Examples Of Neglect In Frankenstein

The Office of Child Abuse and Neglect defines abandonment as the “desertion of a child without arranging for reasonable care and supervision.” It also states that “Psychological maltreatment—also known as emotional abuse and neglect—refers to a repeated pattern of caregiver behavior or extreme incident(s) that convey to children that they are worthless, flawed, unloved, unwanted, endangered, or only of value in meeting another's needs” (A Coordinated Response…). In Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein abandoned his creation as “it began its life in the in much the same confused, unknowing, and needy state that human infants do” (Don Nardo 92). The monster that Victor creates, who is given no guidance from his creator, goes

The monster is also neglected in this way, not only by Frankenstein when he is abandoned, but also by the De Lacey family. When the creature tries to befriend the De Lacey’s, he formed in his imagination “a thousand pictures of presenting myself to them, and their reception of me.” But the creature also knew that the De Lacey family may reject him but his belief that “they would be disgusted, until, by my gentle demeanor and conciliating words, I should first win their favor and afterwards their love” encourages him to present himself to them (Shelly 113). After trying to introduce himself to them, the De Lacey’s reject the monster once again and do not reciprocate his affection for them. The cycle is then continued by the monster himself, who has been treated with neglect by both his creator and the De Lacey family. As the monster finds himself desiring a companion, he is seized by the idea that children are “unprejudiced and have lived too short a time to have imbibed a horror of deformity” (Shelly 143). The creature’s intentions were to ‘adopt’ the child that was playing in the field where he had come to rest. In the creature’s attempt to talk to the child, he discovers that the young boy is Victor’s brother. When the monster realizes that the little boy is related to Frankenstein, who he wants to make as miserable as he is, the creature kills him. By killing the child that he wanted to ‘adopt,’ the monster continued the cycle of neglect by becoming a battering parent. As can be seen through Frankenstein, and is reflected in real life, one of the social or emotional implications caused by a parental figure’s abandonment is the continuation of cycles of