Okay, truth be told, I didn’t know literally anything about Frankenstein until I started reading the book for this class. My limited knowledge included: there was a mad scientist who played around with things he probably shouldn’t have and brought to life a creature that would end up causing many causalities. In fact, much like a lot of the other students in class, I didn’t know the monster wasn’t actually named Frankenstein until about a year ago when a friend of mine mentioned that the name actually belonged to the mad scientist (Victor Frankenstein) who created the monster, and not the actual creature itself. I was so ignorant of the story and the characters that for a while, I actually thought the character ‘Lurch’ from “The Addams Family” was the same as the monster from Frankenstein.
It comes as no surprise that as I progressed through the book I was completely blown away by how different—to how I thought it was—and intricate this story actually is. I think the thing that shocked me the most as well as other students was the fact that the monster did actually have a consciousness, he feels things, he actually has thoughts—his character is very much human. A human who is confused and abandoned and just wants to feel accepted by society. Yet because he is left to his own accord without any guidance and because of his “hideous” appearance he is treated as an outsider and is constantly shunned. And this raises the question of who is really the Monster? The cold-hearted mad scientist who abandoned his creation because he did not see what he liked or the initially gentle giant who was constantly misunderstood and forced to seek revenge due to the amount of hurt he received from those around him? I for one sympathize with the monster, and do not blame him for his actions despite them being pretty chilling.
I really am grateful I got to read this novel and am very excited to discuss and analyze each and every theme and/or character in this novel and relate it to modern day.
-Laura Mateo Gallegos