Frankenstein (blog 3)

This section just completely blew what I thought I knew about the story out of the water. I mean you think you know a story and then there is just this one section that slaps you out of  nowhere and apparently you were completely wrong. honestly this was probably the biggest shock a book has ever given me.

First of all, Coming into this book I already had this idea of what Frankenstein's monster looked like. I mean, doesn't everyone? A huge green guy with huge scars and bolts sticking out out of his neck. I started to question this as I got into the book because that wasn't really the image the book was giving but I thought hey, that's a reasonable interpretation of the text. So obviously, the monster must be the stiff, lumbering and unintelligent being we've all grown to love, right?

No! Now this is the part that flipped the entire book for me. Frankenstein goes out to this really remote place and finds his monster there unsurprisingly. He then decides to yell at him. "'Devil,' I exclaimed, 'do you dare approach me? And do not you fear the fierce vengeance of my arm weakened on your miserable head? Be gone vile insect! Or rather, stay, that I may trample you to dust! And, Oh! That I could, with the extinction of your miserable existence, restore those victims whom you have so diabolically murdered!'" (page 95). I could see why he would be mad and want to yell, but when I read this I just sort of shook my head at him there. I thought that this was a stupid decision and would probably just result in the primitive monster killing him or something along those lines. "'I expected this reception,'" (page 95) Most shocking words in the book. I read this and had to do a double take. Not only did this completely change the direction of the book for me, but it also simultaneously destroyed everything I thought or had previously assumed about the story of Frankenstein. I mean I only knew the gist of it anyway seeing as the only version of the story I have previously seen is "Young Frankenstein". I mean in that story it is a huge accomplishment to get the monster to dance and mumble to "Putting on the Ritz" or whatever the correct spelling of that title is.

Coming into this story I thought that the general idea would be something along the line of obsession leads to evil or something. But now seeing as the monster has feelings, is learning, and wants to explain himself to his creator I find it hard to see him as an embodiment of evil. I'm not saying that it isn't possible but I have a hard time seeing the story going that way now. Lastly I would just like to applaud this book for challenging everything I thought I knew about it. I know that's not what the book came in to do since obviously it came first but still for it to be such a shock to me it would have to be a little shocking to someone who may have read to back then. This is all Hollywood's fault!

Frankenstein (blog 2)

The nest section of Frankenstien was mostly about how normal victor Frankenstien's childhood was. It was normal almost to the point of contradicting the word normal. Aside from a slightly odd situation with his adoptive sister and some odd interests, he has a very generic countryside childhood for Switzerland I would assume. "No human being could have passed a happier childhood than my self." (page 37). I have to admit that happy doesn't mean normal but it is much more normal than distressed or insane. I picked that quote out because I think that the way this is said puts an interesting spin on it. He doesn't seem very interested in his own childhood because of the way he generalizes it so much. The way he says it all so kind of knocks down the value of what he's just said too. He seems to think that having a childhood, whether it was good or bad really doesn't make a difference in the end. Over all he seems slightly fond of the memories and happy that he can kind of hold this over people who may not have had such a great childhood.

I think that his relationship with Elizabeth is important to the development of the story. His mother tells him that Elizabeth is his present when he is a kid, and (as a kid would do) he thinks that she literally means what she says. "And when, on the morrow, she presented Elizabeth to me as her promised gift, I, with childish seriousness, interpreted her words literally  and looked upon Elizabeth as mine-mine to protect, love, and cherish. All praises bestowed on her I received as made to a possession of my own. We called each other familiarly by the name of cousin. No word, no expression could body forth the kind of relation in which she stood to me-my more than sister, since till death she was to be mine only." (page 35). I think the idea of owning someone is a big question in this novel. When Frankenstien creates his monster he doesn't really think of it in a way that shows it as it's own thing. The monster was to him an incredible science project. Sure, one with incredible possibilities and many possible outcomes but still, a project. Namely, his project. But that is all guessing since I am not that far into the story yet. It's hard not to look ahead since the story is so well known and has been retold over and over again.

In general I think that the book was definitely not written recently. To me it seems like the author is trying to be a bit too poetic and over complicates the book. I feel like I'm reading with a three paragraph delay between reading and understanding.

Frankenstein (blog 1)

The first section of the book sets the rest up in an interesting way. First of all you don't start with Frankenstein's point of view. You start on an expedition around the Arctic Ocean or something like that. The first person it mentions is similar to a young Frankenstein (I love that movie) in many ways. There is some interesting irony in this precursor to the story of Frankenstein. Over all I think that the beginning set the stage well for both people who know the story (or at least most of it) and also for those who have never heard of it (although I have no idea who that would be).

I believe that the way the beginning is set up is a good strategy for preparing the reader. First of all it sets the mood of doom and gloom. I don't believe that a ship in the middle of a frozen waste land carrying a half-frozen depressed man could be misconstrued as positive. The situation also brings an important question to the front of your mind. Just how much is knowledge worth, and at what price? "One man's life or death were but a small price to pay for the acquirement of the knowledge which I sought, " (page 26). This was said by Robert Walton. He seemed to completely believe this statement but Frankenstein was torn up by the possible path he believed his new friend to be headed down and decided to tell his painful story in order to possibly sway future actions. This section could also bring many other question's to mind, i.e. you could go away from knowledge and instead think of ambition. Ambition leads to obsession which destroys a man.

Robert Walton obviously resembles Frankenstein at a earlier stage in life. His thirst for knowledge drives him. But there are other similarities too. He also has a younger sister that he cares for. His attitude towards life seems about the same. He tracks down what he wants out of life with hardly a glance back. I haven't read all that much about Frankenstein yet but i would assume that you need some pretty hard core determination to raise the dead.

Lastly, I found some irony in the opening section that fits well with the plot line. I can't find the line but Robert Walton says something to the effect of 'I can never take risks when the safety of men is at stake.' to completely explain this you have to know that Walton is a mirror to the past Frankenstein (or at least that's what I think). Frankenstein may have put a high value on human life at one point or possibly though out his life but that didn't reflect too much in his actions. He created his monster who killed people (or at least I think it did otherwise this would not be a very impressive horror story). Even if Frankenstein didn't intend for his monster to do that he is still the one responsible for the loss of human life. If you train a dog to bite and let it loose it's your fault when someone gets bitten.

Pride and Prejudice (blog 4)

To me, the ending seemed kind of sudden. It's not so much that it was fast as it seemed that Jane Auston just went down a check list of all the problems and came up with the simplest solution. The story was obviously finished but the point it finished at was completely different from where I thought it would end.

Obviously Elizabeth was going to marry Mr. Darcy, but the point they ended it at was very awkward. Instead of showing it as a love story it seemed more like a story about over coming social classes. The entire last chapter is dedicated to how the characters have improved their class or remained at the same level or in someway made their mark on the standings of those around them, whether they approve or disapprove.

Mrs. Bennet brags about having two daughters so well married. Kitty learns to be better well rounded over all from the company she now keeps. Lydia and Wickham are as bad with money as ever and are rejected to some varying degree by all the people around them (Kitty isn't allowed to go see them and only Lydia is rarely accepted into Premberly). Miss Bingly doesn't like the situation at all but acts nice so that she will still be allowed at Premberly. Lady Catherine is extreamly angrey about her nephew marrying so far beneath himself that she doesn't talk with him for quite a while. And last but not least, Elizabeth and Darcy love the Gardiners because they brought them together by taking Elizabeth to Derbyshire.

The last paragraph is very telling about the whole story. "With the Gardiners thy were always on the most intimate terms. Darcy, as well as Elizabeth, really loved them; and they were both ever sensible of the warmest gratitude towards the persons who, by bringing her into Derbyshire, had been the means of uniting them." (page 436). The very last thing the book addresses is "...the means of uniting them." (page 436), not their love for each other or any other sappy romantic stuff. This shows that the novel as a whole is interested in the how of overcoming social boundries, and not the why (love).

Going back a ways and on a side note, I realized that Premberly is sort of a miror image of Mr. Darcy. i believe this because to get to Premberly you have to go through the woods for a while before you can see the actual house. With Mr. Darcy Elixabeth knows him for quite a while before she actualy sees who he is.

Pride and Prejudice (blog 3)

I think that this section of the book has been very interesting so far. I stopped reading for the last blog right before Mr. Darcy asked Elizabeth to marry him, and I stopped reading for this part where (spoiler alert) Mr. Gardiner leaves for London to help Mr. Bennet find Lydia. Plenty of things have happened in between that I find worth discussing.

First of all, Elizabeth turned down Mr. Darcy. Of course that made sense at the time since she had bad information on him and seemed to be putting up an effort to see him in the most disagreeable light. Even when she got the letter explaining everything I see why she may have liked him more but still didn't what to marry him. That is all reasonable and makes sense. Then she goes to Pemberly and still doesn't really do more than notice that he likes her and consider that it wouldn't be too bad to be married to him. "She respected, she esteemed, she was grateful to him, she felt a real interest in his welfare; and she only wanted to know how far she wished that welfare to depend upon herself, and how far it would be for the happiness of both that she should employ the power, which her fancy told her she still possessed, of bringing on the renewal of his addresses." (page 297). She is acting very wierd for women of her time in this situation. I mean, I wasn't there or anything but at that time marriage was more buisness than anything else. It was important that the couple get along and can live with each other but other than that you just get over it and marry the guy in the best position.

To support the buisness side of it you have all these different people picking who they want to marry and even who their relatives should be marrying. Elizabeth is supposed to marry Mr. Collins because he is a respectable man and will best be able to support the family by not forcing them out of their house when Mr. Bennet dies. Mr. Collins marries Elizabeth's friend. The friend's family is very pleased not because they didn't expect she would be able to marry that well. Jane and Mr. Bingly were expected to be married but weren't partly because she didn't show enough emotion while Elizabeth doesn't marry Mr. Collins because her emotions would not allow it and Mr. Darcy wants to marry Elizabeth despite money and position. Miss Bingly wants to marry Mr. Darcy because he is very high up and respectable and wants her brother to marry Miss Darcy for the same reasons. Mr. Wickham wants to marry Miss Darcy only for money. Lady Catherine wants Darcy to marry her daughter because it would be an even, respectable match. And last but not least everyone is so upset about Lydia and Mr. Wickham because it is not a respectable match (aside from the fear that he wont marry her at all).

So the fact that Elizabeth isn't completely ready to marry the man who is extreamly rich, respectable, and in love with her is very out of place. I think that Jane Austen is saying that women should expect more respect both from other people and themselves. Mr. Darcy has proven all of the mentioned points except that he sees her as an equal, and any woman but Elizabeth probably would have said yes to Mr. Darcy in the first place even without thinking he was a good man. This was probably very extream for the time, and even though Mr. Bennet was a liberal and allowed Elizabeth to decline Mr. Collins even though it would have benifitted the family greatly even he would probably not support Elizabeth staying away from Mr. Darcy at this point.

Sorry, I ment to talk about more but I guess I just got carried away on this topic.

Pride and Prejudice (blog 2)

So far the second part of the book seems to have a wider range of topics. In the first half the only really important characters were Mr. Darcy, Mr. and Miss Bingly, Jane, Elizabeth, and Mr. Collins (even though his importance doesn't really come until later). This next part seems to pretty much focus on developing Elizabeth as a character. First of all they got rid of everyone in that list above except for Mr. Collins but he just became a reason instead of an interacting person and sent Elizabeth to Mr. Collins house where she meets Lady Catherine. Over all this section seems to zone in on Elizabeth.

Another interesting thing about the book is the way it refers to people. All of the people in this book are referred to as Mr., Mrs., or Miss. I know that this is pretty much a part of society at that time but it is fairly annoying and confusing. For example you have to focus when you're reading a part that takes place  in the Bennet house and someone mentions Miss Bennet. I think that if you couldn't always guess who they're talking about that would make this book a pretty difficult read. I'm not sure if Jane Austen used it just because that is just how you talked back then or for something else. For example, I think that she is using this as a way to make a statement on how people have a public face and also have their own unique personality. That would certainly fit with the whole idea of the book. The different titles try to fit people into these neat little boxes, but the Miss Bennets are very different from one another.

One thing that I really enjoyed from this section was when Elizabeth turned down Mr. Collins.
I have to admit, I did not expect to find something that funny in this book. At first you have to feel bad for Mr. Collins because of Elizabeths response to him even before he has asked her. "'Dear Ma'am, do not go. -I beg you will not go. -Mr. Collins must excuse me. -He can have nothing to say to me that anybody need not hear. I am going away my self.'" (page 119). She is pretty rude to him but who would want to have Mr. Collins propose to them. You can't really feel bad for Mr. Collins anymore once he opens his mouth, though. "'Believe me, my dear Miss Elizabeth, that your modesty, so far from doing you any disservice, rather adds to your other perfections.'" (page 120). I think that this is completely awkward since Mr. Collins is so thoroughly clueless he can't even see that the woman he is trying to ask to marry him doesn't even want to be in the same room as him. I find it hard to believe that anyone is really that clueless though so that gives you the other option that he is in denial of that fact. I think that he is just so centered around the buisness aspect of marriage that he finds it impossible to believe that a woman when offered a fairly decent match with no other options on the table would turn it down. He shows that this is the correct option by going on and not believing her repeated refusals. "'When I do myself the honour of speaking to you next on this subject I shall hope to recieve a more favorable answer than you have now given me; though I am far from accusing you of cruelty at present, because I know it to be the established costom of your sex to reject a man on the first application, and perhaps you have even now said as much to encourage my persuit as would be consistent with the true delicacy of the female character.'" (page 123). This comment is out and out rude to Elizabeth and all women of that time, but the worst is yet to come. "'... you should take it into farther consideration that in spite of your manifold attractions, it is by no means certain that anouther offer of marriage may ever be made to you.'" (page 124) This just proves that no woman should have ever married that man.

Pride and Prejudice (blog one)

So far I enjoy this book. The characters all interact in interesting ways. If I didn't know what happens I would probably say that this is just about a bunch of girls trying to find suitable husbands at this point. I think the differences between the male characters is very interesting.

First of all, there are several different men and all of them want different things and all behave differently. First of all, you have Mr. Darcy. He is described as rude, proud (overly so), indifferent and overall as an unpleasant person. I would say that his first impression would whole-heartedly support that. After being particularly unsocial at the ball, Mr. Darcy is within earshot of Elizabeth Bennet when he says, "'She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me; and I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men. You had better return to your partner and enjoy her smiles, for you are wasting your time with me.'" (page 13). This completely drives Elizabeth away which is completely understandable. Unfortunately Mr. Darcy begins to admire her (she doesn't have high enough social class to actually like) and she only pulls away from him. Mr. Darcy is unmarried so you would think that- at this point in time- he would be looking for a wife but he seems disinterested in searching one out. I think that Mr. Darcy (although incredibly complicated) just doesn't really trust people and is probably pessimistic about new people and situations.

Mr. Bingley is also unmarried and is at least fairly rich as well but, the similarities stop there. He is very charismatic and charming; everyone he meets would probable agree with that. He also seems kind of shallow. Not necessarily as in being vain but more that he doesn't feel the need to go into deeper issues. Another example is with Jane he knows that she's pretty and is at least fairly nice so he likes her a lot. He seems more conventional in that he doesn't have a wife but would very much like to have one.

Mr. Collins seems like an entirely different story. He mostly seems awkward, insulting and, to put it gently, silly in many aspects of his life. It's interesting to see how his having these traits shows in the different members of the Bennet family. "Mr. Bennet's expectations were fully answered. His cousin was as absurd as he had hoped, and he listened to him with keenest enjoyment, maintaining at the same time the most resolute composure of countenance, and except in an occasional glance at Elizabeth, requiring no partner in his pleasure." (page 77). Mr. Bennet and Elizabeth seem to see how ridiculous Mr. Collins is but the rest of the family doesn't see that. I believe that the reason for this is that Elizabeth and Mr. Bennet aren' t as concerned with marriage and matters involving social class as the rest of the family is. Also they are probably the most intelligent of the group too.