truly cared about her like he thought he did because men who hit their wives or mistresses...that is just shady to me. I don't feel like a man should ever, ever hit a woman who he claims he loves because if he loves her, he would never want to physically harm her. I think Tom is so shocked and upset because he feels like he just lost his wife and his mistress so he is really striking out when he thought his life was progressing perfectly. Tom is a man of pleasure and self-satisfaction, so once his satisfaction was dwindling, he had no where to run to but right back home.

"She had told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw. He was astounded. His mouth opened a little, and he looked at Gatsby, and then back at Daisy as if he had just recognized her as some one he knew a long time ago." (119) At first I thought the climax of the novel was when Daisy and Gatsby met each other again for the first time in five years, but then when I came upon this part, I quickly changed my mind. The moment that Daisy commented on how "cool" Gatsby always looked, even in the most heated of situations, it dawned on Tom that the wool had been pulled over his eyes, so to speak, about Daisy and Gatsby's relationship. They obviously were lovers, and he was getting beat at his own game. When Tom realized that he could be losing his wife, he nearly went crazy at the thought and immediately tried to pin something on Gatsby that would drive him away from his wife and his family. This part of the novel is basically when all hell breaks loose and all the secrets come out because shortly after Tom realizes Daisy's affair, George realizes Myrtle's affair, and the plot continually thickens. The events spiral down from here and the scandals become well known. The question is, who will Daisy pick? Her former lover who has recently acquired enough wealth to be considered a millionaire, or her safe husband who cheats on her yet still offers her financial security and safety? I'm glad I'm not Daisy...

"So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end." (98) This quote has an element of foreshadowing to it because it brings up the point that there could be an ending to Gatsby's life within the story, which actually ends up happening! The second half of the book as we divided it up begins with Gatsby slowing unveiling his previous life before he became rich and famous in upper class America at that time. He still is able to maintain his air of mystery though because we never actually find out his exact line of work, which makes it seem like he is into or has been into some shady business. Not to mention the fact that he is good friends with Meyer Wolfsheim who is notorious for having controlled the World Series scandal in 1919. Gatsby has such an intriguing character because he is reserved and taciturn in the first half of the novel and then begins to come out of his shell more with Nick as his friend. Gatsby, in the end, is just suffering from a lost love that he never truly got back because he died before Daisy and his relationship could have been decided. He spent five years building up his wealth and his prominence to win back Daisy, when in the end, he died alone and remained alone in his mansion and at his funeral.