Libby Wruck, Shelby Steele, Meredith Miller<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ENGL 384-01<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Foss<\/p>\n\n\n\n
April 28, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reading Victor Frankenstein as Autistic<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 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\u2019s \u201cAutism\u201d 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\u2019s novel, \u201cFrankenstein\u201d can be read as autistic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 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\u2019s 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 \u2018diagnosis\u2019 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One of the most defining aspects of Victor Frankenstein\u2019s character, is his construction of the creation. He spends the years leading up to his creation studying vigorously at school, \u201cTwo years passed in this manner, during which I paid no visit to Geneva\u201d(Shelley 22). He is hyper-fixating on this project at the cost of his social bonds with his family and his own health. Frankenstien\u2019s need to complete his experiment at all costs can be associated with the modern interpretation of autistic men\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Frankenstein does not have typical responses to death and the human body, \u201cDarkness 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\u201d(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; \u201cI 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\u201d (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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Even Frankstein\u2019s responses to social interaction fit under the purview of autism. Early in the book, he describes his social comfort as \u201cIt 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\u201d (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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 With the modern knowledge of autism, the traits of Victor Frankenstein portrayed in Mary Shelley\u2019s 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\u2019s inability to sympathize with Victor\u2019s 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\u2019s use of stereotypes to be both negative and positive.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Word count: 1022<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I hereby declare upon my word of honor that I have neither given nor received unauthorized help on this work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Libby Wruck, Shelby Steele, Meredith Miller ENGL 384-01 Dr. Foss April 28, 2020 Reading Victor Frankenstein as Autistic \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 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 … Continue reading “Shelby, Libby, & Meredith’s Final Paper”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[32],"tags":[87,92,62],"class_list":["post-2131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-take-home-final-examinations","tag-autism","tag-final-paper","tag-frankenstein"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcJhts-yn","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2131"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2132,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2131\/revisions\/2132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}