Frankenstein

 

http://ttcritic.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/maryshelleysfrankenstein/

“One of the best of these I entered; but I had hardly placed my feet within the door, before the children shrieked, and one of the women fainted. The whole village was roused; some fled, some attacked me, until, grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons, I escaped to the open country, and fearfully took refuge in a low hovel, quite bare, and making a wretched appearance after the palaces I had beheld in the village.” (Pages 70 & 71)

I think that this passage is important because this is when the Frankenstein’s creation comes into contact with mankind as is badly treated. The passage itself is just a summary of what happened to him, being attacked and yelled at by complete strangers, but I feel the significance of this experience is quite important. When first reading the novel I began to think the main idea of the story was going to be concerning Frankenstein creating a creature out of selfishness and loneliness for himself. Further reading about the creature’s experiences is leading me to believe the meaning of the novel might be more about the brutality of mankind and how we treat others that are different from us. It seems that this experience of the creature is what made him the way he is (so far) and is what caused his fear of man. He only went out at night and avoided man as best he could and learned a lot of what he did from spying on his neighbors. I think this fear and negative experience in the first place is going to affect the rest of his experiences later on. This creature was created by a man but he looks like a monster and has the emotions and feelings of a man, yet he is treated much differently. Even his creator at first glance hated him and was disgusted by what he had made. This theme is not all too uncommon even in today’s world. We learn about cultural diversity in college and how importance equality is, but let’s be honest, we have all experienced bullying of some kind (no matter which end you were on). We know what it’s like for children who are different and how they might be looked at or treated. I have a feeling this will be a reoccurring theme throughout this novel.

Here is a link for a wonderful website concerning the topic I mentioned of bullying... this has tips for children, teens, parents, and educators.