I believe that Locke’s main argument in his essay, “An Essay concerning Human Understanding”, is that all ideas come from sensation or reflection. This is very apparent in the novel, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelly. The monster Victor Frankenstein created is the perfect example of someone learning through sensation or reflection. He was basically created like a child who knew nothing, but had the body of a monster. He first learned of his senses through his experiences, “A strange multiplicity of sensations seized me, and I saw, felt, heard, and smelt at the same time; and it was, indeed, a long time before I learned to distinguish between the operations of my various senses” (Shelley). He had grown accustomed to the light and to perceive objects in their right forms, learning how to distinguish between an insect and an herb and different herbs from each other. It is even more apparent that he learned through his sensations when he states that he put on clothes when he was in Victor’s apartment because of the cold, “Before I had quitted your apartment, on a sensation of cold, I had covered myself with some clothes” (Shelly).

The monster also learned through reflection, looking back on how people had treated him, “He turned on hearing a noise, and perceiving me, shrieked loudly, and quitting the hut, ran across the fields with a speed of …” (Shelly). After this event, he was then attacked by a whole village after attempting to enter in search for food. All this has affected him, so he knew not to approach anyone else because of his appearance, “Having thus arranged my dwelling and carpeted it with clean straw, I retired, for I saw the figure of a man at a distance, and I remembered too well my treatment the night before to trust myself in his power” (Shelly). The monster basically learned everything he knew from different sensations he has experienced and reflections from experiences that have clearly had a great impact on him.