The Outsiders | A Hood Project

In Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” a reoccurring theme is adolescence and the innocence taken during this period.   It is popularly believed that during adolescence, a person undergoes physical changes in which their body grows while their mindset often remains in a childish state. Dr. Frankenstein’s creature undergoes the changes of adolescence as demonstrated by both the creature’s massive body and overwhelming strength, and a mind that maintains a child-like innocence. After Frankenstein destroys the female monster intended as the creature’s bride, the creature angrily threatens Frankenstein claiming he will be there on his wedding night. True to his word, the creature shows up and ultimately kills Frankenstein’s bride. Standing by Frankenstein’s deathbed the creature explains, “I pitied Frankenstein; my pity amounted to horror: I abhorred myself. But when I discovered that he, the author at once of my existence and of its unspeakable torments, dared to hope for happiness, that while he accumulated wretchedness and despair upon me he sought his own enjoyment in feelings and passions from the indulgence of which I was for ever barred, then impotent envy and bitter indignation filled me with an insatiable thirst for vengeance” (Shelley 217).   In other words, despite the horrible treatment received, the creature reflects and repents over his transgressions claiming he had, at first, not wished to make Frankenstein suffer. However, when the creature saw Frankenstein do something to boost his own happiness, the creature throws a child’s tantrum. In his rage, thanks to his adult body, kills Frankenstein’s wife on their wedding night.

Adolescence is an important theme in many other books including F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.” James Gats, or Gatsby, is a character shaped mainly by his adolescence. At a party in his late teens, Gatsby sets his eyes on Daisy for the first time. Their different class statuses make it so, at that moment, they cannot be together. Due to his innocent child-like thinking, he blindly believes that no matter how long it takes Daisy will wait for him. With his grown adult body Gatsby turns himself into a monster in order to raise his status. Gatsby becomes a gangster’s accomplice allowing numerous horrid, disgraceful, and scary rumors that further separate him from society to spread to accomplish his goal. “Then I turned back to Gatsby – and was startled at his expression. He looked – and this is said in all contempt for the babbled slander of his garden – as if he ‘killed a man’ (Fitzgerald 134). In this scene, Gatsby confronts Daisy’s husband, Tom, about his and Daisy’s love, only to be faced with an argument. Though he pays no mind, it is Daisy’s explanation that she loves both of them that sets him off.

Much like the creature in “Frankenstein,” Gatsby felt as if his goal had been reached. As the creature had caused Frankenstein to suffer and felt good about this, Gatsby felt better after causing Tom’s ego to suffer by claiming Daisy would leave him for her old love. However, just as the creature had lost control of his emotions and like a child threw a tantrum, Gatsby reacts similarly. After further pressing from Tom, Gatsby loses his temper, something not done by the upper class of which he was trying to act like, and so ends up pushing Daisy away. This is most like the creature as his lack of control over his temper further pushed Frankenstein away even though he wished that they could be closer.

Fitzgerald, F S. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995. Print.

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein. Charlottesville, Va.: U of Virginia Library, 1996. Print.

The Outsiders will always be one of the most quintessential books about youth and the changes and differences that we face during our youth. Ponyboy is a character that we can all relate to, in that he was born into circumstances that he had no control over, that he wishes he could change. In a nature vs nature internal debate, he’s constantly fighting in his mind how he wishes how people view him, vs how they actually do. From the first mention of innocence in class, I knew that Ponyboy and the other characters in The Outsiders would be the perfect people to examine.

The first scene that struck me as relating to innocence was the scene where Ponyboy, Johnny and Dallas go to the movies and meet Cherry. After Cherry compares Johnny and Ponyboy to Dallas, who she sees as “‘hard as nails and twice as tough'”, she says that neither of them seem that way. Taking this as a compliment because for the first time in his life he is being seen as more than just a greaser. Ponyboy smiles and says “‘we’re young and innocent'”. Cherry responds with an apprehensive “‘not innocent. You’ve seen too much to be innocent'”.  This relates to what we were talking about in class about Baxter’s intro. Teens are often “viewed as selfish [and] reckless”, which Ponyboy is most definitely not. Ponyboy reads a lot of books and he is in high school and does everything that  a typical adolescent is supposed to. But because of his nature and who he associates with, he is seen as a monster.

A little later in the  book, Ponyboy is reflecting upon why the greasers are “tough as nails” and seem so scary. “‘It ain’t fair that we have all the rough breaks!'”, Ponyboy exclaims as he reflects on the gang’s family situations. Everyone in their group had a rough situation, where the Socs, the rich kids, “had so much spare time and money” that they got into all kinds of shenanigans. But Ponyboy’s brothers had to give up their personal lives and wants after their parents died so that they could work and support Ponyboy.

“Things are rough all over”, he then reflects, perfectly capturing adolescence. No one has it easy as a teenager. It is such a transitional stage where so much is expected of you, but you are not given very many tools to reach that point.

In Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”, the “monster” that Victor Frankenstein creates is everything but monstrous. Victor made him feel monstrous because he was disgusted by the inhuman being that he created. Victor says to his monster, “you have made me wretched beyond expression; Relieve me from the sight of your detest form”(Shelley 52). This type of verbal abuse can make any person feel monstrous and will eventually believe that everyone will view him/her as a monster. Even when the “monster” had little hope in making friends with the family in the cottage, the family was so shocked and frightened at the monster’s form that the father beat him to the ground and it made the “monster” feel even more sickened by his own appearance.
Victor Frankenstein’ and his “monster” reminded me of the relationship between the characters Shelley Godfrey and her mother Olivia Godfrey from the Netflix series, Hemlock Grove. In a show where every character is monstrous in nature, Shelley is the only character that is physically monstrous, but gentile in nature. Shelley died when she was a baby and was brought back to life horribly deformed. Because of her deformation, only her family and a couple close friends know about her delicate and kind nature. Even with the couple friends she has, she still believes she is monstrous because everyone else outside her circle makes her to believe she is a monster. Just like Victor Frankenstein, Shelley’s mother, Olivia Godfrey despises her and both creators want no happiness for the monster they have created.

“Shelley Godfrey.” Hemlock Grove Wiki. Web. 16 Feb. 2015. <http://hemlockgrove.wikia.com/wiki/Shelley_Godfrey>.

In Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, the creature is illustrated as a monster. The creature was a man made being composed of human body parts by Victor Frankenstein, rather than a God made creation. Throughout the novel, Victor dehumanizes the creature and rejects him as his own creation. Although he was Victor’s creation, the creature disgusts him as it does the rest of the community. The creature on the other hand is more like an adolescent as he searches for his identity, confused in what his purpose is in life. Although Victor and the rest of society see the creature as a monster, he is portrayed more like an innocent child. The creature is a lost being in search of a purpose, the reason as to why he was created. In his search, the creature begins to understand the process of learning as a child would in their early developmental stages. As like many, the power of knowledge will corrupt the soul, truly a modern Prometheus. For instance, the scene in which the creature comes across a fire, “one day, when I was oppressed by cold, I found a fire which had been left by some wandering beggars, and was overcome with delight at the warmth I experienced from it. In my joy I thrust my hand into the live embers, but quickly drew it out again with a cry of pain.” The creature experiences a fire for the first time and upon touching it, he learns that it burns. I can be said that the creature lost its sense of innocents, what he once knew was joy now becomes pain. Learning is no longer a place of confront, but rather pain. Although the creature is rejected and despised by society and seen as a monster, we see that in the beginning of chapter 12, the creature wants to be part of society and sign the social contract. He no longer wants to be what he is but rather, what is acceptable. It isn’t until the creature see’s a family through a window in a cabin that he yearns for companionship. The creatures purpose in life was nothing more than to have a companion.

The Catcher In The Rye by J.D Salinger, has similarities with Frankenstein in that both novels contain a protagonist searching for there calling in life. As the creature was rejected from society, so was Holden. Holden was a rebellious teen that was failing classes and getting into a physical conflict with his only friend placed him in a lonely situation imitating the creature’s life. Holden’s personality and acts throughout the novel portray him as a modern day monstrous teenager. Both characters start with nothing but a question; what I am doing? As Holden searches for his identity, he attempts to have his first drink in order to fit in with society and try new things much like the creature in Frankenstein. When Holden’s attempt fails, he becomes depressed. While at the bar, Holden tries to meet a girl to hook up with, but is rejected by three different girls so he resorts to hiring a prostitute. Not only does Holden remain a virgin after his encounter with the prostitute, but is also punched by her pimp and is left humiliated. Holden is viewed as a prick, a phony , and a**hole by society, where as the creature in Frankenstein is viewed as a monster. It seems that in both Frankenstein and The Catcher In The Rye, the creature and Holden want nothing more than to desperately conform to society, but both are rejected and unable to because of how society perceives them. The following day, Holden meet a nun at the bar, they had a brief conversation about how corrupted the world has became and left a donation. Later in the novel, Holden walked into a public school and saw the word “F***” on the wall, at this point he realized that he needs to be the catcher in the rye field, his purpose is to guide the innocent on to a straight path. Realizing his troubled past, hold feels the need to join society again.

In Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, she portrays the monster as a depressed being. He is not wanted anywhere and is looked at as something that signifies evil and danger. Because of his grotesque exterior, people believe he is the same way on the inside; ugly. Therefore, the monster falls into a deep depression. He is alone in the world and cannot find a way to fix it. Since he cannot fix his problem, he looks to take it out on the world, in causing havoc. “All men hate the wretched…if you refuse, I will glut the maw of death, until it be satiated with the blood of your remaining friends (Shelley 104).” At this point, the monster has decided once and for all that Frankenstein will grant him his wish or he will cause destruction.

This depression to anger pattern falls into line with an article titled “The Angry Adolescent- A Phase or Depression?” by Michael Craig Miller. This article touches upon the idea of depression causing anger. “The origins of anger, and other feelings, vary from person to person. Anger could be a sign of depression… (Miller).” When someone is depressed, the only way for them to act out sometimes is through anger. It is not that they don’t want to be nice, but their depression isn’t allowing such actions to come easily. This idea is something that is played upon heavily in Frankenstein. Shelley shows the monster to be a depressed being, one that only acts out in anger after suffering from depression. He doesn’t want to hurt people, but his ongoing depression has led this anger to be his only option.

Miller, Michael. “The Angry Adolescent – a Phase or Depression? – Harvard Health Blog.” Harvard Health Blog RSS. 10 Sept. 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2015. <http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-angry-adolescent-a-phase-or-depression-201209105272>.

In the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, a common theme we see play throughout the book is striving to be accepted through physical features. Fitting in by looking good appears to improve a great deal of social relationships and acceptances. It seems like looking beautiful can romantically attract someone to you. We see this trend between Elizabeth and Victor and Felix and Saphia who seem to enjoy each others company and find accept with one another. Take for instance, a character like the monster who looks like a deformed human cannot experience the same emotions until it has a significant other whom it resembles. It appears that having good physical features can allow you to be accepted to others and feel more confident.

I’d like to compare one of the protagonists in Frankenstein, the monster to a young girl Tally who is a character in the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld. Tally, who lives in Uglytown in an alternative futuristic world, is waiting to turn 16 to transform herself from ugly to pretty by undergoing a surgery. Following the theme of fitting in, Tally faces the challenge of being known as “ugly” until she finds her best friend Shay who ran away. It seems unreasonable for her to stay the way she is, although she looks completely normal, it terrified Tally that she may not be able to transform into “pretty” if she cannot find her friend. She is discouraged and upset by this matter because she doesn’t want to be viewed as a monster to the people in Prettytown (they are the people who truly fit into society).

In relation to Tally, the monster resembles her in the same matter of not being able to fit in because they appear to look different. Thinking about when the monster saw his reflection in the puddle and realized it was ugly and didn’t fit in. This scene most powerful to me because everyone disowned him and did not want to see him, yet he was smart and did good deeds even when people feared him because of the way he looked and reacted to other people because he was lonely, “monster! Ugly wretch! You wish to eat me, and tear me into pieces—you are an orge” (126, Shelley). The idea of physical features and/or beauty to be a common theme to both of these text, where youth are underestimated by the way they appear. The fear and pressures of not being accepted because of the way you look is a common theme in both of these texts.

Westerfeld, Scott, Devin K. Grayson, and Steven Cummings. Uglies: Shay’s Story. New York: Del Rey, 2012. Print.

The Orlean High School shooting was an incident that took place on December 30, 1974 where the perpetrator Anthony F. Barbaro entered the school and started to shoot anyone in his path. The incident began when Barbaro left his house by taking his mothers car and told his brother he was going target shooting since he was on the school’s rifle team. He entered through the schools open entrance and let off a smoke bomb which successfully got the attention of a custodian who was employed by the school and Barbaro shot him thus killing him immediately. He then proceeded to go to the student council room and began his rampage and at the end of it all three individuals died and eleven were injured. In a note explaining his motives he states “I guess I just wanted to kill the person I hate most -myself, I just didn’t have the courage. I wanted to die, but I couldn’t do it, so I had to get someone to do it for me. It didn’t work out” (Anthony 2). The sad aspect about incidents like this is that they keep reoccurring in American history and its all due to a person being an outcast and feeling unaccepted by society. Barbano was often described as a loner in highschool and always kept to himself which made him similar to “the monster” because both lacked friends.

In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, a character named Dr. Victor Frankenstein produces a creature whose appearance is beyond human comprehension since its so grotesque in nature. The creature has a great heart and has a burning desire to be accepted in the same society it was born into and wants to coexist with human beings. However, no matter what the creature does to fulfill his desire, it fails to do so due to his physical appearance. Instead of being accepted by human society, he is constantly rejected and hated by everyone it meets including his creator Victor Frankenstein thus making him a total outcast. This sparks anger within the creature and it wants to take it all on his creator because it is his fault he is stuck in this situation. The creature knows at this point it is alone and states “Unfeeling, heartless creator! You had endowed me with perceptions and passions, and then cast me abroad an object for the scorn and horror of mankind” (Shelley 167). The creature then ends up killing any person close to his creator thinking that would help form a relationship with Victor but it doesn’t and inevitably leads to the death of the monster and his creator.

Both the monster and Barbaro were each shunned by their societies and it explains why they acted out in a violent nature. They were tired of being alone and utilized violence to shows us how each was hurt internally. The only difference between these two beings is that the monster wasn’t created through natural means unlike Barbaro.

“Anthony Barbaro | Murderpedia, the Encyclopedia of Murderers.” Anthony Barbaro | Murderpedia, the Encyclopedia of Murderers. Web. 8 Feb. 2015. <http://murderpedia.org/male.B/b/barbaro-anthony.htm>.

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein. Charlottesville, Va.: U of Virginia Library, 1996. Print.

“The Shocking Story of Approved Killing in Mississippi” is an article published in Slate Magazine that was written by the author William Bradford Huie that predates approximately 65 years ago and it discusses the justifiable murder of a young African American individual named Emmet Till from Chicago. The article begins describing how Emmet Till entered a store because he wanted to prove to his friends that he could get any White Woman he wanted since he was dating one back in his hometown. This is where he first encountered a White woman named Carolyn and “he squeezed her hand and said:How about a date, baby?” after she had given him gum. Feared by Emmet’s persistence, she tried to get her husbands gun and deal with the situation she thought was best appropriate. However, before she could handle the situation, Emmet managed to escape and soon Carolyn’s husband Roy discovers the events that took place that night after returning home from Texas. “Once Roy Bryant knew, in his environment, in the opinion of most white people around him, for him to have done nothing would have marked him for a coward and a fool.” Allowing anger and his fear of looking weak in society to cloud his judgement, he then decides to take matters in his own hands by planning to punish Emmet for his misconduct towards his wife. Roy and his brother “Big Milam” soon approached his relatives residence and forced Emmet to go with them and later ends up dead because he wasn’t scared of them nor took their threats seriously.

​The one thing I noticed throughout this article is how the author tries to make Emmet Till appear in such a way that he seemed to be provoking every little thing and how he should be responsible for his actions despite being a kid who does not know any better. The author seems to treat Emmet like an adult instead of a kid because ” he looks like one”. Even towards the end of the article Emmet seems to be talking back to Roy and his brother and challenging their every move making him look like an instigator that deserved cruel punishment . In the author words Emmet was was tough as they were which shows they were equal and indicating he wasn’t a kid but a man of their magnitude. By making him look like a man it shows Roy had the right to kill him because he wasn’t a kid and that 2 on 1 was reasonable. The murders were not charged of anything and all allegations against them were dropped immediately because the jury believed the murder was reasonable. This article truly portrays the authentic nature of the 1950’s in the south and how being White at the time clearly had its unfair advantages and validates the notion that it is possible to get away with murder.