Frankenstein- Chapter 2 Reading Journal

Overview:
 Shelley begins with a contrasting description between Elizabeth who is calmer and more poetical than Frankenstein, who has always been curious in science. This leads into how this curiosity and passion led to him researching about it. His love of Natural Philosophy is the foundation to both his personality and to what happens.

Point 1:
Shelley uses Frankenstein as the main narrator of the book because he is writing it in the present and this means that he can pick out features of his past that he deems important to the story. His upbringing and the way he is socialised is important to the story because this is when he learns what is right and wrong. He says that his 'parents were passed in considerable seclusion. It was my temper to avoid a crowd.' This foreshadows the way that he isolates and secludes himself from everyone. He also says that his 'parents were possessed by the very spirit of kindness'. It is interesting that he uses the word 'possessed' because this makes them sound as though they were almost obsessed by it which shows a very similar correlation between him and his parents. It also brings in the Gothic element to the book as the connotation of possession is when a mystical third party magically manipulates a person.We only hear praises of his parents, yet he says 'My father looked carelessly at the title page of my book, and said 'Ah! Cornelius Agrippa! My dear Victor, do not waste your time upon this; it is sad trash.' If, instead of this remark, my father had taken the pains to explain to me that the principles of Agrippa had been entirely exploded, and that a modern system of science had been introduced...I should certainly have thrown Agrippa aside, and have contented my imagination, warmed as it was, by returning with greater ardour to my former studies. It is even possible that the train of my ideas would never have received the fatal impulse that led to my ruin.' This passage actually shows Frankenstein blaming his father for what has happened to him, yet it is impossible that his father knew that a small remark would've created Frankenstein's life to be terrible. This perhaps shows that he is reluctant to take responsibility for what he created and is so reminiscent in the first few chapters about his past because he is trying to discover or blame someone else.

Point 2:
Frankenstein makes a point of saying that he has few friends which means that he can talk of each in quiet a lot of detail. From these descriptions it sounds as though they all have very similar personalities. The first friend that we hear of is in the letters that begin the book. This part is narrated by Robert Walton, so rather than hearing a description of him from Frankenstein, it is him talking about himself with means that there is no real bias on his character. Robert Walton 'became a poet, and for one year lived in a Paradise of (his) own creation'. He uses romantic language which backs up the point of him wanting to be a poet and this shows a direct contrast between their characters. The second friend we hear of is Elizabeth and 'she busied herself with following the aerial creations of the poets; and in the majestic and wondrous scenes which surrounded our Swiss home'. The third friend that Shelley tells us about is Henry Clerval who was 'deeply read in books of chivalry and romance. He composed heroic songs, and began to write many a tale of enchantment and knightly adventure.' All of his friends have very similar attributes and are the opposite of him. This suggests that perhaps he doesn't like himself or maybe his own attributes and wouldn't want to surround himself in people that are like him. This also means that he has no one that he can really relate to and therefore leads to his isolation when he becomes passionate about science. However, it does seem that he having this kind of friends has some kind of effect on him as he uses words such as 'fate' and 'destiny' which seems strange for a scientist who believes in facts.