Frankenstein – dis/lit 20

Shelby, Libby, & Meredith’s Final Paper

Libby Wruck, Shelby Steele, Meredith Miller

ENGL 384-01

Dr. Foss

April 28, 2020

Reading Victor Frankenstein as Autistic

Autistic characters often appear in Victorian literature, although there was no concept of autism during that time. By retrofitting a modern diagnosis to a piece of gothic literature, we are making the claim that a character is autistic, not an autistic person. This means that the characteristics that we associate with autism are not necessarily accurate to the real life experience of autism, nor should these stereotypical characteristics be used as a reference for real people with autism. Using Stuart Murray’s “Autism” as a baseline on the current knowledge of the condition and as well as the current diagnostic materials found in DSM-V we make the argument that Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s novel, “Frankenstein” can be read as autistic.

Our modern understanding of autism is based on the facts that were given by Murray. It is agreed that the knowledge on autism is based less so on the definitive signs and symptoms and many autistic people present various traits. Many of the symptoms have become stereotypes, so we use the book by Murray to separate the harmful stereotypes from the variations of Victor’s experiences. Although autism is relatively undefinable as the experience is varied, we use patterns of traits that are found in autistic people in modern times to create this diagnosis. We admit to not being medical professionals; we make this ‘diagnosis’ as an observation using our acquired knowledge on the condition. Some traits that can be grouped into a social interaction category are of atypical relationships or negative relationships with those who are neurotypical, either heightened or lack of empathy, and overall discomfort in social situations. Similarly, we outline some behavioral traits as special interests, isolation, a lack of sense of personal danger, the prominence of masking, and atypical reactions. Masking is a common autistic concept where an autistic person hides their autistic traits in an attempt to blend in with neurotypical society.

One of the most defining aspects of Victor Frankenstein’s character, is his construction of the creation. He spends the years leading up to his creation studying vigorously at school, “Two years passed in this manner, during which I paid no visit to Geneva”(Shelley 22). He is hyper-fixating on this project at the cost of his social bonds with his family and his own health. Frankenstien’s need to complete his experiment at all costs can be associated with the modern interpretation of autistic men’s special interest with STEM, though this is a stereotype. Frankenstein can even be read as a savant, a harmful stereotypical trait the media associates with autistic men.

Frankenstein does not have typical responses to death and the human body, “Darkness had no effect upon my fancy, and a churchyard was to me merely the receptacle of bodies deprived of life, which, from being the seat of beauty and strength, had become food for the worm. Now I was led to examine the cause and progress of this decay and forced to spend days and nights in vaults and charnel-houses. My attention was fixed upon every object the most insupportable to the delicacy of the human feelings”(38). He only views a body as a body, not a person who has lived. This lack of empathy and connection between a body and a person reveals some of the workings of an atypical mind. Frankenstein tries to mask when interacting with the creation; “I thought that as I could not sympathize with him, I had no right to withhold from him the small portion of happiness which was yet in my power to bestow” (129). He does not agree to make the creation a wife out of sympathy for his plight, he does it because he does not want the creation to keep bothering or threatening him. This lack of empathy can be found in people with autism, not to coincide with a lack of empathy in autistic characters with evil actions, though this connection will be touched upon later.

Even Frankstein’s responses to social interaction fit under the purview of autism. Early in the book, he describes his social comfort as “It was my temper to avoid a crowd and to attach myself fervently to a few. I was indifferent, therefore, to my schoolfellows in general; but I united myself in the bonds of the closest friendship to one among them” (24). Victor is content with his few friends and has little desire to make more, this can also be read as him either not knowing how to make more friends or his classmates not being able to understand his behavior. Because of his lack of typical empathy as shown above, his relationships with his family are damaged because they are unable to understand this lack of interaction with them as not indifference, but rather an inability to understand their desire for this interaction.

With the modern knowledge of autism, the traits of Victor Frankenstein portrayed in Mary Shelley’s novel hold an austistic narrative. Many autistic stereotypes are viewed as negative in both fictional works and reality; however, stereotypes are what must be used in reading characters as every case is different. The common public perception of autism results in a stereotypical expression of people with autism in all forms of media, including literature. A reading of Victor Frankenstien as autistic gives insight into the negative portrayals and stereotypes associated with autistic people. Throughout the novel, Victor makes decisions neither the characters nor the readers fully understand, resulting in the villainization of the character. This is because the other characters and the readers expect a neurotypical response, while Victor is unable to react in that way. Because of this, the creation is given a more sympathetic narrative, despite Victor losing his entire family and best friend as well as people’s inability to sympathize with Victor’s neurodiversity. The stereotypical autistic traits Victor portrays have a direct correlation to why he is read as evil and often viewed as the antagonist of the novel. Much of the treatment for autistic people is determined by public perception of autism that is fueled by stereotypes. Thus, making Shelley’s use of stereotypes to be both negative and positive.

Word count: 1022

I hereby declare upon my word of honor that I have neither given nor received unauthorized help on this work.

Samantha Rogers & Taylor Butlers final paper on Autism illustrated through literature

DJ Savarese’s poem Alaska and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein are comparable in that both main characters in the texts struggle with communication. The creature, made by Victor Frankenstein, is depicted as a monster that is not quite human. Once the creature becomes aware of his hideous appearance, he feels lonely and isolated. Much like the creature, DJ Savarese feels isolated. Although DJ’s outward appearance does not exhibit scary features, his lack of communication skills affect his interaction with others. Due to being autistic, DJ struggles to communicate and sometimes relies on a facilitator to guide him along. Even though DJ has assistance and support from facilitators, he is aware that he lacks support from others. In regards to the creature, Victor Frankenstein can be seen as the creature’s facilitator, as Victor is the only one who truly understands him. However, differently from the facilitator’s mentioned within DJ Savarese’s poem, the creature’s facilitator does not support him. Within both texts, it is evident that communication barriers have an impact on the both creature and DJ Savarese, as they seek to remove themselves from feelings of isolation.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, is a novel that displays the struggles that the main character, Victor, must face. His creation is much different than the other characters within the book. The creation becomes aware of his repulsive appearance and his lack of communication skills, produces rage. Wanting to learn to communicate like a human, the creation observes a family from the outside. After constantly being reminded of his scary and ugly outward appearance, the creature craves the company of someone like himself. Wanting a female companion to be created for him, the creature seeks Victor with hopes that he will do so. Victor’s refusal to create a female companion leads to escalating aggression within the creature. Isolated and unlike anyone/anything else, the creature uses violence to make his voice heard. The creature’s struggle in being different and unable to communicate with others is comparable to DJ Savarese’s poem Alaska.

Alaska by DJ Savarese is a poem that illustrates a struggle with communication through the use of metaphor; like Mary Shelley in Frankenstein. The poem begins with the following quote, “hours of light like heat hibernating, great icebergs hear the cries of the hurt just like they’re trying really, really to be free” (Savarese, 279). The light could metaphorically mean the light that is inside of an individual with autism, being trapped by society. This displays how society dehumanizes people with autism and places them into a box. The iceberg metaphor may symbolize facilitators, in which they are able to hear the desire to be free; free to be whom they are. The facilitators are assistive and are able to sympathize with the individuals for who they really are and what they desire most; which in this poem is freedom. The entirety of the first line may be compared to Frankenstein’s creation and what he endures throughout the novel. The iceberg in Frankenstein could represent the old Mr. De Lacey. There are other lines throughout the poem that are representations of the creature in Frankenstein.

While reading the poem, the line, “they try to yearn from freedom but they fear it” linked back to what the creature struggles with in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, (Savarese, 279). The above quote also explains how others can view individuals with Autism and then not understanding their responses. The word “fear” in the poem means it is the fear of someone not understanding a person with Autism if they are not facilitated in some way. The word “hurt” also appears quite frequently, which could be interpreted as the hurt/frustration that DJ feels when people judge him or are not patient with him simply because he has Autism. The wording and analysis of the poem coincides with that of Frankenstein’s creation. The creature feels akin to DJ because of the way he is treated by Dr. Frankenstein, the De Lacey’s, the townspeople, and many more.

DJ Savarese, an autistic individual, discusses communication in Cultural Commentary: Communicate with Me. He describes the issues he suffers without his facilitator as well as the proper steps in order to de-escalate from certain situations. Savarese describes how the people around him do not understand how to communicate with him. Savarese addresses questions that he is asked frequently such as, “If you don’t know me very well, can you just start talking to me? Yes, but I might act like you’re not there at first. It takes dear, real self-time to tell my breaking-the-barrier heart to quit pounding so loudly, so I can respond” (Savarese 2010). Savarese’s main point in his commentary is that nobody around him understands his plight. The type of communication that is being discussed can also be seen in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

Frankenstein’s creation, who can be perceived as an autistic individual, who is initially rational, but when communicating his thoughts, he tends to struggle. The creature feels unhappy and depressed because no one around him understands his wants or needs. Dr. Frankenstein’s first reaction was awful, solely because he did not know how to address the creature, nor how to communicate with him. The narrator confirmed that the facilitator does not do everything for them, but that they play a major role in making sure that he is calm. When he is not calm, the facilitator provides comfort and is able to communicate in ways that do not require speaking, like sign language. In a way, the De Lacey family is the creation’s facilitator.

Even though the family is horrified by the creature’s appearance and the fact that the creature was touching old Mr. De Lacey, Felix brutally attacks the creature, while Agatha screams; neither of which are positive methods of communication. Old Mr. De Lacey is the only character that shows no prejudice due to his blindness, he was not able to see the creature’s appearance. The family poses as the creature’s facilitator even without the awareness of his existence, regardless of the distance, they still helped him in many ways. The main characters, as well as the townspeople, whom he encounters lack communication because they do not understand his needs.

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and DJ Savarese’s poem Alaska, communication barriers are evident. Within Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein creates a creature that is vastly different from the human race and is not what he expected. Its ugly and scary appearance frightens others, leaving the creature feeling angry and isolated. Similar to the creature, DJ Savarese struggles with the ability to communicate in a “normal” manner, due to being autistic. In both texts, individuals are seeking support and to be removed from isolation. Although DJ Savarese has difficulties communicating, he does have support and guidance from facilitators, which is not the case for the creature. The creature, on the other hand, is seen as frightening and is not supported by his creator, which leads to aggressive behaviors towards Victor and his family members. Within both texts, it is evident that communication barriers have an impact on the creature and DJ Savarese, as they seek to find support from others.

Works Cited

Savarese, DJ. “Communicate with Me.” Disability Studies Quarterly, 2010, dsq-sds.org/article/view/1051/1237.

Savarese, Ralph James. “Alaska.” Reasonable People: a Memoir of Autism and Adoption. New York: Other Press, 2007. Pp. 279.

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein, Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library, web.archive.org/web/20110207085418/etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=SheFran.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=19&division=div1.

Honor Pledge: Taylor Butler and Samantha Rogers

Word count: 1278

Meg’s Final Analysis on the Birth of Frankenstein’s ‘Creation’, and Ableist Parent’s Autism Diagnosis Experience

Earlier in the semester, we focused quite a bit on the character of Victor Frankenstein, the titular character in Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein. We discussed how Victor could represent a character with depression, schizophrenia, or a number of other possible invisible disabilities. We touched on his ‘creation’ from time to time as well, in associate with Rosemary Garland Thompson’s Introduction: From Wonder to Error—A Genealogy of Discourse in Modernity” from Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body, among other theories. But I think that we should circle back and revisit Dr. Frankenstein and his creation now that we have learned more about autism. By analyzing the passage in which Victor Frankenstein experiences the ‘birth’ of his ‘creation’ it is impossible to ignore the way in which his experience coincides with the depiction of the experience of an ableist parent, such as Jenny McCarthy, discovering their child’s autism diagnosis, outlined in Julia Miele Rodas, “Introduction” rather succinctly, which shows us just how far we have left to go in deconstructing the rampant ableism in our own society.

Shelley begins Dr. Frankenstein’s experience, at the moment the creature opens his eyes, “How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!” (Shelley 37). It is clear that up until this moment, throughout the two years he had been working on his ‘creation’, he never once thought of him as anything less than his own beautiful summation of his blood sweat and tears. His ‘creation’ was exactly as he was intended to be, with, “limbs […] in proportion” and “beautiful” features (37). This mirrors what a parent typically sees in their child(ren): the most beautiful thing(s) they have ever created. We see similarities in Jenny McCarthy’s depiction of her son in the doctor’s office just before his diagnosis, as written in her book Louder Than Words, “Evan ‘had taken those ear cones the doctors use to look inside your ears and had made the most perfect row lined up across the room’”. McCarthy goes on to detail that she found this behavior ‘”cute”’ (Rodas 15). McCarthy’s choice of the words “perfect” and “cute” illustrate that prior to her son’s diagnosis, she, like Dr. Frankenstein and his ‘creation’, saw no problem with her child. The similarities do not stop here.

Within the first line of this passage, the reader is aware of Dr. Frankenstein’s flurry of emotions upon witnessing the birth of his ‘creation’. His use of the words “catastrophe” and “wretch” illustrate the change in the doctor’s perception of his ‘creation’ from “beautiful” to seemingly grotesque. Frankenstein continues, “The different accidents of life are not so changeable as the feelings of human nature. I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing lie into an inanimate body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.” (Shelley 37). In this passage Dr. Frankenstein acknowledges his change in feelings toward his ‘creation’. He, not unlike a parent, has put his all into his ‘creation’ for years until this point. But, the moment his ‘creation’ opens his eyes he no longer recognizes him as the “beautiful” being he was moments before.

This, again, mirrors Jenny McCarthy’s own ableist reaction to the diagnosis of her son, “’Everything I had thought was cute was a sign of autism’” (Rodas 15). As we’ve just read, moments earlier McCarthy had seen her son’s behavior as “cute”, and she has now dehumanized them into strictly symptomatic behaviors, or as Rodas puts it, as “autism’s antihuman identity” (Rodas 16). McCarthy goes on, “The things I’d thought were character traits were in fact autism characteristics, and that was all I had. Where was my son, and how the hell did I get him out?” (16). McCarthy’s inability to see her son, and insistence upon seeing his once “cute” “character traits” as non-communicative autonomic compulsions that he needed saving from, illustrate the dehumanization of her own son due to her ableist blinders. This is further exemplified by McCarthy’s interaction with her own doctor, who states that her son “is still the same boy you came in here with”, and her response “No, in my eyes he wasn’t,” (16). Much like Doctor Frankenstein no longer sees his ‘creation’ as the same “beautiful” being that he had known for years, neither does McCarthy see her own son as the “cute” boy that she had raised until this point.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein is chock-full of material to analyze through the lens of Disability Studies, from the Doctor’s many possible invisible disabilities, to the various possible physical and invisible disabilities that his ‘creation’ could be seen to represent. But perhaps more interesting, at least to me, is the way in which the interactions between the Doctor and his ‘creation’ or either character and the outside world, can be seen to represent interactions between the disabled community and the non-disabled community. How do we see things differently today, or do we? One example can be found in the problematic way that many ableist parents fear the diagnosis of autism for their children as most parents would fear a deadly illness. Which is ironic, given that this same fear pushes many to avoid modern medical treatments such as vaccines, under the misguided notion that they may cause autism; literally risking their children’s lives to avoid an autism diagnosis. This best illustration of this dehumanizing fear is Jenny McCarthy’s experience of the diagnosis of her son with Autism, and the succinct reflection of that experience within Dr. Frankenstein’s experience of witnessing the birth of his ‘creation’, which shows us that although we’ve come a long way in terms of we still have a very long way to go in dismantling the ableism in our society.

Word Count = 1014

Works Cited:

Rodas, Julia Miele, and Melanie Yergeau. Autistic Disturbances: Theorizing Autism Poetics from the DSM to Robinson Crusoe. University of Michigan Press, 2018. < https://www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net/blog/readings/>

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Susan J. Wolfson. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelleys Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus. Pearson Longman, 2007.

Thomson, Rosemarie Garland. Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body. New York University Press, 1996. <https://www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net/blog/readings/>

I hereby declare upon my word of honor that I have neither given nor received unauthorized help on this work.

Elizabeth Brewer and Frankenstein

When I was reading the parallels made between madness and disability, I kept thinking about the Creation and how he would fit between these two distinct terms or labels, disabled and mad.

Frankenstein’s “evil” (murders) manifests from the anger and resentment he feels towards Victor, who we’ve described in class as the stereotypical mad scientist. The Creation as a “mad” individual, instead of a disabled individual, can definitely be argued based on how Victor has neglected and segregated the Creation.

As a “mad” character, his acquirement of self-dependency, a wealth of knowledge, and even superior strength… automatically makes him more of a threat to society than before. This is also seen when Victor contemplates creating the mate for the Creation. He fears the potential control that they could have. (this also screams Linton’s Reassigning Meaning… passiveness: disabledness and contol: abledness.) Victor doesn’t want to understand the Creation and would rather him be passive and easy to manipulate; he would rather the Creation be dead. As the creator, this could really highlight how psychiatric institutes would drive mentally ill or disabled persons to an even more unstable state. I think it is interesting to look at the Creation through the lens of the doctor/patient perspective. Like, the humanitarian aspect of just wanting to be seen and wanting to improve c/s/x livelihood is similar to how the Creation just wanted a better living standard.

The Creation truly just wanted to be recognized and have their own identity and relationship with Victor. Brewer talked about embodiment and I think that section of the text would explain this idea well. There was this idea of, “individuals are labelled rather than individuals choosing their own labels.” and the Creation simply wanted to be seen as the moral and sensitive creature he was rather than the monster he was made out to be.

Depression in Frankenstein

As my group was discussing Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, I was particularly interested in the time we devoted to acknowledging the possible presence of depression in Victor’s life. We talked about how he was seeking a sense of companionship in pursuing his creation, but struggled to figure out why he felt like he needed a companion when he already had Elizabeth and his family.

Before we had started questioning this, someone in our group brought up the possibility of Victor being depressed. This clicked with me in our discussion, leading me to suggest that if Victor were a depressed individual, he might have felt alone no matter how many friends or family he had. For many people with depression, irrational feelings of loneliness and isolation are a prominent part of their disorder. From this viewpoint, it would make sense that Victor sought a relationship with someone that he knew would forever be connected to him.

This could all be a reach, but I think it was a very eye-opening part of our discussion and allowed us to look at Victor with sympathy, rather than with annoyance.

thoughts on our readings from 1/23

Coming Out Mad and Coming Out Disabled by Elizabeth Brewer was a super interesting and fun read. I liked having more insight into the world of disability studies and the inter-community issues. All marginalized groups have topics that are frequently debated within them which not many people realize because the way they see it is in like a The Oppressors vs The Oppressed sort of way, so in the case of disability studies people would think that the only issue in the disabled community is about non disabled people and how their ableism impacts disabled people when there’s so many intricacies that go into it. I personally agree with Linton’s inclusive view of disability and don’t think that broadening the definition discredits the community, but instead makes it stronger! I love talking about the spectrum of disability and I think focusing on more than JUST mental or JUST physical is super vital for disability studies and not including it would be counterintuitive.

I Am (Clare) by John Clare makes me wish I knew how to analyze poetry better. What I felt from the poem was that the speaker still feels like themselves even though the people around them, even their friends feel that their disability has changed them for the worse and they are no longer the person they used to be which is super common for people to feel that disabled people aren’t actual people with thoughts and personalities. The phrase empty shell is used a lot or “not what they used to be” and those phrases make it sound like disability completely erases the person and it’s the entire victimizing thing that was discussed in the Reassigning Meaning piece we read. Clare’s poem reaffirms that people do victimize disabled people, but the speaker in their poem does not care at all about this victimization and knows that they are who they are and not regardless or despite their disability, but because of their disability.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley was mind blowing. I found so many connections in the text to back up the disability lens theory and I also see why people read this book in racial studies and gender studies classrooms as well. I had never read it until now and it is WILD!!!! First, I’d like to suggest calling Frankenstein’s creation simply Creation because by not associating him with Viktor it is easier to see him as his own person instead of a dependent which removes another stereotype about disabled people. Yes, he is technically Viktor’s creation, but Viktor does not claim the creation as his own and I believe it isn’t fair to Creation to think of him as” belonging” to Viktor. I could see an argument saying that calling Creation, Viktor’s is the same as saying “Dan’s child”, but I would not call Creation Viktor’s son or child because Viktor does not have that right to call him that after how he abandoned him. I promise this is not an entirely Anti-Viktor post or anything, interesting character, but viewing him in a disability lens when talking about him and Creation I dislike him, but seeing him on his own, I think he’s….intriguing.

Okay now the actual stuff I wanted to talk about

Creation telling Viktor that if he were to give him a wife, he would take his wife and flee to a South American jungle, far from human civilization was, to me, a mirror on the segregation of disabled people. Whether that be institutionalized segregation or familial (Bertha from Jane Eyre, Rosemary Kennedy), the point is people try to remove disabled people from their lives by literally hiding them away. Creation is aware of this segregation and even offers to self segregate as long as he is not alone.

Viktor not wanting to make Creation a wife because he didn’t want to bring another “monster” in to the world felt like when parents have a child with a disability and refuse to have more children because they don’t want the other children to be disabled. Those parents are making disability into this horrible thing that needs to be stopped and that they did something awful by having a disabled child which is exactly what Viktor thought. Granted this was after Creation had killed his brother and by association killed his housekeeper, but Creation spoke to him and told him that he is a free thinking being who can communicate and feelings things and wants to be accepted by somebody. Regardless of this deep confession Creation gave, Viktor could not pull through because he thought he’d making the world worse. And Viktor has his own reasons granted, but this blog post is too long for me to go into why I think Viktor is not completely at fault. (70% at fault though, don’t get me wrong)

When Henry and Viktor go abroad and Henry is just this over enthusiastic, positive person and Viktor is…the opposite. Viktor says that he saw his former self in Henry. The person he was before Creation and the first thing that came to my mind was he is acting like those parents who treat their disabled children as this burden on their life. More specifically the Autism Speaks video with the moms saying these, in my opinion and many others!, horrible things about their children. These moms say things like they never get breaks, how they basically wish their children were “normal”, and what I found the most relevant in relation to Viktor was that these moms talk about how their lives have changed for the worst because of their children.

And that brings me to my 100th point, is it problematic to compare Creation to a person with disabilities? The whole time when I was writing my notes I was like wow the parallels, amazing!! But when I thought of my last point about Viktor being compared to a parent of a disabled child, I started thinking that isn’t it a little off to say that Creation, someone who has killed people VERY purposefully, can be the same as a disabled person? Like for example with my point (I am contradicting myself, but gimme a second) about Viktor being like one of the Autism Speaks moms, Viktor was tired of Creation because he was threatening him and his loved ones and had already taken many of them out of his life and he lived in fear of Creation hurting more people, is that not a valid reason to not want to be around Creation?

BUT! That brings me to my next, almost last I promise, point. In Chapter 24, when Creations finds Viktor’s dead body, he cries. He starts talking about he admired him and how he hates himself now. Creation shows genuine remorse for what has happened. Creation is not this cold, heartless monster that was killing people just to kill. He was killing for the same reason many people do, out of anger. OBVIOUSLY, murder is wrong and it doesn’t matter that the person was angry, but this shows that Creation does actually have emotions if for some reason the entire book wasn’t enough proof. And a huge stereotype among disabled people, specifically the Autism community, is that they are cold and unfeeling. But as we see, Creation is obviously showing emotion and even communicating how he feels and completely goes against what Viktor thought of him as and goes against the aforementioned stereotype.

Over all what I got from Frankenstein was that it can be a great example for the discussion on what is disability especially if you use Linton’s inclusive definition. Some who disagree with Linton’s definition could say that Creation is not disabled. Creation is able bodied, he does not express any trouble with mobility. He has no issues with verbal communication and he knows German and English. The only reason he is rejected by others is because of he looks and I know, he is made up of corpse body parts and has a very “gruesome” appearance, but his facial and body “deformities” are the only reasons he is being treated that way. What I believe is that Creation is disabled because society is disabling him. It all goes back to the discussion we had on the first day of class. A person in a wheelchair is only disabled when society is disabling them. Someone in a wheelchair can have a job, go to school, etc, but the second they are faced with an inaccessible area, that is society disabling them. No, their disability doesn’t just go away and come back when faced with an issue like this, but they are not disabled BECAUSE they are in a wheelchair, they are disabled because society doesn’t allow them to have that accessibility because having accessible areas is seen almost as a reward, like yay we finally made this place accessible when EVERYTHING should accessible always. So, back to Creation. He falls under this sort of example. No one wants to look at how “ugly” he is and they see him as a monster. That is a hinderance on him. That idea people have about him is what is disabling him.

I pledge

TL;DR: Readings good, Frankenstein amazing, see ya’ll on Tuesday!

Edit #1 11:14 AM: I misread the syllabus and thought we had to finish Frankenstein by 1/23 and I posted a huge spoiler, but I deleted it and I will repost those points after our class on 1/28.

Edit #2 12:28 PM: I have added the previous points!