Describe it.

After seeing the grotesque monster, Victor Frankenstein kicked his creation out. This creature was left all alone in the wilderness with no food, no guardian and no idea about its surroundings. The creature had to slowly learn things on its own such as cooking, speaking, and walking but was harmed during the process. The lack of knowledge on life made the creature get burned by fire and scare away many, leaving the creature alone and depressed.

Trace it

Victor Frankenstein created a monster very differently than a human creates a child but we see many similarities in terms of education. Victor’s science obsession led him to this creation of which he completely abandoned. The creature was left to live on its own; no one to teach right from wrong, no one to care for, and no one to educate. The creature learned an extreme amount on his own such as how to walk, talk cook and most importantly survive. But unfortunately society didn’t accept this creature, which the creature blames on its creator.

Map it

This miserable unfolding of events has one positivity which is that the creature became educated through the education method described by Locke in “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.” Locke stresses that one is born with a blank slate, no innate principles. All that is known was only from experiences through sensation and reflection. We see this in Frankenstein. The creature was born with no innate principles or knowledge, and all that it knows by the end of the novel is through personal experiences.

**The viewpoints seen in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein concur with the viewpoints articulated by John Locke**

Topic:  People want what they cannot have.  In Rousseau’s text “Emile”, he talks about how students have no interest in subjects that are forced upon them, and have a natural inclination towards subjects that they find interesting or useful.

Subject: Frankenstein and his desire to meddle with life, death, and creation, despite the age old principle that those things are not for the realm of man, leave him ardently pursuing his goal.

Similes:

1) Frankenstein wanting what he can’t have is like someone seeing an ex popping up on social media and missing them.  Frankenstein’s passion constantly penetrates his thinking, the more forbidden and taboo, the more he wants it.

2) Frankenstein wanting what he can’t have is like playing video games instead of doing homework.  His need to create life, although he wants it badly, is detrimental in the long run.  He lacks self discipline.

3) Frankenstein wanting what he can’t have is cheese-lust for a vegan.  Even though it is unfamiliar to him, he has a newly found curiosity and interest in it.

4) Frankenstein wanting what he can’t have is like wanting to take Russian because it filled up faster than Spanish, which was your first choice.

5) Frankenstein wanting what he can’t have is like reading celebrity tabloids. This demonstrates humans as a whole, and their carnal obsession with external power, the highest level of which can be found among the rich and famous.  We live extraneously through different forms of media, fascinating ourselves, reading about and indulging in other people’s lives, lives that we can’t have or experience  for ourselves.  We can’t have it, therefore we want it.  To be able to create life is to gain power.

6) Frankenstein wanting what he can’t have is like taking a gym membership for granted until you can’t afford it anymore.

After devising this series of similes, I notice a few patterns.  The first and sixth similes tap into the natural desire people have towards things that are no longer available to them.  It seems that people will learn to want something, even if it was once in their possession.  The second simile illuminates the fact that often the things we want are harmful to us, and that self restraint is more beneficial in the long run than obtaining immediate gratification.  The third and fourth similes note that we go down different paths in life, and end up wanting things unfamiliar and distant to us, as well as things that we did not originally intend on moving towards.  All of these details can be applied to Frankenstein and his aspirations in the novel.

“Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow” (4).

Describe it.

Victor Frankenstein is a scientific genius who is fascinated with the “secret of life”. Frankenstein is so drive into his subject and eventually, he attempts to go beyond the human limit. His thirst for knowledge pushes him to the next level and makes him to create a hideous monster. The monster becomes a threat to Frankenstein’s life and proceeds to kill his friends and family. However, after he realizes his mistake and where has the thirst of knowledge brought him to, he feels guilty and regret. Frankenstein’s pursuit of knowledge makes him lose everything he valued. Thus, he claims that a man who doesn’t know much about the outside world and believes in what he sees is the only truth is a happier man.

Compare it.

    In comparison to Descartes’s ideology of education leads to a certain truth, Frankenstein promotes the danger of knowledge. In Descartes’s “Discourse of Method”, Descartes claims that the education of knowledge makes him “ met with nothing so doubtful as not to yield some conclusion of adequate certainty” (3). He believes knowledge can answer your questions and give you a define answer. Different to Descartes, Victor Frankenstein thinks knowledge can be a bad thing. Frankenstein claims that knowledge can make you uncertain of your decision. When you look very deep into something, you might realize it is a complete different thing than you originally thought.

Associate it.

When I am thinking about Frankenstein’s idea that people who stay within the range of what they can do live a happier life, otherwise, people who try to excess their limit live with a bad end, it reminds me of stretching in the gym. Every person has a certain limit of how much you can stretch. Some people can touch their toes very easily; some people just can’t do it. Depends on the gender, age, and whether you do exercise a lot or not, these elements brings you to a different level. When you are stretching, you know what your limits are. People should not attempt to do more than their own limit and they should not force themselves to do it because they will break their back really badly.

Analyze it.

    This quote is meaning ignorance is bliss. Frankenstein states “how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world”, he means that a man with basic knowledge of his environment (“native town”) and does not “aspires to become greater than his nature will allow” can live a happier life because he doesn’t have to carry the burden of knowing the whole world. Frankenstein is saying the harder you strive for knowledge, the less happier you are. However, in other word, I think he is also saying “curiosity killed the cat”.

Apply it.

    In real life, I believe sometimes when people know too much of something can lead to a negative consequence. For example, when people are telling a white lie to protect you from something that you can’t possibly handle, lies can be a good thing. Lies told to help another person or to protect someone’s feelings tend to be good for a relationship. If you must know to truth, you might hurt yourself and the other as well at the end. In this case, for some people, it’s better to not know the truth because it gives them a perfect illusion of a happier life; otherwise, reveals the truth and break the illusion will breaks everyone’s heart.

Argue for and against it.

I am supporting Frankenstein’s idea that keeps a simple mind makes you a happier person. I think when people have too much information about something, they will get confuse or even get lost. For example, when Frankenstein just find out the beauty of science, he loves it and he is happy to study it. However, when he gets into certain degree, he becomes isolated and science becomes his only value. He doesn’t talk to friend or family when he is too focus on his research. He slowly lost the connection to the outside world. At that point, Frankenstein no longer feel happy to working on his experiment, rather, the experiment becomes the only thing he can do. Science has overwhelmed his life. I believe when there is too much of anything is a bad thing, including knowledge. When you know too much of a subject, it can make you forget your original purpose of exploring that subject.

Describe it:

My topic is about how in Mary Shelly”s Frankenstein, the monster was convinced that its only way to obtain happiness and companionship was for Victor Frankenstein  to create another female monster so it can accompany him.  After constant attempts to being accepted and acknowledges from him trying to introduce himself to the De Lacey family thought the blind father to even Victor who he knew felt strongly apposed to his existence. The need for acceptance and to feel normal was always a driving force for the monster even after realizing thats its own existence was not ever to be accepted.

Trace it:

He knew that isolation from humans with a companion was his only option. From the very beginning the Monsters has been rejected and misunderstood based on his appearance and simple lack of compassion from his creator to others. “I swear,” he cried, “by the sun, and by the blue sky of heaven, and by the fire of love that burns my heart, that if you grant my prayer, while they exist you shall never behold me again”. That showed his desperation to want to be accepted and up to that point he tried to gain acceptance from humans period from his from attempt to gain sympathy from the old man to trying to reason with William and on each situation he was met with disappointment.

Map it:

This point relates to John Locke when he said “Our observation, employed either about external sensible objects, or about the internal operations of our minds, perceived and reflected on by ourselves is that which supplies our understandings with all the materials of thinking”. Our experiences that we go trough is one aspect of our understanding but also our  internal operations or emotional view on what we learn thought our experience is a factor. The monsters constant rejection and cruel treatment from humans over the years has left him with the conclusion that he will be never accepted. He felt that his only option was to remove himself all together from humans with a mate to possibly show him the companionship he was so desperate to attain.

Of what a strange nature is knowledge! It clings to the mind when it has once seized on it like a lichen on the rock.

Reflections and sensations are the basis of education