Frankenstein, a blog post.

Frankenstein- a book, play, movie, and a massive misconception. This entire book is a betrayal to my very little knowledge of the monster’s (formerly known as “Frankenstein” the cartoon-ish green guy with screw heads for ears) past information. The following will show a summarization of the emotions and feelings I had throughout the past month or so of reading the book.

Initial Reading

My sister’s favorite book was Frankenstein, and because she rarely reads much; I was excited to read the book that clicked with my sister so well. I rented the book out and opened it up in great anticipation; only to zone out after about 15 minutes of reading. Mind you I am hyperactive, so this is pretty common. However, I managed to power through it in about a week. When I was reading I wasn’t looking for any deep meaning or anything, but one thing stuck out to me: this was nothing like what I thought this book would be like. Each page seemed to dismember what childish remembrance I had of this story. What I once knew was replaced by a more professionally produced production of planned paperwork that transformed the green guy with an outcasted being with feelings and emotions that I felt bad for. A lot of the things I read I took at face value, stored them in the back of my mind to maybe contemplate later, and I think this is was ultimately ruined the book for me. When I read through the book I never tried to understand anything. I didn’t realize what a thick and meaty story this was, so I treated it as another book with a plot that started and finished. Sure, I noticed sentences that were odd or neat, but never looked into the fat and succulent juices of this book. As for the reading itself, I enjoyed it and it wasn’t something hard to read through like Shakespeare as it was interesting to watch the character progression play out throughout the book.

In-Class Discussions

My brain takes quite a while to switch out of summer mode, so in the first few weeks, I didn’t really pay attention to anything. Oh was that ever a mistake. When it finally kicked into gear I was suddenly swamped by the text that I read and returned without a second thought. So I did what any person would do, I observed and took mental notes on everything I could. I was astounded by the amount of knowledge and meaning these people could pull from one book. Suddenly, things were making a lot more sense and connections were forming further piquing my interest in what was once a “stupid” book. Arrogance blinded me from the meaning of the text and when it was lifted only for a second I realized the refreshing taste of knowledge you can pull from the book. However, there was still a problem, when I read the book a good two months prior I read it only for the sake of reading it. A lot of things slipped from my memory about the book and I didn’t have the time to read it over again. This doomed me to a state of always relearning the text and I never took much time to account for my own critical analysis of the book. Sure I was hearing about the wonderful meaning of Victor’s emotion and the monster’s trials and significances, but without any time to analyze it myself, a lot of it didn’t matter during class. Looking back on it now with the proper mindset for looking into something so succulent to each page; I feel sad knowing I missed the variety of chances to contribute ideas I have now conjured after the period of in-class reading. The point of realization for me is when the POS movie made more sense to me than the weeks of analyzing it prior. To summarize, I was able to comprehend everything the class had said but was never all that interested until it was too late.

Conclusion

Frankenstein is one of my biggest regrets. I wish I delved into it more because of how much knowledge I could’ve gained from it. However, a lesson was learned from reading Frankenstein. Even though I thought I wasn’t taking things at face value, I really was. From now on I will learn from this mistake of aspiration to getting things done and take more time to learn from the books I read in order to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again.

Edit: added a Featured Image (Photo creds: My sister drew this a while back)

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7 thoughts on “Frankenstein, a blog post.

  1. Jimmy,

    This post completely blew me away. Your petchakucha was more conversational, so I haven’t had the privilege of reading your more formal writing up until now; I am so pleased that I got the opportunity.

    First of all, your diction was PHENOMENAL in this post. You employed so much outstanding vocabulary involved in this piece without compromising your writer’s voice, and that is an admirable feat that you should be proud of. Speaking of your voice, it remains just as prevalent here as it was in your first blog, but it doesn’t undermine the more formal structure of this post in the slightest. The more of you writing I read, the more it seems so uniquely true. You are true to your voice, you are true in your expression of your thoughts, and you are true in your ultimate conclusion. You never get drowned out by diction or lose sight of your message, and it makes your writing a 5/5 on the patented Jimmy Rating Scale ™.

    In terms of growth, I my only suggestion is to fix up a few grammar and punctuation errors. Your writing is some of my favorite I have gotten to read this year, and improving in this area means less distractions from your message and helps you communicate your points even more effectively.

    My final thought on this post is an appreciation not necessarily for the writing, but for your mentality. It takes a lot to be able to admit one’s flaws, but it takes a special breed of student to display such an earnest commitment to improving. I really respect your desire to grow, and I can’t wait to watch it happen.

    Love,
    Maria

    1. Maria,
      Sweet! Maria commented on 2/2 of my posts! Your comment really means a lot, and it’s good to see that I actually was doing the right thing diction wise. This was a sort of experimental post, which was made to see what I could do and how well I could do it, so it’s good to see it paid off. Thanks for the criticism of my grammar, as once again, this was an experimental post to find out what I can improve on.
      I look forward to reading your post, and once again thank you for reading mine.
      -Jimmy

  2. Hey Jimmy,

    I completely relate to everything you have said. I am actually planning on rereading the novel because I feel as though when I first read it I wasn’t paying enough attention. It really surprised me how similar our experiences were and I’m glad there is someone else who relates to how I feel. I love your honesty in this piece and how personal it was it allowed me to really connect into how you were feeling. Overall I felt your piece was not only strong but also unique its subject matter and its more personal and laid back tone.

    The only correction I really have is that you said that the Frankenstein we used to know had screw heads for ears but the screws were actually in his neck.

    I really really loved this piece and it was really refreshing to read about your journey with this novel. I look forward to reading your future blog posts.

    Sincerely,
    Abby

    1. Abby,
      Thanks for putting the time to write your comment on time (unlike me, sorry). Thanks for the positive enforcement of my writing, and it’s cool to hear that we had a similar experience while reading the novel. I guess it never occurred to me that the screws were in his neck, I somehow always saw the screws in his ears. Maybe the younger me thought he was a monster dumbo mixture or something.
      Once again, thanks for reading my post, and I look forward to seeing what you wrote.
      -Jimmy

  3. Dear Jimothy,

    It’s good to know that I wasn’t the only one who was astounded by the depth of Mary Shelley’s novel. Personally, I had assumed that it couldn’t be packing a whole lot since it was written a very long time ago, until I opened the book and was blown away by the amazing structure and plot of the novel. It really provided me a lot to chew on, just like your post. I enjoyed reading it, and found your voice very clear within this piece. I loved the structure of it, and how you related it to yourself personally, and what lessons you have learned from reading Frankenstein and discussing it in class.
    My only feedback would be for you to work a bit in the punctuation department. As the great Russell Baker once said: “In writing, punctuation plays the role of body language. It helps readers hear the way you want to be heard.” Your sentence variety was great, but perhaps using a few more commas and semicolons here and there would really put emphasis on your big lines.
    Having said that, I must agree with the other comments on here: this was an excellent piece. I feel truly blessed to have read this, and look forward to returning here again.

    Zaid

    1. Dear Zaid,
      Thanks for reading and for taking the time to comment! Once again, it’s nice to see someone was in the same surprised/ shocked situation I was in, as it’s sometimes nice to see someone else demise. (“Misery loves company”). I will try to work on using more commas and punctuation in my work, so thanks for pointing that out.
      -Jimmy

  4. Dear Jamie,
    First of all, the alliteration in this piece utterly astounded my ears. Your overall structure was great and the piece clearly had H-bonds. Man you are so honest and that is great putting yourself out like that on the second blog post, ambitious? reckless? maybe, respectable. Yes.
    Some things in your sentence structure distracted me. That is all I have to say about that.
    Daid, what are you thinking telling people to use semi-colons. Jamie, be careful as you take that advice. Semi-colons are… dangerous yet when used correctly,(that comma is capitalized) they are powerful.
    Sincerely, IB.

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