Comparing Frankenstein By Octavia E. Butler And Mary Shelley

The unknown is inevitably frightening to humans. While humans seek to satisfy their curiosity by answering questions about what is unknown, there is an underlying fear of change and difference. Many authors see this phobia and attempt to discuss it in their own work. Both Octavia E. Butler and Mary Shelley both explore human aversion to disparities using the creatures they created in their novels. In both Butler’s Dawn and Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, the authors use specific diction and particular comparisons as well as other literary devices to convey the similarities and differences between discriminatory human behaviors. Human ignorance and aversion can be chalked up to definitions of what people consider natural.

All she can see is “his difference,” rather than any similarities. This happens in the real world between humans too. Butler especially seems to note this and truly develops the complexities of the scene and her character. Many people will claim innocence when it comes to their wrongdoing with misunderstanding and misclassification. Butler refers to this behavior when she has Lilith “wallow in self-pity and self contempt” (21). Everything she is feeling she is projecting on the situation, making it false. She is so convinced Nikanj is a “rattlesnake” that she loses sleep, even though he makes no move toward her. Rather, he is kind to her and helps give his side of the story and situation. While not completely alike, Lilith and Nikanj do share commons features they can bond over, such as speech and emotions. However, even though these characters and general people have plenty in common, discrimination, ignorance, and fear are abounding. This is exactly what the overarching allegory is pointing to; these two novels are designed to reflect issues in humanity as a whole. These negative reactions cause a surge for labeling. Humans classify anything they cannot understand or do not want to understand as a “monster.” This can be traced back historically to the immigration of white men to North America. It was the Native Americans who were labeled as savage in that case. Like Victor, the

This can be most clearly seen when Lilith was “Stripping naked on the battlefield to lie down with the enemy” (232). Butler uses this idiom to express the decided finality of Lilith’s saving act. At this point in the novel, she has done many things to reveal her inclination towards the Oankali. This event is where the line is drawn between what the other humans call “us” and “them,” the Oankali. According to the human group’s mindset, Lilith is on the wrong side, and Butler makes this clear when Lilith understands that she is a “traitor” for saving Nikanj. Returning to the overarching allegory, this scene proposes that Butler believes there is hope for the human phobia of difference. It is difficult to alter existing behavior though, and Butler also addresses that. Discrimination and aversion are always painful to the receivers, and Butler reveals that is also affects those trying to change the status quo. Nikanj is in physical pain during this scene, which could be symbolic for how those on the outside feel in the real world. Lilith, who aligned herself with the averted specie, is also “penetrated” painfully by this aversion, but it “was probably nothing to what Nikanj was feeling—however it experienced pain” (232). Contrastingly, Shelley does not seem to share this same hope. Frankenstein’s creature remains to the end “a thing such as even Dante