Ben Heller Week 5- The Idea of Frankenstein

 In the midst of a great storm, in a great looming cabin, in the dark, dingy night, Mary Shelley sat down to write her now-famous novel: Frankenstein. This work would go on to inspire generations of writers and dreamers, inspiring notions of cheating and beating death and overcoming our perception of mortality. Two hundred years later, Shelley’s book still bears the utmost pertinence it once did, as technology and biology are integrated into one seamless system, as we become more of  machine and less of man. Her story does what any great novel should do- it causes us to have a great think. It unmasks us from within and makes us evaluate what values are important to us, and how we should tackle the uncertain future we face, with the habitats of our cousins shrinking, the land being choked of its life, and the ever growing disconnect between man and nature. In other words, it inspires a good hard look in the mirror.

Shelley’s masterful writing lends itself to use in educational settings such as classrooms, where the question of otherness remains ever present. As teenagers, there is often the looming question of who is different from us, how we should treat them, and why we should interact with others, when being close to those similar to us may be more comfortable? Shelley’s book offers a slap in the face to the notion that we should question the other. Less than 100 years ago, the first schools were being integrated, forcing students, children to face the reality which had been in front of them the whole time. There are people just like you, who deserve all the same love, attention, and dedication to education by teachers and administration. Still, integration was met with resistance. Old white bigots determined to keep the “others” separate from their own were unwavering, it seemed. But then, a transformation occurred. Those white students learned that they share more with black students than they had previously realized. 60 years later, there is still a struggle to incorporate all peoples into all sectors of society, but at the very least, efforts are finally being made. Frankenstein’s monster may not exist in real life, but it offers a glimpse into a hyperbole which was spewed by those espousing the notion that the “other” could not be trusted. Whether they referred to the poor, or women, or the Jews, or black people, or the Romani, among many other minorities, the message was always the same; Those who are different must be separated from our own, lest they poison and dilute our race. I believe that by the end of the book, Dr Frankenstien regrets his creation. Not because of any destruction or heartache the creature may inflict, but due to the heartache the creature must forever bear. The Dr realizes that this world is too cruel for the creature, not the other way around. In reflecting on this book, the reader must realize that it is up to them to make the world better, not for those who are oppressed to change themselves for the world.