A predominant theme in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is that of child-rearing and/or parenting techniques. Specifically, the novel presents a theory concerning the negative impact on children from the absence of nurturing and motherly love. To demonstrate this theory, Shelly focuses on Victor Frankenstein’s experimenting with nature, which results in the life of his creature, or “child”. Because Frankenstein is displeased with the appearance of his offspring, he abandons him and disclaims all of his “parental” responsibility. Frankenstein’s poor “mothering” and abandonment of his “child” leads to the creation’s inevitable evilness. Victor was not predestined to failure, nor was his creation innately depraved. Rather, it was Victor’s poor “parenting” of his progeny that lead to his creation’s thirst for vindication of his unjust life, in turn leading to the ruin of Victor’s life.
Originally, Frankenstein had planned to use the results of his investigations to help mankind, but this focus soon transformed into an exhausting obsession; he became only concerned with the means, rather than the ends of his ambitious adventures. Therefore, Frankenstien did not take into account that he would be responsible for the outcome of his studies, namely the mothering, protecting and caring for the creation.
Victor never even fathomed the actual existence of the creature, somewhat resembling an unplanned pregnancy that was never emotionally and rationally dealt with even after the actual birth of the child. He certainly did not adequately prepare himself for parenthood.
One example of Victor’s complete disr…
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…ears with respect to childbearing and the care and upbringing of children. Complicated pregnancies and childbirth, miscarriages and death plagued her own youth and early adulthood. Of the four children she bore, only one survived to adulthood. She also experienced a miscarriage that nearly killed her. The issues of pregnancy and child development were pivotal issues in Mary Shelley’s own life, and her novel is a conveyance of her own feelings and philosophy about bearing and raising children
Works Cited
Defrain, John and Stinnett, Nick. Ilg. Secrets of Strong Families. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1985.
Madigan, P. The Modern Project to Rigor: Descartes to Nietzsche. Landham: UP of America, 1986.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus. Edited by: D.L. Macdonald
James Joyce’s Araby – Character, Structure and Style in Araby
Character, Structure and Style in Araby
According to Hazel Edwards, “A good story writer needs to be a craftsman, for the construction is tighter than that required for most novels. Usually a short story concentrates on a few characters- rarely more than three major ones. The story revolves around a single, dramatic incident which typifies the characters’ reactions. Length varies from 1,000 to about 5,000 words.” With these characteristics in mind, then we are going to examine James Joyce’s short story Araby in terms of depiction of character, the story structure and the style.
Araby was one of the short stories from James Joyce’s short story collection called Dubliners first published in 1907. As James Joyce was born in Dublin, he chose to write stories about the everyday lives of men, women and children of this place during the late Victorian period. The schools, streets, businesses, hotels, and public figures generally appear under their real names and it accounts to the realistic style of the story.
In the opening of the story, James Joyce carefully described the protagonist’s neighborhood and surroundings in three paragraphs. As he used real names like’ North Richmond street’ and “ Christian brothers’ School “, thus by reading the first paragraph, readers are able to figure out a map of the community in which the protagonist lived . Then he went on to lead us to the late priest’s drawing room . The detailed description of the room appealed to our senses . Following the footsteps of the protagonist, the readers can smell the musty air of the room, see the littered kitchen, touch the curl and damp books found in the kitchen. From the third paragraph, we were told about the season, weather an…
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…ey, Ben . (1999).Representation, Frustration, and Inadequacy: The State of the Signifier in Joyce’s Dubliners. http://www.modcult.brown.edu/people/sullivan/coonley.htm
Edwards, Hazel. (1984)Discussing Literature. Melbourne : Longman
Godfrey.M.J .(1992).Essays on ¡¨TheSisters¡¨ and ¡§TheDead¡¨. http://www.joycean.com/essay/dubliners2.shtml
Joyce, James .(1991). Dubliner. New York: Penguin Books USA Inc
Kramer, Susan. (1996). Triangular Structure in James Joyce’s Dubliners. http://www.modcult.brown.edu/people/sullivan/triangle.htm
Olmstead, Robert. (1997). Elements of the Writing Craft. Ohio : Story Press.
Valente, Francesca. (1999). Joyce’s Dubliners as Epiphanies. http://www.joycean.com/essay/dubliners.shtml
Wilblyi, Jennifer. (1999). Response Paper on Joyce’s ¡Araby¡¨ and¡Eveline¡¨. http://www.2street.com/eng84/paper.joyce.html