Frankenstein … A Modern Prometheus ?

In chapters 1-16 we hear the first half of Victor Frankenstein’s life story. He details the events of his childhood, and up to the point at which he meets his creation. We learn why Shelly Titles her book Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus, and how exactly the two are alike. The reader learns of what drives Victor to have a thirst for knowledge, and for the creation of life.

Shelly hints early in the chapters of Frankenstein how in fact Victor plans to create his monster, and his motivations in doing so. At a young age, Victor displays his passion for the sciences. He begins reading the works of scientists, including Cornelius Agrippa Paracelsus, and Albertus Magnus. Victor continues his quest for knowledge, reading more and more about chemistry and alchemy. The death of Caroline, Victor’s mother, seems to be the prime reason that motivates him to create life. Victor feels that if he can create life then he can save the lives of those close to him. Driven by this Victor focuses all of his time and effort on his studies to achieve this goal. Victor succeeds, but the excitement of his success quickly turns to fear and disappointment. He has created a hideous monster, and will pay a big price for doing so.

At this point in the book, we can tie Victor Frankenstein to a modern Prometheus. Prometheus was a Greek titan who created humankind, and suffered for their benefit. He gave the humans fire and the knowledge he obtained from the Greek god Athena. He then tricked Zeus to ensure that the humans got the best meat. As a result Zeus punished the humans by withholding fire from them. Prometheus then stole it back and gave it to the humans. To punish Prometheus, Zeus chained him to a rock on a mountain peak. Everyday an eagle ate his liver, and every night it grew back. Because Prometheus was immortal he could not die, but he suffered endlessly. Victor, much like Prometheus, is now playing the role of God. The creation of life should be left in the hands of God and only God. One can now predict that Victor will suffer greatly for his actions just as Prometheus did.

In chapter 7 the Monster kills Victor’s younger brother, and frames Justine, the family housekeeper of the murder. This raises a couple of questions. Is this the beginning of Victor’s suffering? And if so will, will it end there, or will the Monster continue to kill all that is close and important to Victor?

Reading and Dining at its finest

It wasn’t until my senior year of high school I learned that reading could be entertaining. Before then, if an interesting book came out, I was the kid who waited for it to become a movie. I was a con-artist when it came to it; I would avoid reading by any means possible even if it meant getting my girl friend to read my summer reading books. But with the help of Shakespeare and a book worm of a girlfriend, I converted over from a book con-artist to a book enthusiast. Although the old me would disagree, I found reading is an in depth form of entertainment, with an endless amount of opportunities.

The power of reading presented me with a new style of entertainment. Shakespeare’s Hamlet was sadly the first piece of writing I’ve ever read cover to cover. Of course I read other books, but they were only the required ones and I found myself focusing so much on finishing the book, I failed to comprehend what was actually taking place in the story. It was senior year, and every student was required to write a term paper in order to graduate. Being the typical lazy senior, I choose to write my term paper on Hamlet, since we were going to read it anyways. It was killing two birds with one stone, I could gather good information from class to help with my paper and it was one less book I had to read. What I didn’t realize was I’d would finally open the door to a new world in which reading not just tolerable, but enjoyable. It was hard to get into Hamlet at first, but after part one I could not put the book down. Never before had I felt that sensation from a book, it was like my eyes were glued to the television set watching my favorite movie. I had never read a book like Hamlet before the content of the story had characteristics that appealed most teenage boys like my self. The murder scenes, the violence, and the profanity I felt like I was reading a rated R book.

As soon as we finished the book, we started to watch the movie in class. I anticipated the movie to be just as good as the book if not even better. But to my surprise I was completely wrong. The movie was nothing in comparison to the book. I was confused at first, how could a book be more exciting and entertaining than a movie. It just didn’t seem right, my whole life I’ve been living under the impression that movies were best source of entertainment. I’m not sure when exactly it hit me, but as soon as it did I felt silly for not seeing it earlier. Books pull you deeper into the story’; you know how the characters feel, and what they are thinking. On the other hand with movies, you only know what you can see and hear, and most of the time they leave out a lot of the story’s plot. With books you can envision the story how you perceive it, not how the director does. A movie would be several time longer if was to the same depth of a book. Books also allow us to take in the story at our own pace. If you do at first understand something you can always go back and reread it.   Once I became aware of my discovery, I felt like I had been settling for fast food my entire life when instead, I could have been fine dining at the fanciest restaurant in town.

After my discovery with Hamlet, I wanted to explore this new world where reading was a great source of entertainment. I knew books now were up to par but is it more than just books, could it be other forms of reading as well. Emily, my girl friend (The same one who read my summer reading) loved to read.  She set up time everyday to read as if it was her favorite TV show series. She also loved reading the news paper, every morning she would open up the paper during breakfast and read it. I know this because even when I was sitting across from her at breakfast, she would still pick the paper up and read it.  Every time she did she would look up and ask if I wanted a page and I would respond to her in the same manner as if she offered me a cigarette ” No thank you, I don’t read.”  In a sense I was jealous, not because she wasn’t paying attention to me, but because I never knew what it felt like to enjoy reading to the point where I could pay full attention to it and not to all distractions surrounding me.  My experience with Hamlet changed all this. I found myself once again sitting at breakfast with Emily, but this time was different. For the first time, I took Emily’s offer and grabbed a page to read. I’ll never forget that article; it talked about how ninety percent of  American bills have cocaine on them. Once I finished that, I move on the sports section then business. I ended up reading the entire news paper. Once I finished the paper I looked up at Emily. He face was priceless she was staring at me as if I had preformed some medical miracle.  And to this day every time I eat breakfast if there is a newspaper close by I will pick it up to read.

His only way for happiness

The second chapter of the Gutenberg Elegies Birkerts explains the rolls reading and writing took during the early and middle stages of his life. Reading and writing was tied to his life in almost every sense, his job, his girlfriends, what he did on his free time, and how he felt about himself . We aslo learn of his struggles and failures, mainly his failed attempt to write a fiction novel.

Birkerks opens the chapter explaining his love for reading and writing.  He states  that from even the earliest of childhood he was enthralled by books. With that said though, he  hides both these passions from the outside world. After Birkerts reveals his love for reading he admits ” Although i could be spotted with a book in my hand, my real reading life, the main current of it, took place behind closed doors.” (38). His insecurities for his love for reading were followed by ones in his love for writing. In the second chapter he says:

“I did take real interest in writing school reports and papers, but of course i concealed it. Like everyone else, I groaned when a new writing assignment was announced. But behind the mask i was glad.” (40)

It is obvious that he is hiding his reading for he is afraid of displeasing his father, but what is his reason for hiding the fact that he loves writing. Why does Birkerts hide these passions when it seems they are the two things in his life he loves most.

At twenty six, all was going well for Birkerts, he had a successful job, established a core of friends, and had a girlfriend. But this was not enough, Birkerts had a deep desire to become a writer, and seemed to be the only hope to free himself from his reoccurring state of depression. The question of if he will ever become a writer hangs heavily over his shoulders. It was picking away at him, and no matter what he did it wasn’t as good as being a writer. Birkerts couldn’t  fight the urge, he left everything behind him and attempted to write a fiction novel. He failed miserably, and learned he was not ready to write a novel. Why did he jump the gun to soon? Everything was going well and leading him closer and closer to his goal.

Birkerts

In the beginning of the first chapter, Birkerts tells how he was spurred to read  A Room of one’s own by watching a televised adaption of the book. Soon after he read the book and became empowered by Woolf’s writing. ”And yet, and yet … here i found myself reintroduced to the power of Woolf by the culprit technology itself,” Birkerts states after explaining his paradox. The paradox itself poses a valid point which contradicts his own beliefs. Birkerts bashes technology but at the same time if not for it he might never  had read  A room of One’s own. With that said, how can technology be the prime reason for our culture’s loss of interest in reading books? I do agree that technology may play a part in our societies lack of interest with reading; TV, video games and the internet all seem to be taking the place of books.

Birkerts poses a question and his main point of the book is ” What is the place of reading, and of the reading sensibility, in our culture as it has become?” I believe that the roll of reading still has an important role in our lives today. Reading has certainly changed in the past years though; last generations’ newspaper was on paper, now our generations’ is on a screen. We can now take tests online and listen to books on tape. Regardless, no matter the medium over which we read — reading remains to be a vital part of society and its ability to learn and further itself.

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!