Frankenstein Book Review- The Ugly in All of Us
Updated: Nov 25, 2020
Have you ever just sat and thought about why we hate the monsters? Stories are usually told through the victim's perspective about this evil thing in their life out to ruin everything just because they're purely evil. But what makes sometimes like that evil? Isn't everyone and everything born or made completely innocent and pure?
"Thus strangely are our souls constructed, and by such slight ligaments are we bound to prosperity or ruin," (pg. 33).
I just got done reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and it made me feel a wide range of emotions. I didn't expect much going into it and quite frankly I expected something more humorous because of this green monster I had pictured in my head. In reality, this story is about how abandonment in society turned something that wanted to be good into something bad. This is my book review for Frankenstein.
Summary
A scientist named Victor Frankenstein became OBSESSED with this idea of natural science and the mysteries behind creation. He created a being and immediately loathed himself and that "being" he created.
"Now that I have finished, the beauty of the dream vanished and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart," (pg. 47).
This being, this "monster" or daemon as Victor called him was huge, ugly, and an abomination. The scientist ran away from him and fell into a depression, loathing himself because of what he did and actually turned a little crazy.
But the story we get later on is how this monster lived. He staggered from place to place and had to hide since humans all either screamed or tried to kill him. Countless times he tried to help people and they just ran or shot him. He didn't understand why people hated him but he did end up understanding he was ugly. He found this family living in a secluded cottage and observed them for a year, learned to read, write, and speak their language and all he wanted was to be loved and a part of something.
He observed and cared for this family like it was his own. "I saw no cause for their unhappiness; but I was deeply affected by it. If such lovely creatures were miserable, it was less strange that I, an imperfect and solitary being, should be wretched," (pg 105).
He was alone and didn't understand what he was. And isn't that something we all can relate with? There's been periods in our lives where we felt utterly alone, like no one understood us or could even try and understand our thoughts or feelings. Times where we've been pushed to the lowest levels of society like we are nothing and in those moments, you lose yourself. You begin to question, "who am I really? why am I here?"
Abandoned by his maker
I won't spoil it but basically the monster finds the scientists and commands him to make him a partner, someone who he can run off to the un-inhabited parts of Earth and live happily with. All he wanted was his place in the world and a person he could relate to after being abandoned by EVEN his maker. He threatens to ruin the scientist's life by killing all who he loves, if he deprives him of a happy chance at life.
This monster is alone and studies show we as logical and thinking creatures are MADE for contact and conversations. Literally just being in quarantine because of this corona virus makes me think how sad it would be to be alone ALL THE TIME.
I really ended up hating the scientist because he wonders why all these bad things happened in his life but it was HIS way of thinking that ruined his own life. He created this monster and left him to society yet was mad that the monster was in contact with humans and then got mad when the monster started killing humans. Like buddy, look at yourself and see YOU caused this and YOU could have stopped this.
This story for some reason reminds me when kids in foster care get lost in the system or turn out "bad" but they've been deprived of a correct and just place in society. Our places in society really make or break us. We all want to belong. It also reminded me of the new Joker movie where we get the background of what pushed him hate people. It's the same exact aspect. He got tossed around, hurt, backstabbed and got pushed past his last nerve.
Siding with the evil one
This story made me side with the "evil being," because there's that evil being in all of us. I learned this cool thing in my stress management class that we hate certain people because in them, we see parts of ourselves that WE HATE. They have the traits we try to bury deep and I think in every villain or monster you can find a part of yourself.
I really loved this book and it gave me a new lens to view the bad people in society. The old lesson of "never judge a book by its cover" could be useful here. I know it's easy to jump to assumptions and conclusions about someone, but stop for a second and think you don't know why they are the way they are. I recommend this 10000%, especially if you want a good story where you sympathize with the villain and not the protagonist.
Love, AKO
Thanks for reading everyone! I appreciate each and everyone of you for taking the time out of your busy lives to read what I have to say. I pray my words can spark a thought, a lost hope, or a will to reach for the stars inside of you.
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