Critical Race Theory In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein '

Today’s society, for better or worse, is built around judging others by the way they look. In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, there is a lot of judging people by only the way they look, which prevents from getting to know the person. The book is surrounded by the monster that in the beginning is very innocent but through the reactions of the people is forced to become a bad person. Mary Shelley uses critical race theory to demonstrate how society instead of trying to understand they reject people's background due to their assumption and misconception.
When the monster comes face-to-face with people there is assumptions. At the cottage he has be hiding in, he sees a nice family and thinks they will accept him so decides to meet them. At first, the …show more content…
Even when the monster tries to do a good gesture, humans turn him down just based on the way he looks instead of thanking him. As the monster is trying to save the drowning girl, he describes what the man did to him, “On seeing me, he darted towards me, and tearing the girl from my arms, hastened towards the deeper parts of the wood. I followed speedily, I hardly knew why; but when the man saw me draw near, he aimed a gun, which he carried, at my body and fired. I sank to the ground, and my injurer, with increased swiftness, escaped into the wood. ‘This was then the reward of my benevolence!’”(Shelley 120). The guy chasing the girl was scared of the monster because of his appearance and for that reason he shot him. This resembles a negative impact on society because although the right thing is to not shoot the monster, the guy does it out of instinct. It implies the misconception people have of others physical appearance. While this kind of behavior is the one that should be most avoided, it’s the one that is mostly followed. When it comes to mistreating people in society unfortunately this is not the only way to mistreat a