Society
One thing I would like to mention:
The true monster of Mary Shelley's work is not the hideous, deformed giant with an even bigger personality disorder, but Victor Frankenstein. Initially, the creature was gentle and intuitive, ready to experience life and all the wonders of the world, but he was abandoned by his creator, Victor. The man who played God did not take responsibility for his actions, he did not kill the creature as it took its first breath, he did not accept the creature as a living thing, he instead ran away in horror and brought despair upon his family. He was insane and paranoid and not nearly as eloquent as the creature, making him, in my eyes, the true monster of the novel. The triviality of the humans and of Victor make the creature the victim, not the terrorizing hellion most see him as.
Rousseau wrote that men are born inherently good and that society forms them into either good or evil. Men are merely the molds into which society poors its influences and ideas, whether good or bad. The creature of Mary Shelley's work is born neither good nor bad, but neutral, and is formed into the "monster" society views him as due to the beatings and from being ostracized. Since he has been influenced by these acts, he sees them as common and right. Hobbes, on the other hand, writes that man is born evil and knows only evil and must overcome this as life progresses. This view can be easily supported, I believe, simply by looking at the modern world and its many discontents, including tyrants, terrorism, and tight fisted millionaires. I believe men are born neutral and are a completely blank slate with no influences before he enters the world.
I had a difficult time thinking of a specific problem as there are numerous problems in the world today that directly affect me and will affect my future children, but I decided to take a step back from global issues and find an issue within myself. I am an atheist. I do not believe in God, in heaven, in reincarnation, in an afterlife, in even a higher power. But I want to. I want to have something to hold onto, to believe in, to belong to; I want above all to be included in something bigger than my problems or global problems. My problem is that I do not believe, that I cannot believe, but that I desperately want to.
The true monster of Mary Shelley's work is not the hideous, deformed giant with an even bigger personality disorder, but Victor Frankenstein. Initially, the creature was gentle and intuitive, ready to experience life and all the wonders of the world, but he was abandoned by his creator, Victor. The man who played God did not take responsibility for his actions, he did not kill the creature as it took its first breath, he did not accept the creature as a living thing, he instead ran away in horror and brought despair upon his family. He was insane and paranoid and not nearly as eloquent as the creature, making him, in my eyes, the true monster of the novel. The triviality of the humans and of Victor make the creature the victim, not the terrorizing hellion most see him as.
Rousseau wrote that men are born inherently good and that society forms them into either good or evil. Men are merely the molds into which society poors its influences and ideas, whether good or bad. The creature of Mary Shelley's work is born neither good nor bad, but neutral, and is formed into the "monster" society views him as due to the beatings and from being ostracized. Since he has been influenced by these acts, he sees them as common and right. Hobbes, on the other hand, writes that man is born evil and knows only evil and must overcome this as life progresses. This view can be easily supported, I believe, simply by looking at the modern world and its many discontents, including tyrants, terrorism, and tight fisted millionaires. I believe men are born neutral and are a completely blank slate with no influences before he enters the world.
I had a difficult time thinking of a specific problem as there are numerous problems in the world today that directly affect me and will affect my future children, but I decided to take a step back from global issues and find an issue within myself. I am an atheist. I do not believe in God, in heaven, in reincarnation, in an afterlife, in even a higher power. But I want to. I want to have something to hold onto, to believe in, to belong to; I want above all to be included in something bigger than my problems or global problems. My problem is that I do not believe, that I cannot believe, but that I desperately want to.
posted by Ali Lee at 10:22 AM
1 Comments:
I want to believe too, I know exactly what you mean.
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