5. Frankenstein

Frankenstein
Mary Shelley

Through a great deal of the novel, I have sided with the creature. It was after all, not by his doing that he became rejected by anyone who saw him, and he certainly made an effort to reach out with a compassionate hand to those he felt connected to. It is primarily by Victor's leaving him that he turned out so hateful to humanity. When the creature threatens Victor, saying "It is well, I go; but remember, I shall be with you on your wedding night", that I don't have a particular side to sypmathize with. The creature's level of violence and cruelty, while intending that he would kill Elizabeth is the extent of which I would justify his hatred. Also, Victor makes it hard to identify with him because he is completely delirious! He assumes the creature wants to kill him, but he thinks nothing of Elizabeth. Also, why would he assume that the creature would kill him on his wedding night when he has had several chances to do so already? I think Victor is unintelligent at this point.

4. Frankenstein

Frankenstein
Mary Shelley

I'm in a constant battle between deciding if I trust the creature or not. Even Victor is slightly swayed to feel pity and sympathy for the creature. "His words had a strange effect upon me. I compassionated him and sometimes felt a wish to consol him; but when I looked upon him, when I saw the filthy mass that moved and talked, my heart sickened and my feelings were altered to those of horror and hatred" (Shelley, 106). The creature seems to have an honest, and good-hearted request of having a companion, especially since he has lacked one his whole life thus far. It is what the creature has done is reponse to Victor's abandonment in the past, that would lead me to believe that his intentions are not all good. When the creature killed William, he had intense feelings of triumph, thinking that he destroyed a creation of Victor's. His joy and feelings of success intend that he is not all good, and that though some of his actions could be justified based on his upbringing, he lacks a huge amount of compassion and harvests violent revenge.

3. Frankenstein

Frankenstein
Mary Shelley

I'm most fascniated the way Shelley creates a picture of such a monster, but at the same time highlighting its humanity. a page and a half after the creature murders William, the creature comes to the side of sleeping Justine, and says, "'Awake, fairest, thy lover is near- he who would give his life but to obtain one look of affection from thine eyes: my beloved, awake!'" (Shelley, 103). It is the speak of a human lover! His first action after the horrendous murder of Victor's brother was that of gentle kindness. It is only out of fear, that he departs and leaves her with William's locket. His monstrosity is juxtaposed continuously with his humanistic tendancies. His request of Victor is even that of wanting to have a companion. It surprises me that out of all of his violence, he just desperately longs for a friend, or a female companion.

2. Frankenstein

Frankenstein
Mary Shelley

Frankenstein expects that he will be welcomed into the cottagers' home, only after of course explaining his condition. It is by his observations of the foreigner, Safie, that he grows to the assumption that the cottagers would welcome him as they welcomed the foreigner, Safie. "I soon percieved, that although the stranger uttered articulate sounds, and appeared to have a language of her own, she was neither understood by, nor herself understood, the cottagers" (Shelley, 82). She, although completely human, was in a similar state as the creature is. He, as is Safie, is a product of a foreign upbringing. "I contemplated the virtues of the cottagers, their amiable and benevolent dispositions, I persuaded myself that when they should become acquianted with my admiration of their virtures, they would compassionate me and overlook my personal deformity" (Shelley, 93). His personal deformity and foreign status ended up being too grand of a difference for the cottagers to look past.

1. Frankestein

Frankenstein 
Mary Shelley

"Was man, indeed, at once so powerful, so virtuous, and magnificent, yet so vicious, and base? [...] To be a great and virtuous man appeared the highest honour that can befall a sensitive being; to be base and vicious, as many on record have been, appeared the lowest degradation, a condition more abject than that of the blind mole or harmless worm" (Shelley, 84). Frankenstein provides an outside look into the many confusing aspects of humanity. He, as a functioning "human", is yet so alien, has a rather objective view of humanity at various point in his existence. Of course, his objectivity is made relative when he feels anger and frustration to humanity in the instances in which people have encountered him. Regardless of his emotional state, he has given insight into human behavior. He has many times pointed out the inconguences in human behavior, specifically when he saved a little girl from drowning, and in return, was shot. His understanding of both the malice and compassion of humanity is a valuable contribution admist his aggression.

Frankenstein (5/5)

Frankenstein
Mary Shelley

It's all just one big terrible irony. Frankenstein created life! My God that should be something phenomenal and celebrated- but this creation is a "catastrophe". "How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavored to form?" (Shelly, 35). He spent two years and his passion and energy on collecting parts from various sources (slaughterhouses nonetheless) and created an actual live being. Especially when this novel was written, that notion was presumably huge (today we can duplicate cells in pitri dishes all the time). What's even more painful, is that those he loves are being killed. "...William and Justine, the first hapless victims to my unhallowed arts" (Shelley, 60). Obviously his creature killed the two, and possibly he will murder  more to come. It is terrible  that all of his study and work came to such unfortunate circumstances.

Frankenstein (4/5)

Frankenstein
Mary Shelley

When I read this next section, I was thinking about what someone talked about in class the other day, that "this is what happens when people try to play God". I suppose I understand that statement. Especially when Frankenstein dedicated his passion and health for two years in the hopes of creating a beautiful life and it turned out to be a disaster/killing machine. Obviously this is tragic for Frankenstein and the family and Elizabeth, but I have a great sympathy for Frankestein because what he intended and fought for with all of the right intentions turned back on him. He's just a mad scientist with the right intentions and the wrong circumstances. This is probably going to sound absurd, but didn't God create humankind with the intention that they would be in God's image? All of the right intentions, and yet humans are still broken. I am by no means saying Frankenstein is God, but isn't he kind of similar in that he has such a love for creating and infusing love and right into the world that he worked like a madman for years to get to this beautiful creation? That is my weird thought of the day. 
"Remember, that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed" (Shelley, 69).

Frankenstein (3/5)

Frankenstein
Mary Shelley

Reading on, it becomes clear Frankenstein's motivation for such a creation. The opening story he shares is of his mother and her experience as a young adult, being orphaned when her father died in her arms. Then, when Elizabeth gets the scarlette fever, Caroline Frankenstein falls ill to the same illness while taking care of her. Under these circumstances, it makes sense that Victor would have such a longing to create life and health where there is no hope for it otherwise. "Pursuing these reflections, I thought, that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless matter, I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible) renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption" (Shelley, 32). His passion and madness is directly stemmed from being traumatized from his experience of death. He longs to dive into the impossible.
"[...] And soon my mind was filled with one thought, one conception, one purpose. So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein,-- more, far more, will I achieve: treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation" (Shelley, 28).

Frankenstein (2/5)

Frankenstein
Mary Shelley

Something that struck me while reading was how Frankenstein his passions. First, when Walton was describing him in his letters, he articulated that Frankenstein seemed to "despise himself for being the slave of passion" (Shelley, 12). Again, after the creation of the monster, Frankenstein himself admitted that he had been "attacked by the fatal passion" (Shelley, 39). Usually, the word passion seems to have a rather positive connotation. One would say they are passionate, and that is something to be admired and celebrated. In this novel, however, passion has been described as a ruthless, fatal, controlling force that drives people mad. Frankenstein's best friend, Clerval certainly seemed to notice, and when he told Elizabeth of his state, she responded, "You have been ill, very ill" (Shelley, 40). Obviously his passion has been driving him to the point that he seems ill!
I also find it interesting that Frankenstein sees in Walton what he knows about himself. His warnings to Walton of the dangers of passion and of knowledge and wisdom are very clear, in that he hopes that Walton doesn't get "stung". "You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I arrdently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been" (Shelley, 13).

Frankenstein (1/5)

Frankenstein
Mary Shelley

It's obvious in the first few letters from Robert Walton to his sister that the author utilizes the literary technique of foreshadowing to engage the audience. Robert Walton, in his letters, addresses the stranger, and writes down some of the words of the stranger, such as "I have suffered great and unparalleled misfortunes", and "prepare to hear of occurrences which are usually deemed marvellous" (Shelley, 13). The
stranger introduces events unrevealed until in the fifth chapter. As the stranger begins to narrate his story, it becomes known that his name is Victor Frankenstein, and he recounts his family history and background in education, adding pieces of cliff-hangers that don't reveal anything other than the mere fact that his has suffered greatly from his fate. "Rather let me say such the words of the fate, enounced to destroy me... I felt as if my sould were grappling with a palpable enemy; one by one the various keys were touched which formed the mechanism of my being" (Shelley, 27). Shelley takes advantage of cliff-hangers to keep the audience interested and wondering what is going to appear next.

5. Miss Brill

Miss Brill
Katherine Mansfield

"Odd, silent, nearly all old, and from the way they stared they looked as though they'd just come from little dark rooms or even - even cupboards,"(Mansfield. 183). It is obvious that Miss Brill does not fit into her routine setting at the park every Sunday. As a young couple peers in at Miss Brill in her usual spot, they seem to be taken back by her unusual clothing, and her unique look. She sits at the park every Sunday, listening to conversations and trying to feel included in the worlds of others around her. Miss Brill is a smudge on the frame of these stranger's worlds. She distracts those wandering in the park, it's as if she becomes a spectacle. Listening to the band seems to be so important to Miss Brill that she doesn't quite realize all the others are not the same as she. In this puzzled state of mind, after the couple's stares, she breaks down. Miss Brill returns home, to the sound of crying, because it seems all she did was go to the park in her same routine. It turns out that she realized that the one crying was her. 

4. Bartleby , the Scrivener

Bartelby, the Scrivener
Herman Melville

I just feel awkward. Bartleby's whole being is several steps away from "normal" social interaction. He is so interesting, he resists passively and he denies the very basic requests that fall into routine. I couldn't help but wonder what is the big deal about performing such a minuscule task? It becomes more apparent, however, that there is something seriously wrong when the audience learns of his past. He had been a employee at a dead letter company. He would burn letters that cannot be received since the person the letter was sent to is now deceased for his daily work. Such a sad job could leave someone traumatized, or at least change someone so much so that they become distant, almost resistant to reality, or to routine tasks. " I might give alms to his body, but his body did not pain him; it was his soul that suffered, and his soul I could not reach,"(Melville, 658). It was obvious he was very much intrinsically troubled. 

3. Much Madness is Divinest Sense

Much Madness is Divinest Sense
Emily Dickinson

I really like this poem. First, it is apparent that the major paradox in the poem differentiates "a discerning eye" and "the majority". The speaker first makes it known that they are the individual, surrounded by a mass of people in the same routine. "Madness is divine" (Dickinson, 820). Oftentimes people are respected for having good sense. It sounds logical that having sense about a person would be a good quality to have, but this poem dismantles the notion that madness is bad, and it gives those with "sense" the poison of conformity. Madness is redefined as the few nonconformists, a few with independent thought. It also calls out society as corrupt, claiming that it sets us up to think of the people who conform to the majority are "sane", and those that go against the grain, "dangerous". In fact society often feels compelled to put those with independent thought in chains- they should be locked up! Individuals uniqueness is somehow dangerous to the workings of society. What the speaker elicits is the idea that being true to oneself is not something of criminals- but it is the divinest sense. It is divine to be mad.

2. I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain

I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain
Emily Dickinson

At first glance, the poem is just a funeral. "The mourners to and fro" with a service, the "lift of a box", and the "heavens were a bell", and finally [the casket] "dropped down" (Dickinson, 776). It is not until I realized that the speaker was in the box that the poem became interesting. The speaker implies that they are the one in the casket by using clues like "they" were seated, or "I heard them lift the box"- the speaker distanced themself from the group of people attending the funeral. When the speaker says, "I dropped down", I immediately thought that they were being buried alive. It is more apparent, however, that the funeral is actually for someone- something that is dying- that they are not actually alive. Their brain is "dying", the "Plank of Reason broke". The speaker's "mind was going numb". It is apparent the detachment that the speaker feels from a normal existence, and it is powerful to exemplify this disconnect through a funeral. Their brain is going mad to the point of envisioning its existence as a funeral.

1. APO 96225

APO 96225
Larry Rottmann
 
This makes complete sense. The minute people get bluntly what they asked for, they react as if they haven't been asking for it, and they're offended. It is a situational irony in the sense that the exact opposite of what the soldier's parents asked for was what they wanted: to be sheltered from the harsh realities of war. It is simply easier for loved ones back at home to cling to ignorance than to feel exploited to the cruelty of war.
The understatements made by the soldier writing home also reveal a truth about how soldiers are hardened to war. They say, "Dear mom, it sure rains a lot here," again at the end of the poem, giving readers the hint that ll of their descriptions about war are blatant understatements. When the soldier gives their parents a peek at the truth, soldier's lack of gravity is displayed. The soldier says with no emotion, "today I killed a man. Yesterday, I helped drop napalm on women and children" (846).
It most displays the irony of the situation when the parents respond offended, there is obviously a huge disconnect created here between the soldiers and the public- they only want to hear about the "beautiful sunsets".