Student+-+Hamilton,+R

=Belonging in the 21st Century= =** Aviation **= = =  Aviation is a very broad term used to describe flying. It includes pilots, air traffic control men, designers and engineers. Almost everyone on this planet has somewhat belonged to the group of Aviation. But what makes aviation, aviation? The aircraft. The aircraft of the world are what define aviation. There are hundreds, no, thousands of different types of aircraft in the world today. Aircraft that have fixed wings, moving wings, no wings, with an engine, with multiple engines and even no engine. Some aircraft that fly for travel, some for writing words out of smoke, some even for destroying other aircraft. Many types of aircraft for many different reasons. This article shows a few of the many types of aircraft available. Why do so many people become involved in aviation? It’s because since the dawn of time, men (and women, I guess) have looked up to watch the birds flutter about, and think ’what if?’ Even today, children today look towards those birds dipping and diving through the sky and think ‘what if?’  A lot of people have a fear of flying even though it is the world’s safest mode of travel. It could be because they had a traumatic accident with them, or it could because they’re to sissy and can’t stand being several kilometres above the ground. Most people in Australia believe that Aviation in Australia is safe, see article. Aviation, like all transport has a risk factor involved with it. There are always accidents that occur, either through people's negligence or just freak accidents, see this article. but compared to other types of transport, it is almost nil. This is because there is such extensive training to do with it. When learning to drive a car, all you need to know about the car is whether it is either an auto or a manual, but when learning to fly an aircraft, you need to know how everything works. How the engine works, how wings produce lift, what forces act upon the aircraft, how to navigate, to communicate and to control the aircraft. Sorry for getting all zen here, but you need to be one with the aircraft. This aspect of belonging reflects a major human experience in the 21st century. The means to fly anywhere and at any time. This was something people could have only dreamt of less than a century ago. This is something that plays a huge part in out culture today, and in the future, it looks to be bigger. Much bigger.

= ** Frankenstein ** =

1. The novel begins with a series of letters in which the narrator of the novel is writing his thoughts and plans to his sister. Where is the narrator going? Why has he chosen to make this voyage? Of what does the narrator dream? What is his goal? The narrator, Robert Walton is an English ship captain who as a young child was heavily influenced by the stories of the famous voyages of man. He grows up in awe of these glorified men and dreams of becoming one for himself. He plans to sail to the oceans surrounding the northern pole in hopes of seeking glory and fame through an accomplishment which is untold during the story.

2. What sort of man is Walton? Does he serve any //thematic// function in the novel, or is he included as a “storyteller” – that is, is he included simply as a mechanical narrative device? Walton’s education was neglected as a young child, yet he was still fond of reading. He grew up reading poetry and the tales of famous voyages in his uncle’s library. When he was older he started to study mathematics, medicine and the physical science acquainted with seafaring. Walton is the human parallel of the Creature. Walton searches for companionship and finds it in Frankenstein who washes aboard his ship near the North Pole. The Creature also seeks companionship and believes to have found it in the ‘Cottagers’ but when he reveals himself to them, they reveal their disgust of him.

3. Is Robert Walton’s ambition similar to Frankenstein, as Frankenstein believes? Yes, both Walton’s and Frankenstein’s ambitions are similar due to both of them wanting to expand their knowledge in the area of Natural Philosophy.

4. Work out a character sketch of Victor Frankenstein, concentrating on his values and psychological makeup. What does he value? What motivates him? What appear to be his “moral Standards”? Victor Frankenstein mostly values knowledge above all things, even his family and friends sometimes. He wishes to learn more and more throughout his youth and this road eventually leads him to discovery how to bring life to corpses. He is motivated by his friends and family and also his need to have knowledge. His moral standards were high during his youth, but once he let knowledge have the upper hand in his life, they drop low enough for him to plunder corpses in order to fulfil his experiments.

5. Compare Victor and Elizabeth Victor is very intelligent and has a huge fondness for nature, same as Elizabeth. But the main difference between them is that Victor is more of a selfish and less reliant character while Elizabeth is more loving and reliant on her friends. This is shown when William, Frankenstein’s younger brother is murdered and one of their friends, Justine is framed for it, Elizabeth only starts to regain her spirits when she is comforted by Victor and her other friends, yet Victor regains his hopes not by the companionship of his friends and family, but through isolation in nature.

6. Compare Henry to Victor and to Elizabeth. How does Elizabeth affect Victor and Henry? Both Henry and Victor are highly interested in the acquisition of knowledge. Henry and Elizabeth are both supportive to Victor during his downfalls both mentally and physically.

7. The first three chapters tell us about Victor Frankenstein’s childhood and youth; the fourth, about his “discovery” of the principle of life. Why does Mary Shelley devote so much space to Victor’s childhood environment and his education? In the book, Mary Shelley devotes the first three chapters of the book to Victor’s childhood due to three reasons. Firstly, the audience needs to see what sparked Victor’s interest in chemistry and the eventual search for the ‘elixir of life’, secondly, Shelley had to introduce the characters of Henry and Elizabeth into the storyline and point out how much they both meant to Victor and thirdly the telling of victor’s childhood is to make the audience empathise for the character more which creates more of an emotive response to the tragedy that is Victor Frankenstein.

8. Describe the appearance of the creature that Frankenstein creates? The creature that Frankenstein creates has yellow skin that scarcely covers its muscles and arteries, long black hair, white teeth and watery eyes of dun-white. It had a shrivelled complexion, black lips and its body was of great proportions.

9. When the creature is created, where is the __focus__ in this section? On the process of creation? On the Creature? Somewhere else? In the beginning of this section, the focus is on the setting of the scene then near the end of the first paragraph it switches its focus to the Creature as it is ‘born’. It focuses on the appearance of the Creature.

10. When the Creature tells his story, notice the place Victor Frankenstein meets his Creature. Why is this setting particularly appropriate The setting of their meeting is the top of Montanvert and is incredibly isolated which matches both the Creature’s and Frankenstein’s mentality at the time because both are suffering from isolation.

11. What does the Creature’s story reveal about the Creature’s “natural instincts”? What gives him pleasure? What does he value? Of what does the Creature’s education consist of? The Creature’s story reveals that its natural instincts were that of acceptance. Before the monster is reveals himself to the DeLaceys, he is made happy by the sight of them exchanging love and affection and wishes to feel the same as them. Only when he is ill-treated by the DeLaceys does he become enraged. The Creature’s education consists of him watching the lessons taught to the Arabian women by the DeLaceys.

12. Why can’t ordinary humans accept the Being’s appearance? What does this inability imply about the basis of human community? In other words, why so much emphasis on physical similarity and dissimilarity? Ordinary humans cannot accept the Creature’s appearance because humans are so caught up in their first impressions of the Creature, which is that it’s a foul disfigured monster, to actually accept it in any way. This inability implies that human communities cannot accept anything dissimilar to their own.

13. What argument does the creature offer in support of his demand? Why? Is it a reasonable argument? The Creature demands of Frankenstein a female with whom he can be alienated from mankind with. He argues in support of this demand that he will retreat from human civilisation with his equally disfigured mate and never be seen again by human eyes. He also says that they will not have happy lives but they will be harmless. The Creature says that the female will be of the same nature as his and will live like he will, yet the Creature cannot fully know if the female will be like him. This argument is not reasonable because there is no way of knowing that the female will go along with the pact made before its creation or whether the creation of the female will cause more damage than not creating it.

14. Why can’t Frankenstein tell anyone – even his father or Elizabeth- why he blames himself for the deaths of William, Justine and Henry Clerval? The reason is because the thought of creating a creature from plundered corpses is so ludicrous that everyone would think that he is mad.

15. Why are Frankenstein and his monster both ultimately miserable, bereft of human companionship, and obsessed with revenge? Are they in the same situation at the end? Frankenstein and his monster are both responsible for each other’s miserable and lonesome lives. Frankenstein created his monster so disfigured that no one could ever love such a beast and in return the Creature kills everyone Frankenstein loved. They are both in similar situations, but not the exact same because Frankenstein has more of a right to revenge than the Creature does.

16. In an influential essay, the Romantic scholar and critic Harold Bloom wrote that the reader’s sympathy lies with the Creature, but in his book __The Romantic Conflict__ (1963) Allan Rodway says the reader’s sympathy lies with Victor Frankenstein. Who is right? Both are correct. The reader’s sympathy changes from both Frankenstein and the Creature throughout the book. When the Creature recounts his tale in Volume 2, the reader feels mostly sympathy for the Creature who just wishes to be loved and accepted by human kind. But as the Readers goes into volume 3, the sympathy towards the Creature is lost due to his sociopathic and sadistic ways and is transferred to Frankenstein who suffers greatly throughout the 3rd volume.

17. Was it wrong for Frankenstein to inquire into the origins of life? No, it was never wrong for Frankenstein to inquire into the origins of life because all he wanted was to find out how to stop death from occurring, which is something we all would like to see done. He did go too far though when creating his own monster.

18. What makes the Creature a monster rather than a human being? The fact that the Creature can kill innocent people without remorse makes it a monster. The Creature being made from plundered corpses has not much to do with it, if the Creature was compassionate and loving always then I would call it human.

19. Is the monster, who can be persuasive, always telling the truth? It is hard to accurately say whether or not the Creature always tells the truth or not, but I believe it does tell the truth always because Shelley portrays the Creature with such emotion when recounting his story and convincing Frankenstein to create a female for him that the Reader feels as if the Creature is truly honest.

Shelley’s Gothic Novel

__Volume I, Chapter IV (p52)__ 1. . Frankenstein Senior’s precautions that Victor’s mind should be impressed with no supernatural horrors were in Victor’s case a bad idea. Due to Victor not fearing horrors, he became desensitised to what could become of his creation. If he was exposed to them, he may have feared what his creation would do before he gave life to it. There is a certain irony that occurs here. Victor, being taught at a young age that horrors, such as the ones found in novels, inevitably creates a real supernatural horror.

__Volume I, Chapter V__

2. No, due to modern movies and games, people in the 21st century have become desensitised and no longer respond in fear due to books.

Victor’s reaction to his creature is unavoidable because when he is creating his experiment, he is caught up in the idea of if his experiment works, he could potentially stop death. But as his creature comes to life he realises in a moment of dread what he has done and how disfigured his creation truly is.

__Volume I, Chapter VIII__

i) modern reader would normally react to Victor’s inaction during the trial of Justine Moritz with despair. The reader would know that even if Victor spoke out about the monster he had created and that it alone was responsible for the death of William Frankenstein, the judges at the trial would overlook it as the ramblings of a madman, due to the creation of a man-made humanoid is too farfetched to contemplate.

** __ Question: __ ** Shelley’s use of characterisation reveals a great deal about the early 19th century context in which she was writing. Do you agree? Support your response with specific reference to at least two characters in the novel. The characterisation of Victor reveals a great deal about the early 19th century. It shows the reader, through Victor’s fixation for knowledge and discovery, that the 19th century was the beginning of a new age of advancement in technology, starting with the industrial revolution. Henry Clerval, Friend of Victor, was shown, through the use of direct characterisation, to be a character who loved books of romance and chivalry. He was a Romantic, like many others during this time. Like other romantics, Henry wasn’t interested in the advancement of science and technology, he preferred simpler things like nature and his books. The Romantics beseeched society to not forsake nature and its beauty and become entirely dependent on technology through the use of art, music and literature. Therefore, both Victor and Henry reveal a great deal of information about what the society of the 19th century was like and what was going through.