Comparing Suffering In Frankenstein And On Job

Suffering is an intricate part of the human experience. In a perfect world, people should try to help others that are suffering. However, what is the distinguishing factor that makes one responsible for helping another? In Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, and in On Job by Gustavo Gutierrez both authors discuss the suffering of the innocent and the responsibilities that one owes to the suffering. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley argues that Victor is responsible for easing the creature’s suffering because he created him and creation warrants ownership. In On Job, Gutierrez uses Job’s suffering as a microcosm to the suffering of Latin American people. Gutierrez uses Job as a model to show that everyone is responsible for helping the less fortunate because the poor are innocent and therefore their sufferings are not justified, which is stated in the Bible. …show more content…
However, Victor Frankenstein owed everything to his creation. Victor gave life to his creation and creation entitles ownership. The creature explained this concept to Victor on the top of Montanvert. He said, “All men hate the wretched; how, then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things! Yet you my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us” (Pg. 99) This quote shows that even though Victor hates the creature he is still responsible for caring for him because he created him. It also shows that Victor is the only person that can help the creature in his suffering because nobody else is willing to give him a