At my school, it is required that outside reading novels are read in accompaniment with the texts of the perspective language arts classes themselves. These books are chosen by the student. When it comes to finding the right books, students are given a list and introduced to a wide range of stories and novels. The contents of these literary works are entirely diverse. Very often, people have problems with the issues they deal with and many books get banned.
Just in 2004, the Renton School District in Washington state banned in its high schools Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain after an African-American student claimed that the book degraded her and her culture. * Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is one of those books that is well written and conveys the conflicts between archetypes , good and evil, and heroes and villains. The book is relevant to some of my school’s language arts curriculums because of this.
Though its material is questionable in terms of its frightening content, Frankenstein should be read on the basis that it sheds light on the blurred line between hero and villain, and is very interesting in its analysis of human behavior. “Hero vs. Villain” is a theme constantly brought up in cartoons, novels, stories, and has existed ever since the beginning of time. From Homer’s the Odyssey to Ursula Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea, there is not one story on this planet without a hero and a villain.
Frankenstein emulates the blurred distinctions between the two, when a well-meaning, misunderstood monster and a happy-gone depressed scientist in Italy trade roles multiple times within the story. M. Frankenstein, a scientist and natural philosopher creates an eight-foot tall being (implied to be made of body parts of random corpses in the movies), that gets loose and upon seeing the world, discovers the coldness of humanity. After learning to speak and read, the creature finds a portion of M. Frankenstein’s diary written during the process of creating the ogre.
The creature (who we will call Prometheus2 from now on) in its fury at the harshness of human nature murders two people whom are family to Frankenstein due to the fact that Frankenstein created him. Later on these two characters completely reverse roles in that Frankenstein becomes the one obsessed with revenge like Prometheus2 once was. This change in character is something that should be studied and explored because of its relevance in terms of moral behavior, and human behavior.
Humans naturally tend to shun what is different in society. It is the way of alienation and making people more like each other. It naturally occurs in society. In order to assimilate, one has to be alienated to a certain degree. Prometheus2 however, was not human in looks. He was hideously ugly, and all the confrontations he had with humans ended up with the people either being disgusted, or frightened. The people shun him. This sends hammers into his heart because he is such a sensitive and intelligent being.
His failure to integrate himself into human society causes his hatred for Frankenstein. Although it certainly can be said that Prometheus is human in the nature of his mentality, his physical state says totally otherwise, and this makes it possible to take a look at man. Upon finding De Lacey’s family and secretly living as a neighbor to them, Prometheus2 discovers many things about human interactions. He learns to speak and read through these people, just by watching them and he learns how humans communicate (prior to this he had no communication skills of any sort).
Seeking to make a connection with these people, he reaches out to De Lacey who is a blind, old man living with his children and obviously can’t see what Prometheus2 looks like. Things go wrong however, and the children stumble in upon Prometheus2, beating him and driving him out of the cottage. This had profound effects upon Prometheus2. It ignited the flames of hatred towards humans and Frankenstein especially. This event also speaks mountains to the fact that people seem to hate others who are different. Humans are fearful of what they don’t know and are unfamiliar to.
This idea is something very well explored in Frankenstein. Overall, Frankenstein is a great book. The plot and theme are very well done, and surprisingly, Mary Shelley wrote it at the age of 19. The story line has action and some suspense while at the same time providing some of those questions which should be asked at least once in our lifetime. “What exactly is a hero and what exactly is a villain? ” and “What factors make heroes and villains what they are? ‘ These questions make Frankenstein a fabulous book for reading and essay writing by all high school students alike.
