Frankenstein - Chapter 2

So I’ve gotta say, though I’m realizing this is kind of ironic given how I’ve spoken of him so far…I kind of identify with kid Vic. I’m so at odds with myself over saying that. Like, on the one hand I feel like maybe this was Shelley kind of intentionally making Vic have a background that maybe a lot of bookish kids had (I have no idea what childhood was like back in Shelley’s time… it’s actually kind of an overlooked portion of history, the lives of children throughout history). But there are some parallels there. So, I guess a bit of personal info may be of use here.

I was always one of the more bookish kids when I was young. I usually had a book out from the library more times than not, and I would read secretly at night past my curfew, and sometimes my mom would catch me and tell me to go to sleep. I got really adept at listening for them and pretending to be asleep when I heard her door open. This said, the kind of books I read weren’t what other children who read a lot were often absorbed with. I mostly checked out reference books and encyclopedias. I think around the time I had seen a few episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and that got me interested in Greek mythology. My elementary school had this encyclopedia of greek myths with wonderful illustrations of all of the different monsters and I loved it. From there I developed an interest in monsters generally. I’d look through drawing books on them, I had a lot of reference books about folkore and mythical creatures. Eventually, this led to a broader interest in the supernatural and paranormal, as I was fascinated particularly with the chupacabra. Fascinated and kind of afraid/excited all at once. I remember I’d started to read books that dealt more and more with the paranormal and I explicitly remember that for several school career days I stated that I wanted to be a cryptozoologist. It all seemed really fascinating to me, and I think that interest in the ethereal/occult has kind of stuck with me as I’m now working on my MA thesis in performance studies exploring ideas of spirituality, ritual, and archetypal dreaming.

For this reason, I guess, I’m kind of able to easily imagine being a kid (though I was a good deal younger than Vic is here) and finding a strange book and becoming really fascinated with the unique ideas in it. Victor, on a trip with some of his friends when he’s thirteen, finds a book by Cornelius Agrippa. He becomes fascinated with these books on occultism and esotericism. He’s very quick to give an interesting moment of reflexivity here, saying that he figures if his dad had said why he believed Agrippa to be not worth reading, than Victor probably would’ve put the book down and not looked back. I find it funny that of the hard sciences, the only one he seems interested in is mathematics. Again, this is something I can relate to. I’m terrible at mathematics, though I try to read the analytic philosophers when I’m able to because I think it’s really fascinating stuff.

Victor becomes a bit of a starry-eyed occult-enthusiast. He’s interested by a lightning storm, and theories of galvanism (I know where this is going) which sort of overtake his fondness for the Agrippa, Magnus, and Paracelsus. Although he’s still mournful about ever having gotten involved in any of this.

I will say, as I’m writing this out I’m wondering why I was originally so mistrustful of Victor. I guess there’s still definite room for this to change. My initial image of him was as a wholly abusive and cackling m** scientist, who shouts at Igor and does… I’m not exactly sure… with Adam. This is actually pretty refreshing. Yeah, he’s overdramatic at times, but he’s also rather pensive, thinks fondly of his friends and family, and in particular I note that he’s rather aware of his privilege all things considered. He’s aware that, at least among his peers, his parents are particularly loving and supportive and he recognizes that this has had an impact on his ability to even pursue intellectual goals.

Interested in where this is going. The chapters are much less plot driven than modern books and are centered around particular themes instead, it seems.