The Monster of Malady

The Monster of Malady
Book Reaction Paper
By Mark Miller
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

This is more of a scientific examination compared to the Prometheus versus Lucifer approach. The motifs are alienation and estrangement. The Monster’s loneliness and despair reaches a level with which he could not revive himself from. It is both an existential and figurative death. Mary Shelley was showing us a future dystopia, which unlike the horror genre, is much more complex in nature .The story shows us the linear progression of alienation and its consequences. Alienation eventually digresses into estrangement ( total emotional disconnection with that of family, friends, and the self). At this point we are no longer in control of the self for we can no longer acknowledge one exists. All inner subjectiveness has been usurped. We can no longer visualize the implications of causation and effect.


Dr Frankenstein, intentionally, and the Captain, unintentionally, disregard and cut off communication to family and close friends to further their pursuits. Both misinterpret self interest and self affirmation to be one and the same. The captain, however, retains his ability of emotional regard ( internal constraint) and is able to turn his situation around to amend the external constraints. The Doctor having multiple chances to turn his ship around refuses to, why? Pride, envy, and hubris were Victors downfall. Thus, Victor was making decisions involving only logical reasoning with a cost-benefit calculation, failing to asses the incentive value. g. This can cause a failure to empathize with his family and friends due to a lack of feedback and external constraints which guide the internal constraints on how far you can push the limits.


The Monster is only the by-product of the story. He is the background to which the lessons reveal itself to. When one has too much of one thing and not enough of the other. The monster falls prey to the results of alienation by the lack thereof in free will and free won’t ( the choice to refuse). He had the emotional intelligence of a child and had no internal constraints to redirect his decisions once chosen. He did not have control of which had no internal constraints. His is of the default mindset; an automatic and linear thought process. The alienated self loses much of his or her sense of self from not only what they perceive but from what others perceive as well. And with no one there of emotional value to guide his cognitive choice acts entirely on feelings.


We are left with a strange creatures requiem with his master genes and subjugated to nothingness and meaninglessness. Since nothingness equates to non-existence there is only one way out of his dilemma; complete and utter self-destructiveness. A destruction of the world is the result of a man's failure to move beyond essence and the ability to change, existence. For if he cannot gain ownership of himself and the world without a type of parental love, supervision, love, and benevolence, then he compromises his place and standing of self-worth in the universe.





Human existence is guided by way of both cognitive and emotional computational algorithms.
We can fulfill ourselves with meaning in a universe which supplies non meaning if we stay in touch with the basic necessities humanness. By understanding how we make the decisions and choices we can better understand why others make their decision. To seek knowledge and experience not for just gain and support of one’s self but to share and give as much as you learned. To be patient with our fellow kind, and that of all other species of animals on our planet. And most of all to always be kind. When we find ourselves retreating to that dark shadowy place of power, greed, selfishness, and hostility we need to check ourselves to come back. Reality, and thus meaning is shaped by the one and the all. The indestructible is inside everyone of us and it is love.

We are left with a strange creatures requiem with his master genes and subjugated to nothingness and meaninglessness. Since nothingness equates to non-existence there is only one way out of his dilemma; complete and utter self-destructiveness. A destruction of the world is the result of a man's failure to move beyond essence and the ability to change, existence. For if he cannot gain ownership of himself and the world without a type of parental love, supervision, love, and benevolence, then he compromises his place and standing of self-worth in the universe.


"We are in a process of cultural self-destruction," Schweitzer writes. "...By a
general act of will freedom of thought has been put out of function, because many give up
thinking as free individuals, and are guided by the collective to which they belong. ...With
the sacrifice of independence of thought we have--and how could it be otherwise--lost
faith in truth."Schweitzer was a radical critic of industrial society. He debunked its myth of
progress and general happiness and noted the degree of misery in which many people live.
The only meaningful activity, he maintained, is activity of giving and caring for fellow
creatures. Schweitzer insists that our task is "not to retire into an atmosphere of spiritual
egotism, remote from the affairs of the world, but to lead an active life in which one tries
to contribute to the spiritual perfection of society. He concludes that our present cultural
and social structure is driving us toward a catastrophe from which only a new Renaissance
"much greater than the old one will arise." He emphasizes that we must, each of us,
become thinking human beings.

Resources:
Fromm, Eric. lecture notes. New York. ( Harper & Row) 1959. Print
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. London, (Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones) 1818. Print