FRANKENSTEIN TIME WITH ALLIE: Chapter 16 Analysis

           After reading chapter 16, I discovered many important themes and ideas that are important to the further development of the monster's social, emotional, and academic being.  Here is a brief summary/analysis with some basic themes that occur in this chapter as well as many others: 

Summary/Analysis 

In this chapter, The family’s rejection plunges the monster into a fit of rage. But the beauty of the next day calms him. He decides to approach De Lacey again to try to make amends.  The monster’s faith in old De Lacey shows its last gasp of innocence, saving it from the rage born of rejection.  But by the time the monster reaches the cottage, the De Lacey’s have moved out. He sees Felix terminating his lease with the landlord, and never sees any of them again. His last link with society destroyed, the monster gives in to rage and a desire for revenge. He burns down the cottage and heads for Geneva and Victor.  Its innocence and hopes of inclusion in society dashed, the monster is left with only pain, and naturally wants to hurt those who hurt it. That includes human society (symbolized in the house he burns) and its creator, Victor.  At one point along the way the monster saves a beautiful little girl from drowning in a stream, only to be shot by her guardian. His suffering only feeds his desire for revenge.  Another example of humanity’s tendency toward prejudice, which only increases the monster’s desire for revenge.  After a few weeks, the monster makes it to Geneva. There he encounters a young boy. Thinking the boy would be too young to be horrified by his appearance, the monster approaches him. But the boy is terrified, and shouts that his father, Frankenstein, will kill the monster. The monster silences the boy by strangling him. The boy dies.  Again the monster shows an innocent belief in man, this time that the young will be less prejudiced than the old. His hopes again dashed, coupled with the boy’s connection to Victor, spur the monster to uncontrollable revenge.

MAJOR THEME ALERT!

The true evil in Frankenstein is not Victor or the monster, but isolation. When Victor becomes lost in his studies he removes himself from human society, and therefore loses sight of his responsibilities and the consequences of his actions. The monster turns vengeful not because it’s evil, but because its isolation fills it with overwhelming hate and anger. And what is the monster’s vengeance? To make Victor as isolated as it. Add it all up, and it becomes clear that Frankenstein sees isolation from family and society as the worst imaginable fate, and the cause of hatred, violence, and revenge.