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Frankenstein Belonging Essay

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Seeking Belonging: A Comparative Analysis of “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley and “Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™” by Rebecca Roanhorse "Frankenstein" is a novel by Mary Shelley that tells the story of a scientist and his creation and the complicated relationship they have. While Victor finds the creature repulsive, the lonely creature, despite its frightful appearance, wishes to find its place among mankind. "Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™" by Rebecca Roanhorse, is a short story that follows Jesse Turnblatt, an employee at Vision Quests, who provides tourists with authentic experiences of what it is like to be "Indian." However, as an indigenous man, he is still unsure of his purpose or identity as he continues …show more content…

The Creature is faced with two choices: ask his creator for another female version of himself or seek revenge. He first meets with his creator and claims, "One as deformed and horrible as myself, could not deny herself to me" implying that he needs another being with the "same defects" in order to feel accepted and find comfort. The Creature comes to the conclusion that remaining within a "species" with similar traits is the only way for him to feel fulfilled and have a sense of belonging. (136). Following Victor's rejection to bring another unnatural monster into this world, The Creature is filled with rage and the conviction that if he is condemned to be alone, then so should his creator. This leads to a murder spree as he declares "everlasting war against the species", particularly against the man who gave rise to him "to this insupportable misery." The monster is done trying to understand the human species given that they have shown him nothing but hatred for his kind and that the cause of his unhappiness should suffer just like him, by losing all that he cherishes. After accomplishing his goal of killing everyone Frankenstein holds dear, The Creature declares, "I shall collect my funeral pile and consume to ashes this miserable frame", because even after committing mass murder, he still does not feel any sense of fulfillment, and his last resort for finding peace is to end his life, a life that should never have been created in the first place. While Jesse is seeking acceptance and feels alienated, he loses himself and his authenticity. As a result, he becomes so absorbed in his own built reality that he begins to view the world through the tourist's eyes, distorting his own identity and the reality of his experiences as he “felt himself shifting, his very being warping to accommodate the distorted reality he had created”, this time inverting the roles

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Throughout her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley shows that she believes human connections play an important role in the development of a respectable society, by helping establish and expand social skills and a moral code, as well as causing humans to help eachother. She shows a variety of people and situations to prove her point. After loosing everything and having numerous obstacles to overcome the De Lacey’s are still among the kindest individuals in the book, since they have their connection to eachother. Victor and his family show how traits like generosity can be spread through human connection, and how a lack of human connections can lead people to make mistakes. Frankenstein’s Monster is used to portray the negative effects a lack of

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The creature's actions are motivated by a desire to make Victor suffer and to show him the consequences of his actions. The creature tells Victor: "I am alone, and miserable; man will not associate with me; but one as deformed and horrible as myself would not deny herself to me" (Shelley, 98). This statement reflects the creature's sense of isolation and loneliness and its belief that its actions are justified by the cruelty of its

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Despite the creature's remorse, Victor denies its plea for a companion, pushing it to seek revenge (Shelley, Chapter 17). Victor's refusal to grant the creature's request for companionship reflects his ongoing cruelty and lack of empathy. His rejection perpetuates the creature's feelings of worthlessness, intensifying its resentment towards humanity. Victor's denial of companionship mirrors society's rejection of the creature, reinforcing the notion that it is a product of its circumstances. This rejection strengthens the creature's belief that it can only find solace in vengeance against its callous creator.

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The creature expresses his sadness to Victor as he abandons the creature, and the creature cannot make contact with other humans because of his deformities. He also conveys his anger toward Victor from the human's treatment of him. Shelley describes that: “I am the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on. Even now my blood boils at the recollection of this injustice” (Shelley 224). Victor’s negligence heavily influences the creature’s emotions.

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Victor manifests hatred onto the embryonic creation, assuming the creature is programmed with evil nature. Instead, the creature, who desires affection, consumes his aversion and mirrors it. As Victor’s resentment becomes clear for the creation, he too forms animosity, forcing Victor to promise him happiness in the form of a female counterpart. Victor undertakes the promise, but reneges on it. He “destroy[s] the creature on whose future existence [the creation] depend[s] for happiness” and watches the creation, “with a howl of devilish despair and revenge, withdr[a]w.”

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The creature observes the feelings shown by humans while he is in the village and desires to acquire these same feelings. Victor filled with fear, pities the creature, so he followed the order and created a companion for the creature. Victor struggles to secure his power over his emotions. Half way through the making of the female monster, Victor feels guilt and rage from allowing the monster to have control over him and his emotions, which caused him to react in a violent manner to regain his power. He destroyed the new creature.

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Frankenstein, who possessed a fairly idyllic childhood, grows vengeful as the narrative progresses. In contrast, the monster, denied any care or comfort, remains fundamentally hopeful for companionship, even providing for Victor as he pursued it through frozen wastes (Oates). Because its perspective exemplifies these desirable human traits of hope, innocence, and want of love, the monster tends to be pitied by the audience. The reader identifies with the struggles it faces and often wishes the character could be redeemed. Yet the reader experiences this feeling separate

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An unsatisfied need for a sense of belonging transforms Frankenstein’s creature into the monster it ultimately becomes. Therefore, I argue that the predominant theme in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is the need for social belonging

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This sense of being completely alone in a world full of people is further emphasized by Shelley in her character development of both Frankenstein and his monster. Although all of Frankenstein is written in the first person, there are multiple narrators to give us multiple insights and outside perspectives on each character. Also, Mary Shelley characterizes her characters through the naming of her characters or lack of as well. For example, the main character is named “Victor” which could lead one to infer, “Victory” and/or “Victim.” The tale begins with Victor desiring to create a creature on his own, his fleshly desire is to be a sort of “god” and beat nature.

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With hopes of no longer feeling isolated and forsaken, the creature begs Victor to create him a female version of himself, however, Victor declines his request. Upon learning that the creature is responsible for William’s, his brother, death, Victor refuses to bring upon another monster into this world. The creature then threatens to be with Victor on his wedding night if he doesn’t make a female companion for him, illustrating how obsessive the monster has become in his journey for revenge. “it is well. I go; but remember, I shall be with you on your wedding night” (..).

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Monsters are often classified based upon their appearance and inhumane characteristics. In the book Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein tears apart graveyards for the formation of a new being, which is brought to life with electricity. Frankenstein was fascinated with life itself and wanted to create this being through the dead with the use of science. After multiple years of suturing this new being together Victor succeeded in bringing this creature to life. Although realizing what he had just created Victor is repulsed by this new being and calls him a Monster.

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The fictional horror novel of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is driven by the accentuation of humanity’s flaws. Even at the very mention of her work an archetypal monster fills one’s imagination, coupled with visions of a crazed scientist to boot. Opening her novel with Robert Walton, the conduit of the story, he also serves as a character to parallel the protagonist’s in many ways. As the ‘protagonist’ of the story, Victor Frankenstein, takes on the mantle of the deluded scientist, his nameless creation becomes the embodiment of a truly abandoned child – one left to fend for itself against the harsh reality posed by society. On the other hand, Walton also serves as a foil to Victor – he is not compulsive enough to risk what would be almost

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The creature falls into the trap in which men take advantage of women. The creature is mad at Victor and wants him to “repay” him by creating a female creature for him to love on, and the creature says, “You must create a female for me, which whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being” (Shelley 136). The creature does not take advantage of women and he instead wants a real relationship with a woman and to have someone he can trust and

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The gothic fiction novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley centralizes on humanity and the qualifications that make someone human. The content of the novel Frankenstein depicts a monster displaying human traits that his creator Victor does not possess: empathy, a need for companionship, and a will to learn and fit in. Throughout the novel Shelley emphasizes empathy as a critical humanistic trait. The monster displays his ability to empathize with people even though they are strangers. On the other hand Victor, fails to show empathy throughout the novel even when it relates to his own family and friends.

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Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein Critical Analysis About the author Naomi Hetherington is a member of the University of Sheffield, the department of lifelong learning. She is an early researcher in sexuality, religious culture, the 19th-century literature, and gender. She holds a BA in Theology and religious studies, an MA and a Ph.D. in Victorian Literature. She currently teaches four-year pathway literature degree at Sheffield University for students who have already attained foundation degrees. Among the books, she has written the critique of Frankenstein.

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