Chapter 68: Victor Frankenstein and I: Speculation on the Mad Scientist's Madness and Myself

We all love those crazy psychologists, right? Sometimes, the only way I can explain how I feel is to point to some of them and use their bizarro thoughts as my own. Plus, a lot of people won't believe you unless you point to some old, dead guy and say he thought of it first. Now, I'm not diagnosed officially because the therapist I go to can't do that. But after reading "The Modern Prometheus" for probably the billionth time, I thought, "Dang, Vic, I love you because you are so bipolar." I understand Victor so well. Enough, of this though. Let's talk science and get all academic.  

Erik Erikson developed simple-to-use psychological Stages of Growth that show us what ages human beings go through certain stages (seriously, you can google0image search the thing). Mother’s always say, “Oh, don’t mind him, he’s a teenager.” Erikson provided some answers as to what is going on behind those children’s eyes as they grow. Using Erkison’s theory, we can explore the minds and motives behind what literary characters do and say.

Using Erikson’s scale of growth (point out those smart ones!), we’ll examine Merry Shelley’s title character Victor Frankenstein. Victor is interesting because he shows signs of having more than one problem (I love a man with issues...). He is moody, hates socializing, likes to be in control of other people, and is so driven at some points that he forgets about his family and friends and drives at education mercilessly. Some of these symptoms, as we will later discuss, are signs of depression, bipolar disorder, and possibly show him as a sociopath (a high-function one at that!). What could cause him to be the way he is? Does he have a savior complex or womb-envy (lol, but seriously, people, this is a thing)? Why is he so driven and seemingly sociopathic? Does he have feelings or not? Erik Erikson’s theories and stages of growth can be used to analyze this fictional character’s life and actions to see what could possibly be troubling him and causing him to reach so far as to create life. Ever get that feeling? "Hmmm, I need a pal, let's make one!" Yeah, me too.

The first thing that must be examined is that Victor talks very little of growing up in the book. He doesn’t mention too much in chapter one about his life. Instead he focuses on his parent’s life. He seems to be intellectualizing his parent’s biography to tell you why he doesn’t wish to speak about his life. But this is important to understanding Victor; his parents have a great effect on his development. His father had a friend who went into debt, bankruptcy, then hid to avoid the consequences of his actions (Shelley 27). Frankenstein Sr. found out the friend and brought him back and he died leaving his young daughter to the care of Mr. Frankenstein. Victor says that his father “is one of the most distinguished of that republic” and that he had “filled several public stations with honour and reputation” (Shelley 27). From this, a psychologist could infer that Mr. Frankenstein was a man of high standing and important in his community. He is used to being looked up to admired and asked for help. He is perhaps even the savior of others under him. God-like-savior-alert!

An example of his “savior” behavior can be seen when he marries his friend’s daughter Caroline. This could be signs of a messiah complex or what is called a grandiose complex (Diamond). He feels the need to save because that is what he has been doing for some time in his offices of power. However, that is just the tip of the iceberg.  These feelings of grandeur can come from and be aggravated by a bipolar complex, which is where the person has feelings of ups and downs that change at a normally rapid pace. Caroline’s father probably had developed bipolar disorder after he was saved by Mr. Frankenstein. Victor says that his grief would rise and fall until he was sick in bed and eventually it consumed and killed him (Shelley 28). Well, dang.

Now Mr. Frankenstein feels he must take care of this woman. “Perhaps during former years he had suffered the late-discovered unworthiness of one beloved, and so was disposed to set a greater value on tried worth… [Caroline’s] health and even the tranquility of her hitherto constant spirit, had been shaken by what she had gone through” (Shelley 28-29). Mr. Frankenstein felt he had to earn her love. These feelings of worthlessness are common in bipolar disorder and in some savior complex’s. They feel they must work extra hard to get the approval and love of those around them. Hmm, sounds familiar. Where a savior complex will puff one up and make them think themselves a god-like being, bipolar disorder will pull in the other direction and make him think that he’s not good enough. So he must worship her and pamper to her. But she is already feeling so depressed. What to do?

Perhaps, Frankenstein Sr. didn’t have full out bipolar disorder, but he did have a savior complex and Victor’s mother was now ripe for depression to set in. Caroline could have easily developed depression too from the trauma of the life they must have lived while her father was running around avoiding debt and the law. This could have planted the seeds for her own depression or bipolar disorder which leads to her own savior complex and saving of Elizabeth (Victor's later wife) later. These are the people Victor is surrounded by. Notice we haven't even gotten to Vic yet? Yeah, that's how far back scientists and those psychologist like to look. 

To alleviate the utter darkness in the Frankenstein home, Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein start to travel (Shelley 29). No, really, it says that they were so down in the dumps they had to go on vacation. Amidst all of this, Victor is born away from home and is the brunt for all their mixed up emotions as he is an only child for some time (Shelley 29). He is now of course in Erikson’s stage of Trust versus Mistrust. During his first years, they still traveled and he says, “it was in their hands to direct happiness or misery, according as they fulfilled their duties towards me” (Shelley 29). Bummer! The words that stand out apart from happiness are the directing of misery he speaks of. Is there a possibility that his parents were not always as sane as they should have been towards baby Victor? He may have had reason to mistrust his parents and begin to isolate himself from them.

With two bipolar parents now saddled with a child, the chances of Victor being ignored or even abused are high. This means that during his sensitive stages all the way through Erikson’s Autonomy versus Shame to Initiative versus Guilt phase (three to five years of age), he was the only thing around to receive the brunt of his father and mother’s mood swings and their outlandish behavior. The evidence later of his own mental disorders could be signs that he has repressed bad memories of his parents. From here, Victor will inherit his own disorder. According to the Ohio State University Medical Center, depression and bipolar disorder can run in the family. From this point on, Victor will begin his own downward spiral of disorders. He will displace his rage at his parents onto someone he can own and possess. Controlling others will help him cope, he thinks. So, like, get a dog or something, right?   

Over and over it says that his parents were good and gave and gave. That is how his father came to marry his mother Caroline. When they go back to Italy they visit the houses of the poor all the time: “Their benevolent disposition often made them enter the cottages of the poor. This to my mother was more than duty; it was necessity, a passion” (Shelley 29). This shows that they have that guilt complex also common in bipolar disorders. They feel guilty for what they have so they visit the poor all the time. Dr. Susan Whitebourne of the University of Massachusetts links it back to Freud: “The psychodynamic theory of Freud proposes that we build defense mechanisms to protect us from the guilt we would experience if we knew just how awful our awful desires really were.  Specifically, Freud linked the feeling of guilt” (Whitebourne). His mother had suffered her traumatized past and was now displacing her grief onto the poor.

In this poor neighborhood, Caroline Frankenstein comes across a little English girl named Elizabeth who she decides to take under her wing while Mr. Frankenstein is out of town on business. Caroline’s savior complex and guilt come in again when she sees little Elizabeth in such poverty. “…but it would be unfair to her to keep her in poverty and want, when Providence afforded her such powerful protection” (Shelley 30). She's totally Batman. 

When Caroline brings Elizabeth home, she says to Victor “I have a pretty present for my Victor—tomorrow he shall have it” and he replies, “I, with childish seriousness, interpreted her words literally, and looked upon Elizabeth as mine…since till death she was to be mine only.” (Shelly 31). Possessive much, dude? At the end of chapter one (yeah, still chapter one!), Victor is in full possession of Elizabeth and is being influenced for Erikson’s next stage of Industry versus Inferiority. His mother gave him something to possess and he has now started to morph into his controlling-womb-envying-savior-complex self. He has been given something (Elizabeth) since he was five years old to be master of and he is used to this high throne of authority, which could lead to his creation of the monster and his later projection of anger on the creature when it defies him and makes himself the master putting Victor in a place inferior to the monster.   

Victor grows up over the next chapter where we can see his lust for control takes on the guise of knowledge. In Chapter II, he leaves Elizabeth behind when he wants more intellectual things: “Elizabeth was of a calmer and more concentrated disposition; but with all my ardour, I was capable of a more intense application, and was more deeply smitten with the thirst for knowledge” (Shelley 32). By this point, he would probably be in Erikson’s Stage of Industry VS. Inferiority and getting to move into Identity versus Role Confusing. He wants knowledge over Elizabeth’s companionship especially since he probably can no longer control her every move. She is inferior and he must now find out who he is.

He turns to the ultimate complex device for knowledge and dominance over: Nature. He sees nature as a challenge that must be accepted. It holds secretes and he must uncover them or he will not be seen as “smart”—as Erikson would say, he would feel inferior. He is indeed in this stage because his brother is born “seven years in junior” and his parents become more depressed and give up on their wondering life, which may have been escapism and now they have to be tied down (Shelley 32). Things just get worse from there on out. His parent’s live in seclusion in the country now. And it was in his temper to avoid a crowd. He is anti-social as we will see in the later chapters when he goes to school.

We can see examples of his anti-social self in contrast with his best friend Henry Celrval. Henry is the opposite of Victor in that he loved stories of knights, tales of enchantment and he also loved danger for danger’s sake (Shelley 32, 33). This could infer that Henry is very outgoing and outspoken. Just the right person to get on Victor's nerves.   

On the other hand, Victor’s temper, he says, was sometimes violent. In a large, revealing chunk of text, Victor confesses, “My temper was sometimes violent, and my passions vehement; but by some law in my temperature they were turned, not towards childish pursuits, but to an eager desire to learn” (Shelley 33). This could be his reaction to his thoughts and feelings that come with bipolar disorder. He doesn’t know how to deal with them and all his parents do is spoil him, which is not what he wants. He says he was violent and vehement and yet those feelings were turned towards knowledge. This could show where he is angry that he doesn’t understand himself and his feelings. So he feels the need to learn about them. But it isn’t simple things like politics and government that attracted his pursuits, no those things would be too simple for high-functioning Victor. He wants to learn “the secrets of heaven and earth” (Shelley 33).  

From a high flying temper and violence, Victor then plummets into what psychologist say is the depression side of bipolar disorder. “I might have become sullen in my study, rough through the ardour of my nature, but that she was there to subdue me to a semblance of her own gentleness”; simply, he raves, is angry, violent and then falls into sullen moods where he is probably locked away in his room being moody and only Elizabeth can sooth him and sometimes Henry as well (Shelley 33).

Another example of Victor’s strong anti-social behavior can be seen on the next pages when they go to a party where he also discovers the books that will set him on fire for his passions of the ultimate knowledge and even a search for the Elixir of Life and immortality.

When Victor is thirteen years old and approaching another phase of Erikson’s growth chart: Identity versus Role Confusion is in full swing as Victor makes contact with books that will inspire his studies. The family goes to Thonon, a resort in France, and is confined to an inn there due to the weather. This upsets Victor no doubt because of his antisocial tendencies and so he does what any knowledge-craving boy his age would have done: he sits down with a book to read and avoid the people. Victor reads a book by Cornelius Agrippa and “a new light seemed to dawn upon my mind” (Shelley 34). Victor runs to his father, excited about his finding only to be brushed off by his father. When a depressed person gets brushed aside, they either let go or retaliate with a fierceness that cannot be guessed (Wexner). Trust me, I know...Victor did the later.

“If instead of this remark, my father had taken the pains to explain to me that the principles of Agrippa had been entirely exploded…I should certainly have thrown Agrippa aside” (Shelley 34).  If his father had explained it, perhaps Victor would not have delved so deeply and largely into the well of unknown sciences and gone on to other studies. But his father suffers from the same disorders as Victor and could not be bothered to give an explanation to his young, energetic son. Perhaps Victor was more frightening when excited about scientific things his father had no idea how to handle and thus Frankenstein Sr. had no other defense mechanism but to try to shut Victor down.

Victor hits fifteen and is still in Erikson’s Identity Vs. Role Confusion stage while he eats away at the hunger for knowledge. He is high-functioning and never satisfied at this point. The quest for knowledge had inflated his head even more as he pursued higher levels of writings: “they appeared to me treasures known to few besides myself…Those of his successors in each branch of natural philosophy with whom I was acquainted appeared, even to me boy’s apprehensions, as tyros engaged in the same pursuit” (Shelley 35). Here Victor is saying that he is the only one who knows about this great knowledge. No one else could know, especially no one else his age. And now, he has studied so long that the writings of other great scientists are like novices compared to what he knows. But sadly, he was left to struggle with a child’s blindness (Shelly 35). He has no one there with him as is often the case with manic depressive people, which only adds to the aggravation of the condition (Wexner). Victor’s symptoms and behaviors have gone on too long untreated just as his parents have and which he has been exposed to while floating in this delusion of grandeur.

He moves to pursue things greater than this physical life; “the elixir of life; but soon the latter soon obtained my undivided attention. Wealth was in inferior object; but what glory would attend the discovery, if I could banish disease from the human frame” (Shelley 36). This coupled with his next pursuit of trying to contact ghosts and devils which he eagerly sought shows his descent into madness. When one begins to rave and delve too deeply into things usually seen in society’s eyes as odd and not normal, one is normally described as mad. They begin “reasoning with insufficient data or rigidly defending the wrong theory” (Daw). Thus, all Victor needs is one more push and he will be over the proverbial edge.

 When the lightning storm strikes at the end of chapter two, Victor then moves on to school in Ingolstadt. He is about to enter into the young adult phase for Erikson and Intimacy Vs. Isolation and it is ironically the last stage of his life. His mother dies no doubt causing a massive trauma to young Victor. He is delicately on the verge of pure insanity at this point as he is in need of intimacy more than ever. His mother has died and he is young and unbalanced according to Erikson. He must mingle with people if he is to survive. But he does not. When Victor is in the Intimacy Vs Isolation Stage of Erikson’s theory, he shuts himself away instead of spending time with Henry and making friends at school with his mates. He has no one “worthy of my consideration” (Shelley 37). Boy, do I know that feeling.

Henry sees the signs which are evident when he tries to pursued his own father to allow him to accompany Victor to school (Shelley 39). Victor’s determination is seen just before this when he insists that even though his mother is dead, he still had duties to attend to and perform (Shelley 39). Finally, Victor states, “I threw myself in to the chaise that was to convey me away… I was now alone” (Shelley 40). He has reached the height of what he desired: He is alone and in a realm of smart-things and people where he can run rampant with his experiments. He is depressed, swinging from manic and back, never learned to control himself, and suffers from grandeur and a savior complex. There is nothing left but for him to do the ultimate act and creat life. He met a professor who would, unknowingly give him all he needed to finish off his mad desires:

“He then took me into his laboratory and explained to me the uses of his various machines, instructing me as to what I ought to procure and promising me the use of his own when I should have advanced far enough in the science not to derange their mechanism. He also gave me the list of books which I had requested, and I took my leave. Thus ended a day memorable to me; it decided my future destiny.”

From here, Victor goes on to gather dead bodies and try his best to create life. This last act of his nearly sane mind could have been his ultimate hate: it would seem the only thing Victor could not do is create life. He tried to call to the dead, attempted the elixir of life, learned all he could about science and yet there was nothing that would make him a god. His nature was nurtured into a high level of savior complex and fed anger by his bipolar disorder causing him to think he had no other goal than to creat life.

           Whatever trauma his parents may have caused him in his childhood he has shut out, but it has led to his pursuit of perfection and ultimate control over his and other’s lives. His youth shows that he sought solitude and projected his anger onto others, particularly Elizabeth and Henry. Victor sought control and got it but his high-functioning, nearly sociopathic mind was not satisfied until he had reached so far that he fell over the edge.



A fun Biblio incase you wanna check it out for yourself:

Daw, Jennifer. "Why and How Normal People Go Mad." Http://www.apa.org. American

Psychological Association, Nov. 2002. Web. 27 Nov. 2013.

Dr. Daw discusses in a brief essay the reasons that can cause people, normal and productive, to drop off the edge into clinical insanity. She describes the descent as one that can be triggered by many things but mostly as blows to one’s self esteem. She warns against false madness cues and discusses in brief biological reasons for madness. 

Diamond, Stephen, Dr. "Messiahs of Evil (Part Three)." Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers,

            20 May 2008. Web. 26 Nov. 2013.

Dr. Diamond discusses a theory about how fanatic religious leaders from all over the globe could possibly have had a messiah complex. He informs the reader of the definition of a true messaiah complex and likens it to delusions of grandeur. He also provides research in Jung and Erikson’s theories.

Erikson, Erik. "Erikson's Psychosocial Stages Summary Chart." Erikson's Psychosocial Stages

Summary Chart. Ed. Kendra Cherry, Dr. About.com, Web. 25 Nov. 2013.

A summary chart of Erikson’s theories with hyperlined examples and further discussion. For the essay, simple the names and order were taken from this chart.

Martin, Chris. The Scientist. Coldplay. Rec. 2001. Ken Nelson, 2002. MP3.

The song about a man who loves but cannot identify the feeling as it cannot be explained by science so he considers giving up or just going without it. Title was used as well as the line “pulling the puzzle apart” to symbolize Victor’s diagnosis as bipolar.

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein, Or, The Modern Prometheus. New York: Barnes

and Nobel, 2003. Print. Barnes and Nobel Classics.

An annotated version of the original classic with essays and historical clips in the back of the book for further study.

Wexner Medical Center. "Manic Depression / Bipolar Disorder." Wexner Medical Center. Ohio

State University, Web. 26 Nov. 2013.

The University of Ohio’s medical page for students who think they may be, or no someone who may be, suffering from depression or bipolar disorder. It gives symptoms, cures, and therapies. It also discusses in depth how such illnesses can be passed or spread through prolonged exposure.

Whitebourne, Susuan, Dr. "The Definitive Guide to Guilt." Psychology Today. Sussex

Publishers, 11 Aug. 2012. Web. 26 Nov. 2013.

Dr. Whitebourne gives a different look at guilt in this short essay. Rather than explain how people manipulate a person, she explains what people plagued with guilt do. She explains how people afflicted with guilt live their lives and how they see tasks before them as essential to curing their guilt. She also likens it to the psychodynamic theory of Freud. 

Chapter 67: The American Bad Guy

"American Criminal: from a Belly Dancer’s Point of View Who Has Taught International Students for More Than 5 Years."

If you are an American, you are a global criminal. You are the bad guy and you should be ashamed of yourself.

If you are an American, you cannot do anything that is un-American or you will be deliberately and rudely making fun of someone else. Do not say you are a gypsy dancer because you are not Romani and are ignorant and stupid and racist for saying so.

If you are an American, you cannot like other people’s music: especially Native American and you cannot AT ALL wear jewely that reflects said ethnic’s style. If you do, you are taking it, stealing it, and making a mockery of them.

If you are an American, you cannot be interested in someone else’s religion or culture. If you wear a Bohemian skirt or a tribal-looking bracelet you are trendy-know-nothing American.  Pray for forgiveness.

If you are an American, you cannot eat Chinese food because it is not real Chines food and you don’t know what real food is.

If you are an American, always apologize for being white. Beat yourself up and beg the forgiveness of those around you.

If you are an American, you are stupid. You are not allowed to study other myths and write your own inspired by them. You may read Austen and Bronte, though.

But not while drinking tea.

If you are an American, you are not allowed to wear a hijab, Indian shoes, say, “gringo”, or eat anywhere more exotic than Olive Garden.

If you are an American, you must guard everything you say. Just because a certain colored skin man says a word to his friends doesn’t mean you can.

If you are an American, you will be laughed at when you travel to Ireland looking for your roots. You will be ignored in France. You will be the butt of jokes in Britain. You will be killed other places.

If you are an American, do not dance anything but hip-hop. Even then, do when no one with black skin is around.

Best to stick with a hoedown.

If you are an American, you must read only books written by white people. Do not pick up that Indian novel or that Caribbean anthology. If you do, you will be just one more stupid white trying to expand their horizons for no good reason.

If you are an American, do not do yoga or qui-gong or anything that was not invented in America. You will be seen as just a dumb person stealing a practice because you were too dumb to think of your own.

If you are an American, you must be scared of everything less white than you. You must hate it and try to eradicate it.

If you are an American, you must be guilty. You must be a criminal. Stay in America, do not touch an idea, dance, music, food, clothing that is not yours. Even if all you want is to let you imagination grow—do not. That is criminal. That is bad. You are bad and you are wrong. Do not change like the language you speak.

If you do all this, you will be a bad American.    

Chapter 66: Fantasy Men and the Women Who Write Them and the Other Way Around

Dungeons and Dragons is going through another revamping called "The Sundering". I know it's been great so far because I've read some of the books and talked to Ed Greenwood and Erin M. Evans personally about it. While I was ooing and awing over the new books for D&D (which I am new to, I won't hide that little fact) I was hacking my way through a series that was supposed to be great. I heard from many of my friends that this series was great, you'll love it and "it's like Supernatural but better!"
Please... better than the Winchesters, Garth, Jo, and Bobby and Cas? Really?
Well, it's a popular genre and I want to write in that vein as well. Why not try Jim Butcher? He's been around for a while and dear ol' Dresden has had a TV series based on his adventures. MUST BE GOOD!
Or not...
Just popular because...well, I don't know honestly.
People: Read the first one (Storm Front). Me: Eeehh... People: It gets better in the next one! (Fool Moon). Me: Uuugghhh.... People: It gets better in the-- *PUNCH!*
No, it never gets better. I've heard that Butcher's latest one, "Cold Days" is supposed to be his masterpiece. Sure, it takes that many books to describe women's legs, waistlines, and especially those buxom breasts. What would a supernatural book/movie/game be without female legs and soft contours? Well, let's just say they would have to hold their own.
Fed up with that fiasco, I went to the other end of the spectrum just to see what was there. I picked up Margaret Mallory's Highlander series. Never had I read a Romance novel. My sister will tell you I have with Deanna Cameron's "The Belly Dancer", but more on that later. For Mallory, she is honestly just several aspects away from being a pretty good writer. Not going to lie, I felt gypped when the "The Scene" came around and I didn't even get the whole thing. That was for later it turns out. For Mallory though, the attraction for her highlanders comes in the form of their honor, bravery, patriotism, and of course, gleaming muscles. But not overly so. I can hear males disagreeing with me right now. But trust me, we read those book sot get he-man descriptions and Mallory makes us wait for it. We don't know that Alex's muscles are sharp and angular every time he enters a room. There times when Mallory will go PAGES without telling you a thing about this gorgeous guy.
Not male writers. No, the instant that woman walks into a room (or a darkened hall way in a few Butcher cases) we know from the warmth of her body, or the curve of her outline, or the longness of her legs that it's her. Those (always!) dangerous, dominating females of the fantasy genre.
So leading in to Erin M. Evans and D&D, we have Havi, Fari, and the demonic Lorcan. But just so you know, Lorcan is a hunk. A very evil, demon-y hunk. At first, as a female reader isn't that fond of dangerous-Edward-Vampire types, I thought "Oh, great, the evil sexy demon man is here to make you a deal you can't refuse." But Evans wouldn't have it.
Rather than slather Lorcan in sex and attraction, she makes you cringe every time the guy is on the page. He appears and you're like "Oh good, he saved Havi, but he needs to disappear again." No amount of his "good guy moves" makes you want him there. Yes, you remember him floating in the demon trap at the beginning and how much his red, muscled skin glowed in the flames. But you don't want him there like other sadist chicks want Vivian to chomp Aiden oh so hotly. Or how about that new Rid Riding Hood flick, eh? *Crepper grin*
Evans gives us a wonderful departure from those men. Of course, being female she doesn't sexualize her heroines either. Perhaps it is just be because I am female, but I really found Havi and Fari wonderful females. They were strong, but not independent. They depended on their dragon-born father (who was awesome, by the way!) to help them because they weren't perfect and got into trouble. And also something Evans doesn't let her girls get away with is getting into trouble and then apologizing their way out. Mehen let's them know when they've done wrong and they learn (usually) from their mistakes.
I use Evans because she seems to the only author doing genders right. The males look like they should be that guy, but they're not and they give us the creeps rather than making us desire them. Her girls are not sexualized or free to be stupid females either. Maybe she does this because she's a female and is just trying to stay away from stereotyping? Maybe, but I doubt it. She's just good at character and has realized we don't need all the sex to have a good fantasy adventure. Take it from me, the story needs to be able to stand on its own and not depend on females with dominatrix tendencies or males with sadist playmates on their minds. Let the story speak for itself.  

Chapter 65: Imagination: How to be Killed By a Headless Horseman

http://www.comicvine.com/headless-horseman/4005-53680/

American literature before the war of 1812 was stoic, religious, and never really dealt with stories in literature. This is believed to have been because of the steel grip Puritans and other religious groups had over what was published. After the war, Englands grip, as well as its dominating religious holds, were loosened and America was more free than it had been in 1776. The freedom came when stories, poems and novels were being written and shared with the public. This time of literature is the American Renaissance.

The American renaissance was in the mid 1800s and was a release from all the tight, religious literature that was being produced before. Not only were the American people free to make their own histories and stories, but legends began to be born as well. One of the most famous of these legends is Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”.

Washington Irving (1783-1859) was named after the man he wrote a 5 volume biography for: George Washington. He was always a writer and was first published in 1802 when he wrote satirical essays for his brother’s paper much like Benjamin Franklin. He was the first American writer whose books and stories were loved on both sides of the ocean and was one of the only writers to support himself entirely by his writing at the time. Irving liked to write about darker things and historical transformation; hence his famous work from The Sketchbook “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”.

The three themes that stand out most in Irving’s work are: imagination, supernatural reality, and the boundless selfishness of the characters in his little Dutch community. Without Ichabod Crane’s fantastic imagination there would be no ground for this story. His obsession with the paranormal and fascination with witches are the base for practically everything that happens in the story including his attempts to win Katrina Van Tassel and the spoils to be gained (yeah, he was a gold digger!). Ichabod’s imagination is to be expected since he is the focal character of the plot, but the townspeople also show a great interest in stories of ghosts and goblins, which leads to the telling of the legend of the Hollow's own supernatural haunt: the Headless Horseman. The theme of selfishness in the story is the only one that stands apart from the spooky themes as it has nothing to do with the ghostly reality that Irving’s work is based on. Ichabod is selfish in that he covets Katrina’s inheritance and the towns people are unconcerned with Ichabod’s disappearance in the end simply because he does not owe anyone a debt. Yay, for economic mind-sets!

The story of “Sleepy Hollow”, for those of you who may have never actually read the story, is simple; a superstitious school teacher desires the hand (and estate) of the beautiful Katrina Van Tassel. She is also pursued by Brom, the village’s seemingly only handsome young man (time to skip town, Katrina), who is something of a trickster. The backdrop for the story is the frightening image of the headless Hessian who not only haunts the Hollow but searches every night for his head. Anyone else search for your head every day? Just me? Alrighty then, moving on.

The theme of imagination is really only dominant in Ichabod though the love of supernatural stories of all the townspeople is written throughout the story, however it does not interfere with the lives of the people. Ichabod is like a child trapped in his own supernatural world, which eventually results in his ruin. It is from the townspeople that the reader first hears the legend of the horseman from. The hollow is described in great detail of being a place where everyone is dreamlike and has a witching aura. Irving writes (in the voice of his narrator) that even visitors to Sleepy Hollow are, in a little time, influenced by the dreamy air. The people are subject to having trances and hearing music and voices! As a reader, it can be assumed that this means everyone who lives there and visits becomes entranced somehow. Perhaps there is a bit of magic in the air and that is what accounts for the sightings of the ghostly horseman? But that would be taking the supernatural as reality. Either way, the people of Sleepy Hollow see things that cannot be there outside of a supernatural reality. But with them it is a simple matter of flights of fantasy. Ichabod, on the other hand, lives and breaths his supernatural world. But I can't judge him too much for that. After all, I live in a fantasy world! But I don't get killed by my characters. Not yet.

The first example given of the school master’s supernatural paranoia is when Irving describes how Ichabod has set up traps and defenses about his school house; stakes at the windows, locked doors, and wires twisted around handles so they cannot be opened. This introduction to his paranoia is key to the rest of the story as it intermingles dangerously with his supernatural beliefs.

A second part of Ichabod’s illusionary life is his pride. He takes great pride in disciplining his students and teaching them, but is also proud of the fact that should a weaker student come along who he could not bear to whip, he simply gives them a lecture. It is obvious that he holds his teaching methods in the highest respect. Outside his school house, he takes pride in showing off in public. He is deemed smart among the hollow’s community because he is the only book learned one in the area, but really he just carries around a copy of Cotton Mather’s “History of New England Witchcraft”. Well, what we can say? He's a fanboy. It is this praise of his knowledge that leads him to be boisterous among the women and his delusion that he thinks he has a chance with any one female he chooses, but this is proved dreadfully incorrect when he tries and fails with Katrina. May I never be this teacher...

It is hard to say if Ichabod is in love with Katrina, her lands, or his illusion that his knowledge will get him what he wants. From what one can read in the story, it may become quite obvious that it is the last two that give Ichabod his ridiculous courage to pursue Katrina. When he goes to call on Katrina, the narrator (as a writer, I'm desperate to wonder who it is) states that Ichabod's “mouth watered, as he looked upon this sumptuous promise of luxurious winter fare”. Ew. He's hungry for land, I guess. Then the narrator describes a wonderful feast in the Van Tassel home, which Ichabod now sees as his lordly home. He sees a “whole family of children” and “himself bestriding a prancing mare” on these grounds. When Ichabod actually enters the house, he doesn’t see it as a visit, but rather as if he is entering his own home and his “only study was how to gain the affection of the peerless daughter of Van Tassel”. See? Gold digger. What is it with big houses and lavish furnishings, people?

When a person is so far into their own reality, others around them can easily be tempted into unkind pranks and schemes against the dreaming person. As common as that situation is and as smart as Ichabod thinks he is, he should have seen the schemes that were playing out before him starting with the invitation he received during his class to come to the Van Tassel gathering in the first place. It’s easy for Katrina and Brom to plot against him for the remainder of the story without him knowing because he's actually quite stupid and delusional. By the end, when Ichabod vanishes, it can be surmised that Brom made him leave on Katrina’s bidding. Ichabod never knew that she had no interest in him.

Ichabod is so happy to be invited to the ranch that he lets class go early and enters his dream world. He goes home, dresses well and even buys a horse to appear “before his mistress in the true style of a cavalier”. Ichabod’s imagination then starts to leak out of his world as he tries to pull it into genuine reality. He wants to show Katrina and everyone at the ranch, just how great he is. A glimpse of the reality can be seen though when the narrator describes the ride to the Van Tassel home: “He rode with short stirrups, which brought his knees nearly up to the pommel of the saddle”. Remembering Ichabod’s long, thin description from before, the image becomes absurd as this delusional man is imagined in the mind’s eye. Ichabod’s reality and real reality do not seem to be able to coincide. It's at this point that a modern reader would scoff, look at the great rented horse, and ask if he's overcompensating for something. Well, yes. But it's not what you think. It's that he thinks he smart and he's just not. Don't those people annoy you?

The best part of the focal character’s imagination comes out in the theme of the supernatural in the story. In the beginning of the story, Sleepy Hollow is already described as a very dreamy place. The people tell stories of ghosts and all seem to honestly believe in the Horseman. Tales of encounters are the most talked about at the fire side and at social gatherings. Later, the narrator says Ichabod would be social with the older women in the hollow, not only for his own prideful advancement as previously mentioned, but because they would tell him stories of witches and magic and he would read to them from Cotton Mather in return. Throughout the story, Ichabod can be seen constantly feeding his supernatural desires and imagination. Brom plots against him to make him into the fool when he blocks up the chimney in the school house one day and silly Ichabod thinks that witches have cursed his school.

Brom’s plan to win Katrina is finally revealed to the listener when Ichabod is on his way home from the party. He waited behind to speak with his desired but the narrator, claiming he doesn’t know why, says that Ichabod left in somewhat dampened spirits. One theory assumes that Ichabod’s supernatural imagination is heightened by this depression. The scene set, the witching hour, and he’s passing the “very place where many of the scenes of the ghost stories had been lain” when the Horseman charges Ichabod down and chases him for the next two pages. Perhaps if the school master had not been such a superstitious and paranoid individual living in a supernatural world, he could have turned and faced the farce. It was not really the Horseman because later the narrator tells that whenever the story of the missing school teacher is brought up, Brom grins and even chuckles a little to himself about the incident. With Brom’s past of tricks on Ichabod, it is not hard to realize what Ichabod could not see through his false reality.          

The theme of selfishness is not as easily seen as imagination or supernatural reality, but is laced throughout the story and is a fun to talk about considering our modern times. How many selfless people do you know? Probably you know more selfish people who interrupt you when you talk and text while your speaking. In Irving's story, it can be seen with Ichabod and his lustful thoughts of the land and wealth he wishes to gain from his union with Katrina. Even his pride is a form of selfishness as he thinks he is the only smart person in Sleepy Hollow. His world would be turned upside down if someone out smarted him: Like Brom for example!

Katrina is selfish in that she schemes to have Brom scare Ichabod to make him leave and win the heart of the young man at the same time. Because everyone loves a scheming rich girl. A theory for the story is that Katrina used both Brom and Ichabod. She used Ichabod to enrage Brom thus leading him to making Ichabod leave. She wanted to be with Brom but for some reason could not simply tell Ichabod to stop pursuing her. She desires Brom to like her, though he already does, so she’s mean to Ichabod with false advances and catering to his talk after the party. She wanted the situation in her control and wanted toy with a man’s emotions: “Could the girl have been playing off any of her coquettish tricks?” the narrator asks us. The narrator implies here that she has more than one trick to play much like her man Brom.

The people of Sleepy Hollow are not so obviously selfish but they provide the theme at the end of the story. No one cares that the schoolmaster has vanished very mysteriously. When it is discovered that he doesn’t owe any debts, no one thinks on him again except the old women in the Sleepy Hollow who tell his story as just another ghostly haunting of the Horseman of Sleepy Hollow.

Chapter 64: The One I Forgot

I wish I could remember things better. I forget everything. I forget my keys in the two seconds it takes me to walk out my bedroom door. I’ll open the fridge and not know what I’m doing. I’ll think of something, go downstairs and forget what it was I was going to get. I’ll pack up for school and forget my wallet, then see it’s missing and not be able to retrace my steps to where I may have lost it, totally unaware that I took it out earlier. I never remember that stuff. I lose my cell, keys, iPod, everything all the time. Not just like other people. I can’t retrace my steps either. Ever. I turn left when I say out loud “Turn right”. I never which direction I’m facing, but that’s relatively normal. I can set my mug down, turn to something for three seconds then storm around in a rage looking for my mug. I scream and shout then am clam not ten seconds later.

My life goes up and down that fast all the time. That’s the first reason for how tired I am sometimes. And why I don’t like being around people. What will they think when I’m blistering angry one second and literally the next, I’m slapping backs and making jokes. Who can handle that kind of person? Handling that is hard work too.

I also forget social niceties. I don’t remember that I’m supposed to say hello to people who are standing by me. I’ll forget to introduce myself or my friends. I’ll forget to say goodbye and walk away from people leaving them awkward. This happened recently. I was in the coffee store and Anna introduced me to one of her coworkers. We talked for a long time and then I just up and walked out the door after the conversation was winding down. He called after me to say goodbye. I was nearly traumatized. I’ll say things that shouldn’t be said in social situations about myself or others. I don’t mean to until it’s out of my mouth. When I try to behave, I’m quiet. So quiet that people ask me what’s wrong. “Nothing, just trying to be socially correct” or something to that extent.

I can sit quietly for hours and listen to people talk. Then forget half of what that said or what I was supposed to do after. If I can stand hours of people. Things start to turn gray and I freak out after a while. I can’t meet new people. It irritates me. There are rules and steps that I can’t remember so I hate doing it. And I know those people don’t really want to talk to me and know about me. Everyone else just wants to talk. That makes me feel strange too. Knowing that no one cares. It’s like being around a bunch of androids. You’re not real to them so they’re not real to you.

Trying to be social with them is horrible. I can’t do it. Not just because I can’t remember what to do, but because they react. They judge or don’t do anything. Condemn you or no reaction. They pass a judgment then go on about their lives. Or they jabber away while their android eyes are fixed on their screens and buttons. Scary things, these people. But my mind doesn’t work when I’m around other people. I have to freeze.

Or I act the part of the comedian. That’s my best, strongest, and most acceptable fall back. Everyone loves a joker, so that’s what I be. Sometimes my other problems interfere and I can’t even think. So I’m quiet again. Silence more often than not, as you see. I’d be a great comedian. I’m witty enough. I fall back on humor all the time. It’s the only way I can be around people. I’m sure it’s the only way people tolerate me as well. I’m too down, too awkward, too quiet, too forgetful.

But I try so hard and by the end of the day, I am exhausted. It’s hard to interact. To remember all that stuff. What to say when, what not to say, what I’ve forgot, I check my calendar every minute of every day. I fill in every line with things to not forget. It’s a mess. Highlighted and scribbled to within an inch of its life. This, among other reasons, could be why I cry when I'm driving or taking a walk by myself. Last night, I walked along and sat by the lake in the dark. I had my iPod on so I don't know how loudly I was really crying. I do that often. Sometimes 3 or 4 times a week. Sometimes less. Other times I giddy-happy. To the point of near hysteria. I smile and laugh at nothing. If you've ever seen someone do it, then you know what I mean, otherwise you can't imagine. It's the craziest thing. Or I do girlish squee noises and sigh happily. But within an hour or so, I'm crying again. I cry while brushing my teeth sometimes. 

I’m only writing this now because I’m forgetting a lot more. And I can’t organize my papers and stories any more. I have to outline and draft and outline. Something is happening in my head and I don’t know what it is. It’s not bad, I’m sure, or scary. It’s like moving a couch to a different side of the room after 20 years of it being in one place. Just a shift that I’ll learn how to handle like everything else. If there is one thing I’m good at (even if I scream, kick and cry at first) it’s adapting. For someone who never remembers and is never in one place very long, adaption is easy. It’s how I live.      

Chapter 63: Frankenstein: The Destroyer as Creator

So I've been working on something a little more academic and wanted to post it just because. I've been on this "creators are destroyers" theme for a while and was thinking about that stupid argument of "destruction as a form of creation". In this post though, I get more scholarly and not so "fun". I also see that I haven't posted in far too long. I need to do that more, especially with all the stuff I have going on. Not amazing stuff, but stuff I can at least write about. Sort of.

Any way, this argument I summed up in this little post. What do I think? Can art be destruction? Is destruction creation? If you don't know the story of Frankenstein (I mean the real one. Did you know there is no such thing as Igor? I didn't even know who that guy was until a few years ago. Who the heck even made him up??) then please read it. It's actually very short and can be read in a day if you have nothing else to do. So here is my argument against destruction as creation. (A quick note: this is a very close reading of the first few paragraphs of chapter 5. Not the whole book. I used Barnes and Nobel Classics Edition [you should read the essays in the back, so cool!] in paper back, and cited the pages for you in case you want to check for yourself. But they're all pretty much from page 51. I love citing...)

All quotes taken from the revised version of "Frankenstein" (1831) by Marry Shelly (original 1818). 

Alec Newman and Luke Goss in
Hallmark Entertainment's "Frankenstein", 2004

Prometheus was an Olympian who brought fire to the mortals of Greece. With fire, they could not only warm themselves and cook and see in the dark, but fight each other and use the flame to burn down the homes of their enemies. They could forge weapons for destruction and then sharpen metal. Basically, fire lead to knowledge of destruction and means of killing. Prometheus didn’t mean for that happen. He only wanted the mortals to be able to see in the dark. He was the light-bringer. Mary Shelly’s “Modern Prometheus” didn’t intend for death, sadness, and destruction to follow his invention either, but that is the overall theme in Shelly’s gothic science fiction novel “Frankenstein”. The irony that she presents is how creation leads to destruction; or light to darkness. Chapter five displays the theme of creation (light) to destruction (darkness) in three parts: the setting of the scene, the creature’s appearance, and Victor’s reaction to what he’s done. Just the first few paragraphs off this unity through a close reading of the electrified text.    

The first level of language is for setting the scene. The dreary night outside of the laboratory was probably nothing compared to the emotions Victor Frankenstein was feeling as he finished the preparations for his creation to come to life. It’s dark as the “rain pattered dismally” against the creator’s windows. The scene is fixed with details like the nearly burnt out candle and the “half extinguished light” (51). The text is dealing with the balance of life and creation, which in the case of the scene is the fight between light and dark. The night outside is dreary and cold, but it is kept at bay, outside, for now. However, we can see from the candle that is burning low and is almost out, that soon destruction and darkness will emerge. The struggle is already there and eminent; there is no escaping the darkness to come unless the candle could somehow be made to burn longer. Darkness is coming.  

It is with “anxiety that almost amounted to agony” that Victor “gathers the instruments of life around him” in this tense scene. From this description, an excited, eager life-giver is ready to “infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing” (51). The language is charged with words of tension and description. Words like “spark”, “glimmer”, and “light” bring electricity to the scene even though the night is dreary. Victor is nearly a mirror of the night around him, lending himself for this moment to scene. He is anxious and in agony over his creation—excited but apprehensive. All contrasting emotions like the darkness outside and the burning candle inside with the instruments of life. He is more light than dark, more creator than destroyer with the “spark of being” he holds in his hands. This spark is another image of the light and life inside the room that battles against the waning time.    

The second level of language used is to describe the creature and its own conflicting presence and appearance. Just before the candle goes out entirely, leading the way to darkness, the “dull yellow eyes of the creature opened; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs” (51). The language here draws tension on the belief of whether the creature is really alive or not. With the candle having gone out, our vision of light and life, a tension of foreboding has entered the room and now the only light or life left in the room is this creature where the “spark of being” has been ignited. The words used to describe the new life are permeated with death as if to say, “You have created death, Victor”, which, in a sense of the rest of the novel’s events, he has. If the eyes are “dull” and “yellow”, then is it really alive? They’re not flickering and are even duller than the burned out candle. The color yellow is not often associated with life. Yellow is more of a decaying color. The creature’s breath is not easy either. It is convulsive and hard; far from relaxed.  There is a tension of opposites here in the words. Life has happened but the words to describe it are not entirely life-like. The creation is not “light” and pleasant.  

The third level is Victor. He does not feel the joy he expected to find after creating life—his own spark and light. At the sight of his creation, his light goes out and he says it is the “wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavored to form” (51). It is not the life he wanted to create, as if he can see its destructive capabilities already. To expound on this idea and show how life and death are both embodied in the creature, he described it as “limbs in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful” but then Victor exclaims “Beautiful!” as if to dispel what he has just said. This strong exclamation tells the audience that he is in disbelief. This thing does not look like life or light. It appears to be ugly, or rather dead and made for destruction. It could even be viewed as bring death to life or creating destruction, which goes back to the theme and unity of the novel. He goes on to explain why: “His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and the arteries beneath” (51). The image is gruesome with such vivid detail and yellow is again mentioned. But again, we see the tension in the words as he finishes describing the creature with “lustrous” and “flowing” black hair and “teeth of pearly whiteness” (51). There is light and there is darkness in his creation; we can see the result embodied in this creature, life and death. From creation comes death and the monster with its contrasting appearance is both, just as Victor was both at the start of the chapter.  

In a way, Victor feels like he’s failed. He set out to create something wonderful and he is not satisfied. He moans, “The different accidents of life are not so changeable as the feelings of human nature. I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body” (51). What he means is that he does not feel about his creation as he thought he would or should. He is also insinuating here that what he has created is not human or even alive, even though it clearly is. He also tells us that he had “worked hard”. This phrase could have been something more scientific sounding but instead, he uses simple words showing us just how worn out and tired he is. He is almost whining. He’s not the great creator after all. Then what is he? He says, “I had desired it with an ardor that far exceeded moderation”, he knows how unattainable this idea was, “the beauty of the dream vanished” (51). Victor’s light, hope, of creation has gone out like the candle before him. From his creation, he has spelled out his doom and he knows it. He is distraught because he is aware of the destruction he has created.   

Lastly, he says he was, “breathless with horror and disgust filled my heart” (51). The descriptions of his fear are filled with excitement but not the kind he desired or the kind at the start of the chapter. In a sense, his dream has died; the light has gone out, his path from creator to destroyer already begun where it will end in chapter twenty when he destroys the creature’s mate. He has not had any physical exertion and yet he is “breathless”. He has created life and yet he is filled with disgust. He is “unable to endure the aspect of the being” that he has created and yet he cannot even go back to confront it and change his human nature’s reactions. He has tried to justify his running away and abandoning his creation by examining the horror of it. Even though he has succeeded and created life, he is not satisfied because he sees that creation leads to destruction (destruction of his dreams and hopes for now). From this feeling of horror and fear, the path for death and destruction has been placed before the creator.

Just as Prometheus did not intend for his fire to corrupt mankind, neither did Victor Frankenstein understand what he brought into the world: his own destruction by his own hands through the means of his creation. Like Prometheus, he was doomed. With the fire came the knowledge and ability to create and harm; from the creation of Frankenstein came death and destruction and ultimately the maker’s own death. There cannot be destruction if there was not first creation, and there can be no creation without destruction.