Key Points- William Veeder: The Women of Frankenstein

1. In constructing her female characters, Mary Shelley implies for them to be stronger than men and impervious to the woes of effeminacy. However, many critics state that this intention failed. Instead, the female characters are mentioned to "be charged with extreme weakness" and to have learned the "lessons of submissiveness and devotion" almost too well. Shelley does not help her case when she furthers the downfall of her women by "creating a world impossibly strong" to resist.

2. The audience is meant to sympathize with Justine and the other women not as weak or damaged, but rather as victims. Shelley creates a situation for Justine in which she confesses after the verdict, despite not even having committed the crime. However, Justine is able to hold out for awhile before being "besieged by [her] confessor." By the end of the courtroom scene, Justine proves that the females in the book are not weak, but rather beaten down by the plot. For example, how could Justine have imagined "that an eight-foot-tall, man-made monster had sneaked up and slipped the miniature into her pocket. Thus, Shelley's plot creates excessively negative effects on the women of the novel.

3. Elizabeth and Justine, despite being punished by the plot at times, still serve a purpose. Shelley reveals that her true women are destroyed for "a radical purposiveness that releases them." Therefore, these female characters each push the novel forward and are used to prove significant points.

- The fact that Shelley's female characters are unable to resist the negative effects of the plot and still serve a radical purpose has truly supplied a new perspective on the book. For example, following the destruction of the De Lacey cottage, the drowning little girl will either be ended by the plot or saved by the creature. Because the creature saves the girl and is still shot, Shelley implies that the plot is unable to be combated by women even with outside help; for example, Elizabeth's sticking up for Justine carries no benefits. In the end, this new perspective points that Shelley's failure to make female characters stronger than men leads to a plot of struggle for women.

Shelley's Complex Attitude of Victor's Pursuits

In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley truly constructs a complex attitude towards Victor’s work early on.  Mary Shelley portrays Victor’s actions as misguided and allows those actions to blind him in his pursuit. Victor’s actions throughout these two paragraphs illustrate how his simple goal transformed into an obsession. Shelley demonstrates this by forcing Victor to disregard and ignore any last minute hesitations. Instead, these hesitations of uncertainty are filled with haughty desires to achieve obsessive success.

Throughout the first paragraph, Mary Shelley constructs a complex attitude by trying to state the reasoning and justification behind Victor’s intent. His actions are justified because Victor believes he will be “pouring a torrent of light onto a dark world.” Shelley establishes Victor to have a god-like personality through the idea that Victor will be blessed “by a new species as its creator.” Victor becomes so blinded and engulfed in his very own mission when he believes to have the ability to “renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption.” Thus, throughout the first paragraph, Victor’s justification and motives are outlines.

This complex attitude is furthered when Victor acknowledges, yet ignores the mental and physical harm of his own pursuit. This “unremitting ardour” is used to once again highlight Victor’s obsession; Victor is swept into a “frantic impulse [and] urged forward” despite his work’s detrimental personal effects. Lastly, Shelley adds complexity through Victor’s mention of “who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil.” This statement illustrates that, at the time, Victor cannot foresee any ramifications of his actions; however, in reality, it sets up the remainder of the novel and pushes Victor to look back at his obsession with regret. 

By the end of the two paragraphs, Shelley has certainly constructed a complex attitude. Victor’s misguided haughtiness, justification of his obsession, ignorance of the effects his work has on his body, and foreshadowing of the book all constitute Shelly’s beautifully formed complex attitude. 

Blog Assignment #2: Frankenstein Incident

One particular incident that interests me from the novel is when Frankenstein's monster burns down De Lacey's cottage. Up until that point, the creature had been trusting of humanity and striving to join them. The creature discusses his time spent observing the family and the abundant amount of information that he learned through those observations. At first, the creature is fully dependent on the family as it exists as his sole insight into the world of human culture. Once ready, he presents himself to De Lacey; however, when the younger family members return, they drive him physically out of the cottage and mentally into a state of rejection.

This scene is extremely important and stands out to me because it sparks the monster's first attack on humanity. The creature burns the cottage and spurns all of the emotion that he learned to feel when observing the family. I chose this incident because it establishes the creature's main, yet elusive goal to search for acceptance throughout the remainder of the novel.

Blog Assignment #1: Most Memorable Books

1. The Tower Treasure (Hardy Boys), Franklin Dixon. This book has had a huge impact on me as it was the first mystery genre novel I ever read. Since reading this, at probably the age of ten, I have been captivated by mystery books as I can never put them down. This is also the first book that I can truly remember finishing in a single day.

2. The House of God, Samuel Shem. I read this book over the summer and from the very beginning I knew it would be a hit. This book follows the life of a medical resident who portrays medicine in an extremely cynical light. I enjoyed the character's struggle to keep his medical career and depression separate from his personal life

3. Oh, The Places You'll Go, Dr. Seuss. This book was read to me at my middle school graduation, and I still have some lines memorized from it. The story has a great moral showing that determination and perseverance is key in life.

4. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger. This was the first book where I felt truly connected to a protagonist's life. I loved how Holden Caulfield depicted the world in the truest manner. Furthermore, I enjoyed following Holden's coming-of-age journey throughout the book.

5. The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig, Jonathan Eig. I have always found Lou Gehrig's life extremely fascinating. I love baseball and when I saw this biography in the bookstore one day during sophomore year, I knew that I had to read it. It is extremely interesting as it not only follows his professional baseball career, but also his life outside of the game.

6. Heat, Mike Lupica. I read this book in seventh grade and truly was able to put myself in the protagonist's position. The book portrays a young kid who has the dream of playing in the baseball little league world series. After reading this book, I started taking baseball much more seriously and it quite possibly has made me the player that I am today.

7. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain. I loved how this novel could cover so many topics. The tension between Huck Finn's motives and the norms of the society appealed to me. Furthermore, I enjoyed the overall plot and Huck's attempts to save Jim from the South.