Frankenstein: The MOMster

There is really no question about it; Victor Frankenstein was not a good mother. At least not that we've seen thus far. A volume into Mary Shelley's novel, we see Victor call his creation ugly, run screaming into the night away from it, and not even give the creature a name. Yes, the "monster" is made out of the body parts of dead humans. And yes, if the creature I just created out of dead body parts was reaching out for me with a huge, dead hand, I would probably be very tempted to run shrieking into the darkness too. Fortunately, I am not planning any wild scientific experiments with life anytime soon. But Victor, in a seemingly very literal sense, is the monster's "mother"--his creator. It is no wonder that the creature faces a wall of abandonment issues and develops a hatred of all things humans that causes him to murder Victor's brother. It is hard to justify murder, yet it is also hard to justify abandoning your "child"  to the horrors of this world. 


Unfortunately, this is not only a fictional tragedy. We are bombarded with stories everyday of parents abandoning their children (here), or neglecting their well-being (and here) --or worse, harming their children (and worst of all, here). Mothers are supposed to be the source of love, nurturing, and all-around well-being of their children. It is through our mothers (and fathers) that we learn how to be the best person we can be. It is a huge responsibility to be a mother; a human being is looking at you to be the source of everything. Yet what an honor and opportunity to be everything to a child. Hopefully, parents everywhere can learn something about the vital importance of "mothering" from the lack thereof by Victor Frankenstein.


Here is what I have learned so far from Victor: 

1. DO NOT devote every waking minute to the building of a creature made out of body parts.   ...but...
2. If I happen to ignore lesson #1, DO be sure to expect my creature to be hideous. 
3. If said creature is hideous, despite being scared, DO NOT abandon him to wreak havoc on the rest of civilization. I brought him into this world and he is my responsibility to love, educate, and look after. 

and really...

1. DO study how said creature picked up language so fast and actually comprehended Paradise Lost on such a deep level during his first reading..