We finally know!

"I exchanged my land-sledge for one fashioned for the inequalities of the Frozen Ocean..." (pg. 153)

This is the point in the story where he finally gets to the present where he had just bought the dog-sled so he could further pursue the creature. After 2 frame-stories, and journies lasting for years, we finally have an understanding of how Victor came to be in the middle of the ocean. When I came to this part, I realized how effective the foreshadowing was in the beginning of the novel. In the pages before 153, I kept waiting in anticipation to get to the part with the dog-sleds becuase I was just really curious from the beginning how such a thing would eventually happen. The use of the foreshadow kept me engaged in the novel all the way to the end. Also, not only was it the foreshadowing, but it was simply that I was mainloy reading to figure out how such an obscure even occured. If instead, the author had foreshadowed some uninteresting event, the reader would not have been so engaged as I was in the novel.

In agony...again

"I lay for two months on the point of death: my ravings, as I afterwards heard, were frightful..." (pg. 130)

Throughout the novel, Victor is rarely a healthy being. Some occurence is frequently making him ill and depressed. Frequently being ill and depressed due to some new occurence really evoded me to be very sympathetic towards Victor. Someting different was constantly happening to him due mainly to the evil deeds of the monster. After a while, even I start to really imagine the physical toll placed on Victor. As a reader, I actually got more engaged in the novel. Normally I would think that I would get tired of such a thing happening and eventually lose sympathy for the character. But the way the creature causes the pain of Victor in different ways every time kept me feeling sympathetic towards him. It also really emphasizes how good the creature is at mentally and emotionally torturing someone.

Let me just tear it up right in front of you...

"I thought with a sensation of madness on my promise of creating another like to him, and trembling with passion, tore to pieces the thing on which I was engaged." (pg 121)

While I was reading through the novel, I really did expect Victor to go through his promise and create the female monster for the creature. I imagined that he would force himself to go through with it due to the repercussions if he failed to do so. However, one thing that I simply never expected him to do was to think twice about what he was doing. After this, I never would have imagined that even if he did think twice, that he would stop working on it due to what might happen to his family and friends. Afer this, I never would have imagined him tearing up the female creature right in front of the creatures eyes. To me, this was just really situationally ironic. However, this happening did make a few deep impacts. For example, it truly revealed how much Victor was against the making of the female creature. Sure he could have secretly disposed of it later. But tearing it up "with passion" truly reveals his emotions at that moment he saw the creature and did not want to create the female version.

Over and Over again

"...which was one of the first of spring, cheered even me by the loveliness of its sunshine and the balminess of the air." (pg 100)

This is just one of the numerous examples of a motif used throughout the novel. The motif is that winter always brings misery to the character, whether it be the creature or Victor. Something in the winter always brings unhappiness to the main characters. However, once spring rolls around, life is restored to nature and the character magically get happy once again. Not once in the novel does this recurring idea fail to take place. From this motif, many things can be obtained. I think that it contributes to a theme of the novel. The theme is that throughout life, there will always be tough times in our lives. However, we will get back on our feet and move forward again. To me this sounded like a possible theme occurring from this motif, even if it does sound pretty cliche and corny... However, the relationship between the seasons and the emotions of the characters is interesting. During the winter, nature is lifeless just as the characters are lifeless and down. However, once spring comes, life starts to spring from the earth (no pun intended) and the character become lively and happy once again.

From good to evil

"I will revenge my injuries: if I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear, and chiefly towards you my arch-enemy, because my creator, do I swear inextinguishable hatred." (pg. 104)

This quote represents the dynamic character of the creature very well. When the creature was created, it had no sense of emotion or anything. He had to learn that from others around him, and in the novel he learns the good side of humanity and how to be compassionate from the cottagers. However, when he is then exposed to the rejection and the anger of humanity, he learns this as well and very quickly changes into an evil creature. This change is emphasized even more when Victor refuses to create a female for the creature causing the creature to seek even greater revenge because he knows he will only ever be rejected. This change in character emphasizes the evil and intolerance of humanity. Through a change of a dynamic character, the author is capable of showing us how evil humanity is instead of just telling the reader. This method has a greater impact on the reader and the theme of the story.

One or the other

"On you it rests, whether I quit forever the neighbourhood of man and lead a harmless life, or become the scourge of your fellow creatures, and the author of your own speedy ruin" (pg 70) This is when Victor has his first real encounter with the monster he created. I think it is interesting that the creature that we have come to know in any Frankenstein sort of movie has always been that of intolerable evil and disgust. While this creature may be disgusting, he is not necessarily evil. The only reason that the creature is evil is because of how he is miserable. He seeks only compassion from his creator, but Victor abondoned him making him miserable and into the fiend that he is. So the creature gives Victor the choice of either accepting him and allowing the creature to be loving. Or, instead, he can reject the creature once again and he will turn into the fiend that we stereotypically view as the creature. In my opinion, accepting the creature is the only way that Victor can fully recover from his depressed state of mind. If he does this, then he should realize that he can save others from death if the creature is indeed the one who murdered William.

Allusions

"It was as the ass and the lap-dog, yet surely the gentle ass whose intentions were affectionate..." (pg. 81) This is just one example of the numerous allusions used throughout the story. However, there is a problem with some of these allusions. Since this novel was written almost 200 years ago, I do not recognize most of the allusions presented. All of them even have a footnote, but I am still left without really knowing the allusion for many. Becuase of this, the function of these allusions are lost and they sort of become meaningless and useless. However, it would be a different story if I understood most of them thoroughly. If I did, then they would be more useful to the novel. Allusions allow the author to explain what he wants to say with few words. This gives the reader a good sense of what he is trying to get across. By using the allusion, we have to think about what the author is saying by that allusion therefore amplifying what the author is trying to get across because were are having to think about it. I understood the allusion provided at the top because the footnote was thorough in its meaning, and this allowed to to better understand what the author was trying to say without her having to be too wordy.

Much to learn....

"I seemed to have lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit" (pg. 33) This is one line that demonstrated Victors obsession over creating life. From this line, one, out of numerous, theme is shown. Victor allows his passion to take over his life as he spends day and night for months upon months working on creating his monster. This show us the dangers of an obsession. Victor always upheld a passion for the sciences throughout his childhood and teenage years and then when he entered college. While he had this passion, he was happy in what he was doing and enjoyed it thoroughly. However, as soon as he became obsessed with his passion, he turns into a lifeless being. This shows how we have to control these desires to have obsessions becuase they are unhealthy. However, when he finally created his monster, he cannot accept what he has done and he abandons it resulting in the possible murder of William. This is another example of a theme present in the novel. We must accept responsibility for our actions. Anything that comes from a result of us is our responsibility and we must control it unlike Victor's actions after creating the monster.

How does it happen?!

"...a being which hhad the shape of a man, but apparently of gigantic stature, sat in the sledge, and guided the dogs." (pg. 8) Foreshadowing is a great tool used by authors to keep the reader intrigued. Some foreshadowing may be obvious as they take place in a dream or are revealed in other forms. However, this foreshadow is quite different than others examples I have read. This is very vague and almost seems as if it is meaningless when we first read it. However, we then see Victor come on board the ship shortly afterwards and this gives us the idea that the creature could have been that man on the sled earlier and Victor was chasing him. This leads the reader, and definitely lead me, to think how could the story progress to such an absurd setting and situation. The use of this foreshadow causes the reader to become curious and motivates them, as it did me, to read further into the novel and figure out what happens. This is a great method of keeping the novel interesting and flowing. Without tools such as this, novels would not be as interesting and authors would have a harder time keeping the reader concentrated and interested in the novel.

So Many Stories!

"Strange and harrowing must be his story, frightful the strom which embraced the gallant vessel on its course and wrecked it -- thus! (pg 14) This is the last line of the letter IV where Robert Walton introduces the Frankenstein's story. Now sure, this novel could have done without the frame story. However, the impact of the several themes would not be as strong. Because of this, the frame stories are what improve how the themes of the novel are delivered. For instance, in the letters, we find that Robert Walton is an explorer who is determined to go into the unknown and discover great things. He is determined to do this and it affects his life in negative ways. Then when we hear about Frankenstein's obsession, we relate that to the obsession of Robert Walton's. Through this comparison, we think twice about the theme being made about how obsessing over a passion is bad for us. This may not be the only function of a frame story, but it certainly amplifies our attention to the themes of the novel.

Regretfully kind of true

"You want it to happen to the other person" (pg. 292) This is the quote from Julia when she explains that by saving themselves by wanting the other person to go through the pain, they really mean what they say. At first when I read this, I thought nah...they love each other. They were just willing to say anything at the time but they didn't really mean it. But as I thought about it and Julia explained it, it actually does make sense. At that moment of horror, selfishness oversomes your body and at that moment, you would rather have what is being done to you to another person. I think the realization of this shows the epitome of humanity's selfishness in the novel. This is the point in the story where no love or care for others is felt by either Julia or Winston and they have become the inhuman beings that the Party desires. Julia and Winston had now betrayed everything in their lives thus leaving them with nothing else but obedience to the Party.

I still don't understand why...

"A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself." (pg. 267) As I read through O'Briens explanations about the motives of the party and how the party wishes the future world to be like, I still have trouble wrapping my mind arounnd how anybody could want such a thing. The description of the what the Party desires the future world to consist of seems so inhumane that people of the Inner party such as O'Brien must have truly lost their humanity. This is the only rational thing I can think of that would cause anybody to want a world like this. The Inner Party have lost their human emotions and other related things therefore making such a thing acceptable. The people of the Party have just turned into robots that have lost touch with humanity. An interesting thing is that the proles are described in this novel as the animals, but they are more human than what the people of the party have become. To me it is just crazy that the twisted logic that O'Brien explaned to Winston could develop so fully.

Disappointment

"He loved Big Brother" (pg 298) Throughout the entire book, I always imagined Winston as being the hero of the novel. He is the one who stuck out and internally opposed and hated the party. He even went to far as to sneak off with Julia as much as he could. I had the idea that he would somehow outwardly revolt against the party and continue being strong in his own thoughts and beliefs. However, the last four words of the novel (the quote above) reversed my opinion about Winston and I saw him as an antihero. Yes, I think its harsh to say that he lacked courage after all that he was put through by O'Brien (who I really don't like), but he certainly is no hero by the end of the novel. This disappointment in the Party's triumph over Winston really emphasized the fact of hopelessness in the novel. When I read these last four words, I just felt as that if Winston was not strong enough to withstand the tortures of his conversion, then nobody would be able to. My image of Winston as a hero is what really made the end much more dramatic for me.

"Write it down and I'll sign it-- anything! Not room 101!" (page 236) After this quote, we are never told what room 101 acutally is. This then causes the reader to constantly wonder and anticipate what will be in that room. This quote represents only a small portion of suspense the author uses throughout the entire second half of the book. Once Winston joins the "Brotherhood" (or he thought he joined it), I got the feeling that somehow they were now going to overturn the Party. But shortly afterwards, he is caught by the thought police, and the rest of the book is his conversion from humanity to a heartless member of the party. However, the suspense is created because throughout the whole second portion of the novel, I thought somehow Winston would triumph and not just be like all the other people who went through the conversion process. So I keep thinking this throughout the novel, but then I reach the end and see that the Party had won. Although he says he "won the victory over himself", he truly lost it and allowed the party to triumph over him. The suspense created throughout the whole second half of the book, however, causes the impact of this ending to be multiplied. We see his defeat and it really almost hurt to read how he had become. The suspense of the story is what made me feel this way at the end of the novel.

Every Thought

"And the people under the sky were aso very much the same--everywhere, all over the world, undereds or thousands of millions of people just like this, people ignorant of one another's existence, held apart by walls of hatred and lies..." (pg 220) Stream of consciousness is what the majority of the book is composes of. Apart of the dialoge and the descriptions of what Winston and those around him are doing, the book is just all his inner thoughts just like the quote provided. Everyone has those times when we just sit around and think deeply upon an issue. It's through this thinking process that we can actually figure things out that we wouldn't have been able to do without the deep thinking. Through stream of consiousness in the novel, the narrator makes it natural to dwelve deeper and deeper into certain subjects. Through this, we get numerous themes from the book. However, we don't only get new themes from the novel, but we can better understand what the author is trying to get across in the novel. If it was just the author telling us this directly, it would be very dry and dull, but by using Winston's thoughts, the audience then pays more attention to the deep thought given on a certain matter which has a greater effect on the novel as a whole.