Frankenstein - ch. 1-5

Following the opening letters of Frankenstein, Victor begins to tell his unfortunate tale at great length. Victor starts with the story of his parents. His father was much older than his mother, who was the daughter of Victor's father's best friend. Caroline's father was a failed merchant who found himself struggling to survive. Caroline was occupied with caring for her dying father. Upon her father's death, Alphonse chooses to take Caroline as his wife. Victor continues about his childhood in Geneva saying, "No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself (19)." Caroline adopted a beautiful young girl named Elizabeth, whom Caroline seems to intend to become Victor's wife. Victor is protective of Elizabeth referring to her as "my Elizabeth." Victor's best friend was a boy named Henry Clerval, who was the son of a merchant. This point is interesting because Victor's father's best friend was a merchant.

Victor became absorbed in studying the hokus pokus studies made by Agrippa, Paraclesus, and Magnus. When Victor goes on to attend the university at Ingolstadt, two professors, M. Krempe and M. Waldman, explain how those author's have little merit. However, these studies give Victor a background in the supernatural. Victor goes on to succeed in college, and he eventually learns the secret to animating life. He gathers body parts from graves and butcher's to construct the gigantic, eight-foot frame. Upon bringing life to the creature, Victor is terrified. In his sleep, the creature comes to his bedroom where he seems to reach out to Victor like a baby would. Though the creature gets the hint that he is not wanted by his creator.

Frankenstein - opening letters

These letters that open the Mary Shelley's Frankenstein are written from a man named Robert Walton. The letters are written to Walton's sister named Margaret. Walton ends every letter telling Margaret how much he loves her, which shows the good relations he has with his sister. However, it appears Walton has trouble relating to others. He writes to his sister saying, "You may deem me a romantic, my dear sister, but I bitterly feel the want of a friend (4)." The goal of Walton's journey is to reach the north pole and "discover the secret of the magnet." This lengthy journey seems to necessitate a friend through the perilous journey. Lucky for Walton (or possibly unlucky), the crew finds a man in the water, who's name is later revealed to be Victor Frankenstein. Victor and Walton immediately form a bond. They relate well to each other. The letters end with Victor agreeing to tell Walton the story of his misfortunes and how he was found in the arctic waters. Victor says he chose to tell Walton the story because he notices that they are both men who desire wisdom, and Victor does not want Walton to end up like he did. This is an example of the theme of duty during this story because Victor feels the duty to tell his story to Walton in order to prevent similar horrors from occurring.

APO 96225

The evident irony of APO 96225 develops the point of the horrors of war. I think Larry Rottman wrote this poem to tell readers that war is hell, and we should never have been in Vietnam or even any war for that matter. The title of this poem makes it sound like an alien abduction (since we're on the topic of alienation, i guess that came to mind), but this definitely is a poem of alienation. The son at war is alienated from the rest of society back home because he has seen and done far horrible things than people want to imagine. The son just writes to his mom some irrelevant topic which concerns his curious mother. After her pleadings, the son does tell his mother what is happening only to see his father write him back saying "don't say such things that upset your mother." At this point, the son knows his is completely separated from his family knowing that he cannot talk to them about what actually happens so he decides to go back to his original tactic of hiding his real actions. It is ironic that his mother would ask for the truth then complain about hearing it. Also, I found it interesting that the father was the one who wrote the son back not the mother because she was so distressed.

Much Madness is divinest Sense

Much Madness is divinest Sense, well honestly that title had me a little lost at first. However, Dickinson gets an important point across. Dickinson says that Madness is good sense and good sense is madness. Pretty much, Dickinson is saying being a hipster and be different. Dickinson writes,  "To a discerning Eye- Much Sense- the starkest Madness." Dickinson says that madness is appealing to the people that desire to learn. and understand.

In essence, Dickinson says that those who society deems as mad are the ones who are truly living. Madness is just a different way of thinking that provides effective modes to one's goal. However, society does not think so. People are dubbed as mad because they are different, and society just cannot deal with different people. In addition, Dickinson wants to make the point that good sense, or going with the flow, is madness because one who has "good sense" is a robot of life. These people with "good sense" do not question why things are done the  way they are and they just do it. Those who think differently are alienated and dubbed "mad."

I felt a funeral, in my Brain

The first line of the poem itself gives a clue to the poem being figurative. The line "I felt a funeral, in my brain" indicates that this funeral is not one of a person on earth. The reader can infer that the funeral has to do with the speaker when the speaker says, "and I dropped down, and down." This funeral of the speaker's brain most likely indicates some sort of developing madness in the speaker. The speaker is losing his or her mind. Throughout the poem, the speaker never sees anything. Most of the details come from other senses, mostly sound. This is another indicator that this is not a literal funeral because the speaker cannot hear anything if he is dead. I think I have developed a crazy theory myself: I believe that the speaker is creating this funeral because he is dead to his friends. The speaker may have lost his mind to the point where he does not appear to be the same person anymore. Because of this, his friends have chosen to ignore this mad person and preserve their memory of the speaker before he went mad.

Miss Brill

In Miss Brill, readers get to know the account of a delusional elderly woman who makes a routine of people watching every Sunday. It becomes clear that Miss Brill has been doing her Sunday routine when she notices that this is no ordinary Sunday since the band is playing more enthusiastically for the bigger than usual crowd. The music from the band seems to always match what is happening. At some points, the music softens for an emotional situation like the ermine toque's rejection, or the music disappears altogether when Miss Brill watches in suspense. Miss Brill is most likely delusional because she talks to her fur accessory  A defining example of Miss Brill's delusion is the last sentence that reads, "...and she swore she heard someone cry." Miss Brill does not even acknowledge her own crying since it had to have been Miss Brill who cried considering she was the only one in the room. Also, Miss Brill fails to recognize how she relates to the ermine toque. The ermine toque and Miss Brill are already related considering they wear the same sort of fur clothing. The ermine toque was rejected by a man similar to how Miss Brill was rejected by society when the young couple feels uncomfortable around her. Miss Brill is an English teacher in what appears to be a town in France. This detail further contributes to Miss Brill's alienation from society.

Bartleby the Scrivener

The story  of Bartleby the Scrivener is of a clash between the stubborn Bartleby and the passive Lawyer. This is not exactly a conflict though because the lawyer feels bad for Bartleby and the only problem is that Bartleby stops working and just lives in the office. At first, I thought Bartleby would be a symbol for the robotic worker who just does whatever his employer says, but then Bartleby said "I would prefer not." for the first of many times. The lawyer puts up with this for a surprisingly long time. The lawyer had some sort of a respect or showed concern for Bartleby. The lawyer makes many attempts to reach out to the alienated Bartleby; the lawyer even tries to help him financially. Eventually, Bartleby goes to prison. The lawyer still shows his care for Bartleby by suggesting that he gets the best food in prison, but Bartleby refuses to eat. When Bartleby finally dies, Melville creates sympathy for Bartleby. The lawyer reveals in the end that he discovered that Bartleby used to destroy letters that were intended for dead people. I can see how this would cause some psychological damage to a person leading to Bartleby's refusal to relate to any living person. I think the moral of the story is not to judge anyone until one knows that person's story.