Frankenstein Discussion
Reply to this post with intelligent commentary on ONE of the topics below. Be sure to copy the question into your response so we know what you're talking about. Also, thoughtfully reply to the post of a fellow student.
Questions (choose one):
- Discuss how the feeling of the family's warm interactions affects the monsters.
- How does the tone of the narrative help the monster and Victor as they align into almost a parallel being?
- Who seems the better human in chapter 12, Victor or the monster? Support your answer.
- Think about chapter 14. How are the monster and Safie alike? How are they different?
- The monster says: "Of what a strange nature is knowledge! It clings to the mind when it has once seized on it like a lichen on the rock." Elaborate from his point of view.
- Think about the content of chapters 13 and 14 and how outsiders are treated. Relate this to the way outsiders are treated today. Remember to site specific examples from the text.
1.Discuss how the feeling of the family's warm interactions affects the monsters.
ReplyDeleteThe monster is deeply affected by the warm interactions between the family members; they server to awaken parts of him that he has not had understanding of previously. Everything, from their use of a language to the warmth that he can see in their faces calls to him and makes him want to share in their happiness. He consumes his days with watching them and studying their emotions and words - his nights are devoted to daydreams of joining them as he acts as a guardian angle in serving them in ways that he can. The effect of his vigil seems to make the monster even more human, it awakens an insatiable desire for what they have but he is feels thwarting in a certainty that he can never attain it.
You worded your response really well! The family does seem to awaken new parts of the monster. Good observation, the monster does seem to want to share in the happiness of the family. Your final point is sad, but true.
DeleteEmma~
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed hearing your prospective regarding how the family's interactions affected the monster. I liked how you gave the monster an innocence in saying that he acts like a 'guardian angel', watching over the family.
Good Job!
1.Discuss how the feeling of the family's warm interactions affects the monsters.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the student above me already answered this question, I was greatly intrigued by the relationship between the family and the monster, therefore I would like to give a short analysis on it as well! The monster is very much affected by the feeling of the family's warm interactions. As he continues to pursue and watch over this family, their communication and love for one another causes the monster to realize the void in his own life. He begins to yearn for this affection, cause him to attain human-like characteristics . As the story unfolds, this yearning for a family pursues a conversation between the monster and his creator to arise.
I really liked your comment and how you discussed the monster's feelings after he watched the family. I also liked how you added what happens next with the monster and his creator and how they are yearning for a family.
DeleteI liked the way you worded your response, it was well written and and your explanations were sound. I particularly liked your ending sentence because it sums up he paragraph nicely.
Delete1. Discuss how the feeling of the family's warm interactions affects the monsters.
ReplyDeleteThe monster is greatly affected by this family that he watches. As they go about their day to day life, they come across as warm, friendly, and traditional. These cozy feelings make the monster think about his own life and realize where he personally is at in life. These interactions cause the monster to want a family-like situation like this family. After he realizes this, the monster and his creator start to talk and gain more of a relationship.
Good job Sarah! I like the way you described both the family and the monster. I was able to understand well the fact that the monster too wanted a "family-like" situation. Good descriptions .
DeleteI liked your description of why Frankenstein's monster feels about the family. It was very in-depth. It makes it obvious that the monster was relating the family to what he wanted with Victor.
Delete1. Discuss how the feeling of the family's warm interactions affects the monsters.
ReplyDeleteThis seems to be a popular question to answer, and I think it is for the same reason as the family was so interesting for Frankenstein's monster. The monster is child-like, not knowing about the world or how the world works. Watching the family, he learned that not all people were cruel, like the villagers, but had compassion and love. The monster grew to love them because they were not harsh, but gentle and loving toward each other. They were a family, which the monster had never had, and made the monster want a family for which he could show compassion to and have compassion shown to us. The interactions show the monster what he really wanted. The question itself is popular because the aspects of a family that Frankenstein's monster saw, are the exact things any person wants: to love and be loved.
I like that you included why your thoughts on why many people chose to answer this question, and I completely agree. Beyond the point of survival, the basic human wants are affection and love, even if some aren't willing to admit it.
DeleteI agree with your comment and also liked that you included your reasoning behind the popularity of the question. It was a spot-on response.
DeleteThe monster says: "Of what a strange nature is knowledge! It clings to the mind when it has once seized on it like a lichen on the rock." Elaborate from his point of view.
ReplyDeleteThe monster came to life knowing nothing at all. Essentially, he was completely ignorant to literally everything. As he traveled he learned of fire and different foods, as well as other survival skills. These things did not harm him, they helped him. So in this case, his knowledge was useful to him.
However, when he views the family in the cottage he learns something other than survival skills- compassion and family. The knowledge that he cannot have something like this brings him down, thus bringing in the question, Is ignorance bliss? I would say that for the monster, it is. He does not get to live a full life either way, and overall he would be less depressed if he had not seen kindness and community. His awareness of this harms his inner peace.
Excellent post. What you wrote about knowledge being useful vs. harmful to the monster is really insightful.
Delete2. How does the tone of the narrative help the monster and Victor as they align into almost a parallel being?
ReplyDeleteThe tone helps the monster and Victor align into a nearly parallel being because it attributes similar characteristics within both characters. Victor feels secluded within his own family since his brother's death and the monster has lived a life of isolation for obvious reasons.The tone of the piece is overall very grim and this helps the reader to understand the similarities between Victor and his creation. I think that, unknowingly, Victor created a reflection of his own self without meaning to, and the monster is much closer to Victor than he would like to believe.
Emma I like your reply. It really sums up the whole idea of this question to make everything clear. Good job. :)
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI think your post was really insightful, you discussed a complicated part of the novel in a very articulate manner.
Delete1. Discuss how the feeling of the family's warm interactions affects the monsters.
ReplyDeleteThe monster’s feelings can be summed up in his words "What chiefly struck me was the gentle manners of these people" (Chapter 11). The monster is shocked to find a gentle and loving group of people. His interactions with people previous to witnessing this family were all negative. But, the "affection and kindness" of this family gets the monster thinking -- and feeling. He says "the trait of kindness moved me sensibly." And because he is moved, the monster begins to change. He stops stealing and begins helping. He gathers firewood for the family, and after seeing their positive reaction to his deed, he makes the gathering of firewood a routine.
After watching the family, the monster begins to even feel close to them. He says, "When they were unhappy, I felt depressed; when they rejoiced, I sympathized in their joys." As the monster sees the family express emotion, he feels it himself, and even develops a bond of emotion with them.
Overall, as the monster sees the kindness and gentleness of the family as a positive interaction. This causes the monster to want to return the positive favor to the family and even provides him with a bond to the family. The family has such an impact on the monster that he approaches his creator, Frankenstein, with his story.
Diego, good job. your response is very thorough and clear. It lets the reader really understand what is going on and how the monster feels.
DeleteI completely agree. Your analysis of the effect the family's warm interactions affects the monster conveys his slow but sure understanding of kindness is a thoughtful and captivating read.
DeleteThe monster says: "Of what a strange nature is knowledge! It clings to the mind when it has once seized on it like a lichen on the rock." Elaborate from his point of view.
ReplyDeleteThe monster is like a baby at first, not knowing anything, very naive, and very ignorant.The monster has a greater ability to grasp and understand and do things faster than a baby can. So the monster learns about food and how to survive on its own and this knowledge is good for the monster. But when the monster is exposed to something other than survival like family, love, understanding, caring, etc. these are things that you can't experience on your own, you need others to feel it with you. This type of knowledge is bad for the monster because he knows/feels he may never be able to feel this way with anyone else because he is a monster. If the monster had never encountered the knowledge of family, love, etc. he could have been blissfully happy in knowing what he knew but now he won't be able to live in peace because he yearns for something he can't get.
[The monster says: "Of what a strange nature is knowledge! It clings to the mind when it has once seized on it like a lichen on the rock." Elaborate from his point of view.]
ReplyDeleteThe monster didn't know what he missed. Being relatively alone for a majority of his life so far, he didn't understand the joy of being in a family, really, until he witnessed it himself. And usually, it is the most striking of memories that stick in his head, which makes him suffer now that he understands how terrible it is to be lonely. Had he not witnessed the cottagers' familial love towards the other, he would not have suffered from his obliviousness. And although, it may have been a sad existence to have lived alone without never truly understanding what it means to not, the monster believes it would have caused him less grief. Thus, this is why he laments upon the sticking nature of knowledge.
Well put, I definitely agree. I was surprised to find what a complex character the monster turned into by reading this novel, I would have guessed him to be much more one dimensional.
Delete5. The monster says: "Of what a strange nature is knowledge! It clings to the mind when it has once seized on it like a lichen on the rock." Elaborate from his point of view.
ReplyDeleteThis quote has a lot to do with one of the overall themes of Frankenstein, knowledge, and whether man should have it, as it can be used for both good and evil, and it is unclear which humans are at times. The monster is forever changed and cannot go back to his previous self because he has knowledge of some of the deepest of human emotions, this knowledge disturbs the monster, because he can never truly experience love and family, things that bring humans the most happiness. He is forever changed, and not for the better, by this knowledge. This brings up a dilemma that both the monster, and humanity questions, even in ancient stories such as Pandora's Box and the Tree of Knowledge, is it better than we have knowledge, and act on curiosity, even if it disturbs and hurts us?
I really liked your post! it was very clear and well thought out! You have a great point of view and I like the way you work in to your post how the question relates to the overall theme of the work, making it important. Great post!
Delete[ Discuss how the feeling of the family's warm interactions affects the monsters. ]
ReplyDeleteThe feeling of the family's warm interactions affect the monster in every way. This is so because, the monster is "child-like". The monster’s growing understanding of the social significance of family is connected to his sense of otherness and solitude. This means that when he saw that the family was united and was showing affection towards each other he felt like that was what he was missing in his life. He goes throughout the day observing the family, studying their emotions and words. He began to feel a connection between the family and himself. He felt as though that was the right place to be.
Who seems the better human in chapter 12, Victor or the monster? Support your answer.
ReplyDeleteI think that neither of them are entirely human in their interactions with each other. While the Monster is speaking eloquently and displays a human intelligence, it at one point abandoned this behavior in favor of killing Victor's younger brother. Victor is the reverse, as he is responsible for giving life, without thinking about the consequences. He also abandoned his monster, his own creation, when he realizes what he has created. But in both of these cases, each has betrayed the intellectual nature in favor of hurting each other indirectly,
1. Discuss how the feeling of the family's warm interactions affects the monsters.
ReplyDeleteThe feeling of the family's warm interactions affecting the monster is very important because it is a theme of the whole work. The monster is an outsider, never to be accepted because of his hideousness, and so as close as he can get to feeling love is watching others. This is the theme: the monster is cast out because of his looks, people judge him by appearance and he is in truth misunderstood and in search of love. That is why the situation is so important.
The feelings of the family's interactions affect him by causing him to feel lonely. Think about it, he is the only one of his kind, and is hated by everyone.This watching of a happy family turns him into an envious creature full of hate and disgust for his own situation. This rage leads to his actions of murder, and causes him to be hated more. Here is a perfect example of the theme of the monster being misunderstood.