Frankenstein Analysis
Learned v Inherent behavior (Matthew Gayle 1st Period)
Learned Versus Inherent Behavior
- Learned behavior is the acquired conduct after the time of an individual's birth that results and develops from past experiences.
- Inherent behavior is the conduct an individual is born with. This is often a set of genetic responses to external stimuli
Quote Pair 1
- "Children who had received the severest physical discipline as children were more likely to perpetrate violence"("What causes Domestic Violence?")
- "I the miserable...am an abortion to be spurned at kicked, and trampled on... I have murdered the lovely and the helpless; I have strangled the innocent as they slept" (Shelly 197)
Analysis
The author of the source that the quote comes from defines violence as a learned behavior. In Frankenstein the creature is victim to numerous abuses. The creature was shot after saving a girl from drowning ; it was beat with a stick after entering the cottagers' home with no malicious intent. After these scenario's the creature developed or learned to have an insensitivity to other people, and I argue that this maltreatment made it easier for the monster to commit the crimes it did.
Quote Pair 2
- " Behaviors in which instinct often plays a significant role include mate recognition, courtship rituals, predator avoidance, defensive behaviors, food-gathering behaviors"("Instinct")
- "I had been accustomed, during the night to steal a part of their store for my own consumption, but when i found that in doing this I inflicted pain on the cottagers I abstained and satisfied myself with berries, nuts, and roots. (Shelly 92)
Analysis (2)
Although it was the creatures instinctive behavior to acquire food by any means to satisfy his hunger, when he learned of the affect his stealing had on the cottagers, he learned that it was wrong and stopped doing it. This exemplifies the creature's progression from instinctive behavioral patterns to learned patterns.
Quote Pair 3
- "Another trigger for racism is change. Most people don't like a lot of change; they feel comfortable around the familiar" ("Racism").
- "I rushed from my hiding place and with extreme labour, from the force of the current, saved her and dragged her to shore... but when the man saw me draw near, he aimed a gun, which he carried, at my body and fired"(Shelly 121).
Analysis (3)
The violence towards the creature after his heroic actions was a testament to the notion that when humans are in a state of fear they often engage in their innate conduct, and since the creature had appeared strangely and evoked fear he became a victim to this phenomena
- Just like the bigger fish gets the smaller bowl ,it is unfair how the creature displayed the most compassion and got the short end of the stick
- Illustrates the creature's detachment from society and because of this disconnect he progressed from innocent infant with the potential to be molded into a commendable member of society to a monster merely taking the shape of the unfair environment he was given.
THE END