Giving up

"I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on."

The monster was an unwanted creation. He was born and not wanted by his "parents" . From the time of his first existence, he was bound to have issues with belonging. After all, if those who created you don't accept you, then who will. He tried to get adopted by the family in the cottage, but that did not work. Instead, he spent his entire life searching for something he didn't have. Love. Just like Victor and Walton, they are all seeking love and acceptance. They want a sense of belonging and a sense of friendship. And, we see that when that doesn't happen, people die, families are torn apart, and time is spent searching for what truly matters in the world.

Awww fatherly love

"Nothing, at this moment, could have given me greater pleasure than the arrival of my father."

Upon the arrival of his father, Victor soon realizes the importance of family in his life. He begins to think that there is more to life than just seeking self satisfaction. However, on the other hand the monster is seeking to make Victor realize what he experiences throughout his life. The search for companionship and revenge for being created. Now, the tables are turned and Victor is the one seeking revenge for what the monster did to him. The last straw was the death of Elizabeth. She was the only thing he had left in life to live for. The monster turned Victor into a monster himself. Now, Victor will go to any means to make certain that the monster receives his justice, (poetic... that is).

Buzz kill

“I almost felt as if I had mangled the living flesh of a human being.”

Here we are, the monster is just about to get what he wants- a companion. And then, Victor destroys any potential for a female monster. Here, Victor is yet again compared to the monster. Throughout Victor's life he believes he is going to marry his adopted sister; then, he puts it off and finally marries here. However, this was a long time in the making and they went a long time apart before they got married. The monster was keeping them from being together. On the other hand, the only thing the monster yearned for was compassion in the world. He wanted to be friends with someone or something. He thinks he has his chance when he persuades Victor to make a female creation. However, when he rips her apart, all hope for a companion is over. Victor is keeping them from being together. Both the monster and Victor are hindering the other from being with the person the long to grow old with.

The spawns of Satan

“a race of devils . . . on the earth.”

Uh oh, this is all we need. Victor created the monster to be something that he was proud of. He wanted it to be the pinnacle of everything he had studied up until that point. However, the creation ended up being just the opposite. The characterization of the monster is fairly indirect throughout the novel. We gain insight in the beginning about what Victor hoped he would be, and hen once the monster kills his first victim, the audience realizes through the eyes of Victor what the creation is really all about. Now, we see Victor envisioning a bunch of "mini-monsters" running around everywhere. This is all he can stand and he abandons the attempt. He has expectations of the new monster this time, and they are not high ones, unlike the first time around when Victor anticipated the monster to be something great.

Epiphanyyyy

“...a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled, and whom all men disowned"

At this moment the creation realizes what he really is. Up until this point, he knew he was different, but he did not know how different. Once he starts learning the language of the cottagers with Safie, he is able to comprehend more of what is going on around him. The creation is on the outside looking in. Metaphorically and literally. He is on the outside of the cottage listening to the language in order to gain more comprehension. Metaphorically, he is on the outside because of his grotesque nature. He is the only one of his kind and no one has seen anything like him before. This is the point where the creation accepts who he is and realizes that he will never be accepted into society or be able to assimilate with them.

"I withdrew from the window, unable to bear these emotions" Page 75

Both the monster and Victor are the same person. If I had to guess, I would say that the monster is Victor's twin (not really...). They both retreat to a hiding place and have time to think. Victor did the same thing when he was trying to build the monster. Now, his creation is doing the same thing... irony?? Idk you tell me! Shelley's eighteen year old mind was very clever when writing this novel. There is so much parallelism within the pages that it makes me smile. I would never be able to put these connections onto pages and make the readers pick up on them. These subtle details are what make the story what it is. Everyone is connected in some way, shape, or form. It is just up to the reader to figure out how.

This is insane

"THOUGH IN SOME WAYS AN IMMATURE WORK, ..." page iii

Mary Shelley never seizes to amaze me. This eighteen year old created the most well-known ghost novel of all time. I feel incompetent because of her. I feel like I need to get my life on track and figure out what I want to do the rest of my life. Here I am wondering what I want to major in, where I want to go to school, and this woman is married with a novel. If anything, Mary Shelley has inspired me to think about my dreams. She has challenged me to write down my goals and chase them to the nth degree. I respect and admire her and hope I can be as successful as her someday in my professional life.

its aliveeeeee

"'Be calm! I entreat you to hear me, before you give vent to your hatred on my devoted head. Have I not suffered enough, that you seek to increase my misery? Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it." page 69

Aww the two finally meet up to talk. Victor finally meets the eyes of his creation. One would think that a monster would speak in short, simple sentences, but not this one. Victor's monster speaks just as well as he. Even though this is a ghost story, Shelley conveys to the reader it is a realistic one. Victor's monster speaks just like an adult that has been alive for several decades, unlike the monster. He is the real deal. This also shows the reader that Victor had high expectations for his creation, and would not settle for subpar. This goes back to the duty theme of the novel. Victor would not simply make a monster that would be created without uber consideration.

Sisterly Loveo

"Adieu! my cousin; take of yourself; and, I intreat you, write!" pg 43

Awww Victor's sister misses him, how sweet? Walton writes to his sister, but Victor's seestor (Borat style) writes to him. This is an attempt to show the reader how close the two are with each other. Also, the parallelism between the men and their sisters brings out a significant tie with the story. Both recognize that they are lonely and seek companionship with family members. At this point in their lives, family is the only thing they can turn to. How sad? But the truth is the truth and the relationships reveal much about their character.

This guy is nuts

"...I was seized by remorse and the sense of guilt, which hurried me away to a hell of intense tortures, such as no language can describe." Page 61

Victor describes how building the monster consumed him whole life. Yes, being driven is one thing, but being completely consumed is another. He goes on to say that the condition of his health declined as a result of this obsession as well. The obsession plays a role in Victor's duty of the play. He feels that it is his duty to create the monster since he set his mind to it. If he does not succeed, then he will fail in his duty and let himself down. Now, since he has set his mind to this, there is no looking back.

Winston surrenders

"He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big brother." pg 298

How sad? Winston is overcome in his life by the Party. They indeed emptied him out and filled him with themselves. As a reader, I was anticipating that Winston would overtake the Party and everyone would live happily ever after. However, Orwell did not write a love story. He wrote a work of science fiction. If Orwell would have had Winston overtake the party in the end, then no one would fear of communism in the world, because they would feel that the will of the human person is to overcome it. However, this is far from true. Orwell hits the nail on the head when WInston surrenders. Communism is something to be feared and something that is not easy to overcome. We all must fear it and work to make sure it never spreads any farther.

How do they know this?

"They show astonishing intelligence in knowing when a human is helpless." Page 285

The Party thinks they are God. Winston believes that the Party is an omnipotent being that exists to destroy the community. Orwell places The Party on a level that the reader is able to relate to the Party as God. There are many similarities between the two. Both yearn for their followers to accept their beliefs and breathe them with their every breath. Both will do everything in their power to make sure their platform is well known. Both are everywhere and can not be avoided. However, the Party can punish one for the acts. God simply welcomes those back with open arms and rejoices with their return. Unlike the Party, where the people are already dead.

Under the Chestnut tree..

"Under the spreading chestnut tree

I sold you and you sold me-" Page 293

Parallelism eh? The lyrics of this song directly parallel the relationship between Julia and Winston. For example, the both sold each other out in order to attain a greater good. They both knew that in order to be saved and not be killed that they must wish the ill upon the other. This is sad that the Party was endorse such behavior. Love is to be a mutual respect and a mutual agreement. Never in a million years did Winston imagine that Julia would be the one who is saved because she wishes ill upon him and vice versa. The Party does not know that they are in the wrong and believe they are doing what is best for the whole. However, this could be far from true, for they are the ones that are delusional in the head. Not Winston.

Epiphany

"It occurred to Winston that for the first time in his whole life he was looking, at knowledge, at a member of the thought police." Page 224

They are clever. Never in a million years did Winston think that the man who told him he could overtake the party would be the one to condemn him. Winston is astonished when he realizes that O'Brien is the one who set him up. He thought he would be the one to save humanity from the demise of the Party, but he quickly realizes that that is down the drain. He thought that since he read the manual to the Party that he was in the inner group of people trying to overthrow the Party. However, he never realized that he would someday be placed next to those same men and not be able to defend himself, for he has no defensive argument. This is evidence to Winston that the Party is everywhere. No matter how hard anyone tries, they will always be overcome by the Party, who is everywhere and omnipotent.

What is going on?

"I don't know. Days, weeks, months- I think it's been months." Page 253

This is wild. The Party is playing games with Winston's mind. They are using the lack of light and the lack of knowing time in order to get Winston confused with what is going on in his life. They are attempting to break him down to the point where he must be filled with them (The Party) and nothing else. The element of delusional feeling that Winston encounters leaves him no choice but to be able to surrender to the Party. He will still fight to the end, but now the reader is beginning to think that Winston will not be able to overcome the Party. Orwell will drop more hints throughout the novel to indicate that he will succumb to the Party and not know what he did wrong. He will not remember what he went through and will just blindly follow Big Brother.