Frankenstein (Blog 10)
By: Mary Shelley

Upon finishing this novel, I realized that I actually really enjoyed the story.  I had never known the original Frankenstein story.  I was especially surprised to learn that the monster was not Frankenstein; it was the creator of the monster.  I was thoroughly intrigued by this book.  The suspense continued to build up throughout the whole story.  For example, I was really curious to continue reading at the beginning of the novel when William was murdered.  I wanted to find out if the monster really killed him, which motivated me to continue reading.  I am also surprised that I liked this novel after reading the ending.  I usually prefer stories that have happy endings, and this was definitely not the case of Frankenstein.  The ending of the story was sad, in my opinion.  "They retired, and I turned towards my friend, but he was sunk in languor, and almost deprived of life" (Shelley, 160).  I thought it was so sad when Victor Frankenstein died.  I was hoping that he would just let the creature go, and I wanted him to join Walton on his adventure after he recovered.  I thought that maybe Walton's task would be successful, and this could bring happiness to Victor's miserable life.  However, this obviously did not happen.  Overall, though, I think that Mary Shelley wrote an exceptionally interesting novel; I ended up enjoying the book very much.

Frankenstein (Blog 9)
By: Mary Shelley

Shelley does an exceptional job of placing dramatic irony into this novel.  Dramatic irony is used in this book when Victor fears that the monster will kill him on his wedding night.  Victor promised the creature that he would create a female companion of him.  In the midst of his work, however, Victor realizes the risks of a second creature.  The first one promises that he and his companion will remain out of human sight, but Victor does not know that the new creature would keep this promise.  In addition, the two monsters could create a whole race, which would be even more of a risk.  At these realizations, Victor destroys the progress he has made with a second creature.  Angered by this, the monster leaves his creator a threatening note that reads, "I will be with you on your wedding night" (Shelley, 123).  Victor is worried that the monster is going to kill him on his own wedding night, and he does not want Elizabeth to have to deal with his death.  This is dramatic irony because the readers clearly know that Victor is not going to be killed.  Victor is telling his story to Robert Walton, so obviously he is not going to die!  The monster is hinting at the fact that he will kill Elizabeth, which surprises Victor when it happens.  On the wedding night, Victor hears his new bride scream from the room she had gone to bed in.  "She was there, lifeless and inanimate, thrown across the bed, her hair hanging down, and her pale and distorted features half covered by her hair" (Shelley, 144).  This quote describes the horrific and shocking (to Victor) scene of Elizabeth's dead body.  Dramatic irony fits this situation because Victor thought he was going to murdered by the creature, but readers already knew that it couldn't be Victor that would be killed.

Frankenstein (Blog 8)
By: Mary Shelley

Shelley uses a great deal of imagery throughout her entire novel.  She especially uses imagery to describe the setting of each scene.  Shelley is specific with the time of day, season, and current weather of each event.  The imagery is beneficial because it allows readers to clearly picture what the environment of each character is.  "It was on a clear morning, in the latter days of December, that I first saw the cliffs of Britain.  The banks of the Thames presented a new scene; they were flat, but fertile, and almost every town was marked by the resemblance of some story" (Shelley, 114).  This quote is a perfect example of Shelley's great use of imagery.  She fabricates clear pictures throughout her writing, making it seem more realistic to her audience.  Furthermore, the environment of a character often mirrors his or her emotions in that specific scene.  For example, earlier in the novel, it is raining when Victor goes to the murder sight of his younger brother William.  The rain is symbolic of the mourning Victor is experiencing due to the loss of his brother.  It also represents the upset state he is in and how his emotions were complicated.  Overall, Shelley does an exceptional job of using imagery to help her audience.  She doesn't include a ton of pointless descriptions; they are actually essential to the story because they often contain deeper meanings.

Frankenstein (Blog 7)
By: Mary Shelley

When the creature was leaving Victor's apartment after his creation, he stole some of Victor's clothes.  In one of the pockets, the creature pulled out some papers that were from the journal Victor kept during the creation process.  Now that the creature is able to read, he decides to learn about his creator and situation.  He was shocked to learn about how disgusted Victor was with his creation, and the creature hates him after the De Lacey family rejects him.  The creature angrily seeks revenge againt Victor and returns to Geneva to find his creator.  In the woods, he runs into William Frankenstein.  At first, he intends to have William become his companion because he thought a child would not have negative prejudices against him.  William cries for the monster to let him go and says his father M. Frankenstein will punish the monster if he doesn't let William go.  After learning of his relation to Victor, the monster becomes enraged.  "'The child struggled, and loaded me with epithets which carried despair to my heart: I grasped his throat to silence him, and in a moment he lay dead at my feet'" (Shelley, 102).  This tragic scene left me questioning the creature's intentions.  Did he actually mean to kill young, innocent William Frankenstein?  Or was he just trying to make the child be quiet so no other humans discovered him?

Frankenstein (Blog 6)
By: Mary Shelley

In chapter 13, the creature explains how he continued to observe the cottage family in secrecy.  The De Lacey's have an interesting family background, which the creature learns when a young Arabian woman named Safie shows up at the cottage.  Safie doesn't speak the same language as the De Lacey's.  This was a comforting fact to the creature; they are both "foreigners" and different than the others.  The De Lacey's are teaching Safie how to speak their language.  This is beneficial for the creature because he watches and learns along with Safie.  Felix reads Volney's Ruins of Empires to Safie, and the creature listens with much awe and curiosity.  "Through this work I obtained a cursory knowledge of history and a view of the several empires at present existing in the world; it gave me an insight into the manners, governments, and religions of the different nations of the earth" (Shelley, 84).  This is an example of an allusion.  This allusion is significant because it gives the creature a sense of hope.  He learns about the violent histories of cultures and their eventual downfalls.  The creature feels better hearing this because he feels like he can relate to the evil within these people.  "Was man, indeed, at once so powerful, so virtuous, and magnificent, yet so vicious and base?" (Shelley, 84).  The creature begins to think that his "evil" side is natural for all humans, and it helps him feel as less of an outsider.

Frankenstein (Blog 5)
By: Mary Shelley

Besides his looks, this monster does not seem like a monster at all.  I actually feel really bad for him.  Confused by his creation, the monster has no idea how the world works.  He ends up beginning to steal food from humans (he doesn't understand the wrong of his actions).  On one occasion, the monster found a hut and decided to enter it.  The man living in the hut ran away from him in fear, as do all the other humans he has encountered.  The monster decides to avoid interacting with humans at all because of the reactions they have to him.  However, he is still intrigued by humans and how they live.  Because of this, he begins to quietly  observe a family living in a cottage.  I felt bad for the monster when he described the first time he saw his reflection.  "At first I started back, unable to believe that it was indeed I who was reflected in the mirror; and when I became fully convinced that I was in reality the monster that I am, I was filled with the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification" (Shelley, 80).  The monster realized why humans reacted the way they did to his presence.  He is still extremely curious about humans, though.  He even ends up teaching himself how to speak and use the basics of the language.  The monster exhibits strong admiration for the family he watches (Felix and Agatha).  With this, he learns to be more gentle in his ways and hopes to eventually bring about better reactions from humans in the future.

Frankenstein (Blog 4)
By: Mary Shelley

This creature is starting to become extremely odd to me.  He conveniently shows up wherever Victor Frankenstein is.  How does he always know where his creator is?!  In chapter 7, Victor found the creature at the spot where William Frankenstein was murdered.  Victor's discovery of the monster in chapter 10 was even more strange in my opinion.  Alphonse, Elizabeth, and Victor went to their house in Belrive to hopefully lift Victor's depressed spirits.  I would have thought that the Frankenstein family could enjoy a trip together without seeing anyone that they knew.  This assumption was obviously proven wrong, though.  Victor climbed to the top of a mountain, and he saw someone or something on the opposite side of it.  Trying to get a better look at what it is, Victor realizes that it's his creation.  "I was troubled: a mist came over my eyes, and I felt a faintness seize me; but I was quickly restored by the cold gale of the mountains.  I perceived, as the shape came nearer (sight tremendous and abhorred!) that it was the wretch whom I had created" (Shelley, 68).  Right when Victor recognizes that it is his monster, he is terrified and angry.  I was surprised at the creature's actions towards Victor, though.  He tries to tell Victor to go with him to a cave where a fire is going.  Victor agrees to go, and the monster tells his creator his "tale."  I am interested in reading the monster's story.  This is mainly because I want to see how he always knows where Victor is.  Also, I am curious to find out what the monster's been up to and if he really did murder William.

Frankenstein (Blog 3)
By: Mary Shelley

By chapters 6 and 7, Victor is presented with a huge conflict.  He receives a letter from his father saying that William, Victor's youngest brother, has recently been murdered.  Victor immediately heads home to Geneva to spend time with his family in this time of mourning.  When he gets there that night, he decides to walk around in the woods.  Victor ends up walking to the spot where his brother's body was found, and he is shocked and terrified to see the monster there.  Victor quickly comes to a conclusion that the monster must have murdered his brother.  Soon, Justine Moritz, a former friend of the Frankenstein family, is accused of the crime.  Justine ends up pleading guilty to the crime, but she swears to Victor and Elizabeth that she is actually innocent.  After Justine's execution, Victor struggles with the thought that something he created killed two people close to him.  "Thus spoke my prophetic soul, as, torn by remorse, horror, and despair, I beheld those I loved spend vain sorrow upon the graves of William and Justine, the first hapless victims to my unhallowed arts" (Shelley, 60).  Victor feels like it is all his fault that his brother and friend died.  He doesn't know what to do, though.  Should he tell the people that this creature is a murderer?  Or how can he undo the mess that he caused by creating this monster on his own?  Victor has no clue what to do, especially because anyone would think he is crazy if he told them how he created this monster.  I am curious to continue reading to find out how Victor handles this conflict.

Frankenstein (Blog 2)
By: Mary Shelley

After the creation process, I found situational irony.  Monsters are meant to scare people, but I did not think that the monster would scare Victor.  Victor was the monster's creator, so I figured that he would admire his work when it proved to be successful.  He actually did the opposite of this, though.  When the monster opened its eyes, Victor was immediately terrified and regretted his idea altogether.  "I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart" (Shelley, 35).  After seeing his creation come to life, Victor saw how ugly the creature was.  He was absolutely terrified of the monster.  He explained that his initial dream was beautiful, but its result was ugly and scary.  Victor ran away from his creation right after he brought it to life.  He eventually even got himself sick over the matter.  Overall, I found it ironic that Victor ardently worked on this project for 2 long years.  However, it took hardly any time at all for him to regret his idea and wish he had never pursued his dream.  Once the monster came to life, Victor did not even admire his work; he was too afraid.

Frankenstein (Blog 1)
By: Mary Shelley

Victor Frankenstein is a very interesting character in this novel.  I personally found his obsession with science to be intriguing because I was interested to learn how it led to him creating a monster.  A literary term that can be applied to the beginning of this book is motivation.  Victor provides some clues so that readers are able to determine his motivation.  I think the main driving force in Victor's task was the memory of his mother Caroline.  While nursing her adopted daughter Elizabeth back to health from the scarlet fever, Caroline caught the illness herself.  She was unable to fight off the disease and died before Victor went off to college.  Victor had a very close relationship with his mother.  I think that Victor wanted to somehow overcome death after this loss.  He used parts of dead bodies to create a new animate creature.  He felt that the success of one of these creatures could lead to him becoming the creator of a whole new species.  "Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of life into our dark world.  A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me" (Shelley, 32).  This quote proves that Victor wanted to somehow create life after death.  He thought that a successful creation of a new species could guarantee him happiness and respect.  Another motivation for him was his professor M. Krempe.  Krempe told Victor that all of the studies he had done prior to college were worthless.  I think that this caused Victor to have a strong desire to prove him wrong.  Overall, Victor tried to let the sadness and discouragement of his life drive him to create a happier life.  Unfortunately, it seems like his work did the opposite of this.

Miss Brill
By: Katherine Mansfield

In this short story, I personally found Miss Brill to be extremely odd and creepy.  I was able to characterize Miss Brill with these traits based on her actions throughout the story.  The way that she holds her fur and pets it while watching the people was just strange in my opinion.  "She had become really quite expert, she thought, at listening as though she didn't listen, at sitting in other people's lives just for a minute while they talked round her" (183).  This quote explains that Miss Brill almost viewed this "obsession" as an art.  She was impressed with herself for remaining so discreet in her eavesdropping of the local people.  Shockingly, the people don't seem to notice Miss Brill's strange habit.  This came as a surprise to me because this is her activity every single Sunday.  I would think that the people would start to notice her and the fact that she basically watches everyone.  Another literary device that I found in this story was simile.  A great example of simile usage can be found towards the middle of the story.  "How she loved sitting here, watching it all!  It was like a play.  It was exactly like a play" (184).  This comparison of the daily activities of the people to a play further concerned me.  Miss Brill watches the people so intently that she considers it like going to a theatrical play.  Overall, Miss Brill clearly has some issues that cause her to act in this odd manner.  She seems lonely and isolated, and somehow her fur and watching the people seems to comfort her.