Not doing anything right.

Quite a list! These seven identifiers appear nine times in just the first few pages after the creature awakens, alongside four proper names (Elizabeth, Henry Clerval, Dante, and Frankenstein) and identifiers that seem far less loaded (“mother,” “porter”) (83-85; vol. 1, ch. 4).

Although I can only guess whether or not the mathematical imbalance holds up over the course of the novel, the imbalance of power it implies certainly does, and it enables mislabeling the creature as Frankenstein. The confusion might stem partly from how large a gap often exists between Shelley’s novel and the versions we receive, but would we confuse the two characters so easily if the creature had a name?

I’m also struck by the difference between words like “mother” and “porter” that identify familiar social positions and words like “creature” and “wretch” that provide no such clarity, unless they hint that the creature’s role is to be exactly that — a creature. If so, who gives him that role?

I ask these questions to kick off our first conversation with two related divisions: between those with names and those without and between those who “fit” and those who don’t. I’m curious to talk more about what these binaries might mean and to read about the other divisions folks notice.

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^^^ See that? Call it a model of your first set of notes, due tomorrow by class time. Yours need not look just like this one (in structure, length, etc.), except in containing the fundamentals: two binaries or divisions, evidence from the novel that represents them, and some of your own thinking. (My post happens to use one collection of quotations that represents both divisions, but yours might not.)

n.b. ∨∨∨ That’s part of the model, too — aim to tag all of your posts!