Summer reading journal: Frankenstein
Mary Shelley begins Frankenstein with a note to the readers describing the events which led to the idea and creation of the story. Immediately I feel a connection to Shelly due to the fact that the story of Frankenstein essentially came from a nightmare. I have also experienced a nightmare that I would like to make into a story or short film. Knowing this, I hope to feel a connection of sorts with the writing and maybe use Frankenstein as a potential stylistic template for my own short story. I don’t understand why Shelly decides to begin Frankenstein with Robert Walton’s letters to his sister. This just seems to complicate the story since it is very easy to tell that the man they first saw was Dr. Frankenstein’s …show more content…
Maybe this is the standard features used universally to depict someone who is beautiful and innocent? Though their personalities differ greatly, the physical characteristics they share is uncanny. Also I admire Shelly’s use of imagery with the setting and characters, it truly allows for a clear picture to form in my mind and I love novels with strong use of imagery. I’ve noticed that Shelly uses first person and frequently addresses the audience. Also the style Shelly uses reminds me of The Scarlet Letter, which makes sense since they were both published in the 1800’s. In addition to the myriad of things I have noted in this novel, the relationship between Victor and Elizabeth reminds me of the relationship between Aaron and Abra in East of Eden, even to the part where Victor moves away to focus on his studies. I admire how Shelly has, “bleeped,” for lack of a better word, the curse words in Frankenstein; for example, “D—n, the fellow!” To me this is almost comical, but I believe that Shelly did that because in that time period it was scandalous for a women to even know a curse word, let alone speak or write one. Imagine the reaction she would have gotten as a women writing a horror novel that included curse …show more content…
I think this is strange, I don’t see a reason as to not show the exact date. Was this a traditional way to date letters in the 1700’s? Hopefully I’ll find out roughly the decade in which the story takes place. I have also noticed that the story jumps around a lot, suddenly announcing two years have passed, which include abrupt changes in the setting. I find it hard to keep up with the time. The footnotes have become very helpful since many of the words and descriptions used have different meanings today. However, as the footnotes have shared, I am surprised to read that this novel was written in volumes since it is such a short novel as a whole. I’d also like to add that where the volumes end are very inconvenient and dull since there really isn 't much to push the reader to read on. I wish that Victor would have killed his creation as soon as he saw it come to life. I do understand that this is fiction and if Victor had killed him there’d be no story but the amount of times Victor complains about his creation is getting irksome. Now I just wish for the story to speed up so I don’t have to listen to
Mary Shelley begins Frankenstein with a note to the readers describing the events which led to the idea and creation of the story. Immediately I feel a connection to Shelly due to the fact that the story of Frankenstein essentially came from a nightmare. I have also experienced a nightmare that I would like to make into a story or short film. Knowing this, I hope to feel a connection of sorts with the writing and maybe use Frankenstein as a potential stylistic template for my own short story. I don’t understand why Shelly decides to begin Frankenstein with Robert Walton’s letters to his sister. This just seems to complicate the story since it is very easy to tell that the man they first saw was Dr. Frankenstein’s …show more content…
Maybe this is the standard features used universally to depict someone who is beautiful and innocent? Though their personalities differ greatly, the physical characteristics they share is uncanny. Also I admire Shelly’s use of imagery with the setting and characters, it truly allows for a clear picture to form in my mind and I love novels with strong use of imagery. I’ve noticed that Shelly uses first person and frequently addresses the audience. Also the style Shelly uses reminds me of The Scarlet Letter, which makes sense since they were both published in the 1800’s. In addition to the myriad of things I have noted in this novel, the relationship between Victor and Elizabeth reminds me of the relationship between Aaron and Abra in East of Eden, even to the part where Victor moves away to focus on his studies. I admire how Shelly has, “bleeped,” for lack of a better word, the curse words in Frankenstein; for example, “D—n, the fellow!” To me this is almost comical, but I believe that Shelly did that because in that time period it was scandalous for a women to even know a curse word, let alone speak or write one. Imagine the reaction she would have gotten as a women writing a horror novel that included curse …show more content…
I think this is strange, I don’t see a reason as to not show the exact date. Was this a traditional way to date letters in the 1700’s? Hopefully I’ll find out roughly the decade in which the story takes place. I have also noticed that the story jumps around a lot, suddenly announcing two years have passed, which include abrupt changes in the setting. I find it hard to keep up with the time. The footnotes have become very helpful since many of the words and descriptions used have different meanings today. However, as the footnotes have shared, I am surprised to read that this novel was written in volumes since it is such a short novel as a whole. I’d also like to add that where the volumes end are very inconvenient and dull since there really isn 't much to push the reader to read on. I wish that Victor would have killed his creation as soon as he saw it come to life. I do understand that this is fiction and if Victor had killed him there’d be no story but the amount of times Victor complains about his creation is getting irksome. Now I just wish for the story to speed up so I don’t have to listen to