Companionship/ Friendship
Joey Gabster
Definition of Companionship/ Friendship
Modern Connections
In January 2014, 74% of online adults used social networking sites. This is a large percentage of those people who actually use the internet, and some people feel social media is good for friendships while others disagree.
Positive:
Research done by Pew Research Center shows many benefits seen in users of social networking services. One of the main uses of social media was to secure close social ties with those lost at one point in a person's life. Also, different types of social networks show different types of people. For example, Facebook users tend to be more trusting than people on other sites and tend to be in more close relationships. Pew Research Center also shows that 40 percent of social network users friended all of their closest friends. This shows many social network users keep their friends on their social sites as well in their everyday lives.
Negative:
Aristotle, a greek philosopher wrote, "What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies."
Social networking sites have continued to flourish within the daily lives of humans with Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Many people feel that social media is taking away the definition like the one used by Aristotle. In a USA Today article by Mark Vernon he said, "Just as our daily lives are becoming more technologically connected, we're losing other more meaningful relationships. Yes, we're losing our friends." Also, in a PA Times article, Alex Pattakos states, "In other words, the joys of real human contact are being replaced with electronic stimuli and "shallow" friendships, that is "social connections" rather than the kind of true friendships." The basics to any friendship are common interests, history, common values, and equality, but these aspects are hard to come by over a computer screen and through text.
Overall social networks are a modern way for people to communicate with others that they would not normally be able. I believe that social networks are a great way for people to connect with those lost at some point in their lives, but could also lead to the loss of friends and family if it is all one cares about. A happy medium of social networks and normal everyday talking can keep relationships and friendships together. Social networking can be tied to Frankenstein because of the want for friendship and companionship that is a main theme throughout the book. The monster longs for a companion and Victor forgets of his family, not writing to them for many years.
Connection to the text
The creature is claiming within this quote that Victor stole his innocence because he left the creature no one to love. The fact that the creature's creator despises him, shows that no one else will like him as well.
"Here, then, I retreated and lay down happy to have found a shelter, however miserable, from the inclemency of the season, and still more from the barbarity of man." - Chapter 11
He is upset because of the hatred people have for his face, making no one want to be with him. This quote also shows the state of loneliness and isolation he feels from people around him.
"When I looked around I saw and heard of none like me. Was I, a monster, a blot upon the earth from which all men fled and whom all men disowned." - Chapter 13
The monster is describing the way people feel of him and how much despise he feels. The monster is longing for someone that will make him feel loved and wanted.
"I am alone and miserable: man will not associate with me; but one as deformed and horrible as myself would not deny herself to me. My companion must be of the same species and have the same defects. This being you must create." - Chapter 16
This quote involves the monster speaking to Victor of possibly creating a mate. The monster has continually shown his interest in having a companion at his side, mostly just someone to make him feel like he belongs. This is the monster coming out and saying directly to Victor that he needs someone.
"If for one instant I had thought what might be the hellish intention of my fiendish adversary, I would rather have banished myself forever from my native country and wandered of a friendless outcast over the earth than have consented to this miserable marriage. But, as if possessed of magic power, the monster had blinded me to his real intentions; and when I thought that I had prepared only my own death, I hastened that of a far dearer victim." - Chapter 22
Victor is describing the death of Elizabeth within the text. Victor felt he would rather be banished from his country and wander as an outcast than had her killed. He feels bad because he thought the monster's intentions were to kill him, not his beloved wife. Victor has continually lost loved ones to the monster throughout the novel.
"The fallen angel becomes the malignant devil. Yet even the enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone." - Chapter 24
This quote is Victor speaking of the loneliness he feels with the lost of many of his loved ones. He speaks of the "enemy of God and man" having more friends and people at his side with his desolation, yet he has nobody to be with him.
Why Companionship/ Friendship is Important
Works Cited
Lickerman, Alex, M.D. "The True Meaning Of Friendship." Psychology Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.
Pattakos, Alex. "The Meaning of Friendship in a Social Networked World." PA TIMES Online. N.p., 15 Nov. 2010. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Maurice Hindle. Frankenstein, Or, The Modern Prometheus. London: Penguin, 2003. Print.
"Social Networking Fact Sheet." Pew Research Centers Internet American Life Project RSS. N.p., 27 Dec. 2013. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.