Knowledge - Frankenstein
Luke Gregory
Quotes from the book
- This quote is referring to the power of knowledge. If you think that your town is the only place in the world, and the only place that matters you will be fine, but by acquiring knowledge you will soon realize that the town is just a spec on a much larger scale.
"Of what a strange nature is knowledge! It clings to a mind when it has once seized on it like a lichen on a rock." (page 142)
- This quote is describing how much human yearn for knowledge, and its powers to cling to our minds.
"My education was neglected, yet I was passionately fond of reading." (page 4)
- Even without education, the mind want to gain knowledge through reading.
"Nothing contributes so much to tranquillize the mind as a steady purpose - a point on which the soul can focus its intellectual eye" (page 3)
- If you are focused nothing can stop you from succeeding
"My own mind began to grow, watchful with anxious thoughts." (page 14)
- Once our minds begin to grow it is an wonderful process to watch.
"How many things are we on the brink of discovering if cowardice or carelessness did not restrain our inquiries" (page 50 - 51)
- Victor is saying that if the human population was willing to take risk, there would be a lot more scientific discovery.
"Increase of knowledge only discovered to me clearly what a wretched outcast I was. I cherished hope, it is true, but it vanished when I beheld my person reflection in the water or my shadow in the moonshine, even as that frail image and that inconstant shade." (page 156)
- The monster is learning that he is a aweful creature that was constructed out of spark body parts. He is learning that he is a monster.
"I can hardly describe to you the effect of these books. They produced in me an infinity of new images and feelings that sometimes raised me to ecstasy, but more frequently sunk me into the lowest dejection." (page 151 - 152)
- The books are forms of knowledge that when the creature reads them, he gains the knowledge.
"I found that these people possessed a method of communicating their experiences and feeling to one another by articulate sounds. I perceived that the words they spoke sometimes produced pleasure or pain, smiles or sadness, in the minds and countenances of the hearers. This was indeed a god like science and i ardently desire to become antiquated with it." (page 130)
- The creature is amazed that these people can express feeling through communication.
Knowledge
He says that if you are not knowledgeable you can live a simple life in your native town, happy. But having knowledge allows you to realize that you, or your town is only a small detail in the whole entire world.
Knowledge in modern society
This, in turn, leads to more options. The more valuable of a person you are, the more people will want to be around you, the more they will want to work with you, the more they introduce you to others who need your help or can help you, and the more doors and opportunities open in your life.
This high level of options in life gives you the freedom to choose from many different paths, and so you do not necessarily need anyone or anything to be happy or successful. And that freedom, my friend, is power. Because that freedom allows you to have the power to speak your mind, the power to be who you truly are, the power to not accept second class behavior from anyone, and the power to do whatever makes you happy. That is why knowledge is so important.
If you read a book written by a genius in an area you are passionate about, you will absorb so many things that have the potential to dramatically improve your life.
Knowledge is power, and if you have it you will have a greater chance of succeeding in this world.
WORK CITED
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Diana Gibson. Frankenstein. Madrid, España: Edimat Libros, 2000. Planet Ebook. Web. 22 Mar. 2015. <http://www.planetebook.com/ebooks/Frankenstein.pdf>.