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Term Paper Throughout the novel Frankenstein, Marry Shelley, the author, uses theses defining experiences, as well as parenting and the childs environment to show the their positive effects and consequences, on a child, during the transformation to an adult. Overindulgence in childhood can lead to immaturity in adulthood. Some children, usually only children or the youngest child of a family receive special treatment, able to acquire what they want with less trouble than another sibling. At what age does a person become an adult?
If children are left at an early age to fend for themselves, do they mature into adults more quickly than children who are coddled? Since the age when the life-changing step from childhood to adulthood varies depending on the person, the exact moment when a child crosses that maturity threshold into adulthood, in not known. However, all people have unique experiences that guide and even determine when they become an adult, and therefore, the moment can be somewhat estimated. Those experiences, along with the influences of their parents mold children into the adults which they are to transform into. Always getting what they want can cause them to believe that life will always be kind and fruitful.
Victor Frankenstein, for example, as a youth is given everything he wants. His parents love him so much that they were possessed by the very spirit of kindness and indulgence (23). As a result of Victors parents indulging him, he believes that Elizabeth, his new sister, actually belongs to him. Victor, interpreting his mothers words, with childish seriousness, looks upon Elizabeth as his own, to protect, love, and cherish (21).
This action signifies that he, as a child, thinks that everything is for him, and, as he grows up, he holds onto that idea. Without some hardships in life, such as not obtaining what they want, children will lack the skills to provide for themselves and others in the real world. Victor never truly notices that life is not always fair until he creates his abominable monster and flees because of his newfound responsibility. His inability to accept this responsibility stems from, being over indulged, having everything done for him, and not having to take responsibility for his own actions as a child.
His lack of responsibility in his childhood leads to his abandonment of his creation, because he is brought up believing that someone else will take the responsibility of the monster. The parenting style of Victors parents, which may seem good, actually leads to the problems which Victor encounters later in life. Poor or misguided parenting techniques can have negative effects on a childs life, affecting them later as an adult. If children do something wrong, parents are likely not to punish them without first explaining why they are punishing them. If children are unaware of what they are doing wrong and receive punishment for it, they will not learn from their mistakes, and will continue to make them. Victor in his youth is driven by a thirst for knowledge, and at age thirteen he discovers the natural philosophy works of Cornelius Agrippa, a Roman alchemist.
Victors father at the discovery of his sons chosen reading material exclaims, Ah! of Cornelius Agrippa! My dear Victor, do not waste your time upon this; it is sad trash (24). Victor does not heed his father, since he does not explain why the book is trash and unbecoming to study.
As a result of his father not explaining that the works were out of date in the scientific world, Victor continues to study them and wastes his time. These works influence Victor to try to raise the dead, thus directing his life towards creating the monster and his ultimate failure. Because Victors father fails to explain why not to read the books, Victor goes off on a wrong and frivolous tangent, which leads him on the bad path in his life. Even though Victors parents are loving and would do anything for him, they lack the basic applications of punishment, setting rules, restraining their indulgences, and allowing Victor to experience some hardships in their parenting. If these aspects of parenting were implemented, Victors parents may have kept him from creating the monster, thus halting the evil events that lead to his downfall.
Enduring severe emotional pain as a child can cause serious negative effects when the child transforms into an adult. When a family member or pet dies, young children must learn to cope with the loss, having the support of their parents and family to aid them. Usually a child will move on after the incident just as before and have the experience to aid him the next time. However, if a child is alone and has no one to turn to for help and guidance, serious internal emotions and problems can arise. For example Frankenstein's monster at creation is alone because Frankenstein is afraid of him. He has no one or place to turn to, so he runs away into the forest.
After weeks of exploring, he learns about the world, and finds a suitable place to live, in a hovel, near a cottage with people. He studies them and learns how to become human, becoming civil and by teaching him to speak, read, and write. However he never actually meets the cottagers. The monster has a good nature and only wants to be a part of the peoples lives, so he can have their love. When he attempts to become their friend, they chase him off by beating him. The ideas Merry Shelley conveys about the shaping of adults, through their childhood are that, overindulging children causes them to be less mature adults because of their lack of responsibility, parental influences are a major factor in a childs future, and the pain of childhood experiences, if not properly dealt with can have negative affects in the future.
Even though no children will never become the perfect adult, their influences, and experiences as a child will undoubtedly shape their adulthood. Depending on what these experiences are, the child as an adult will become good, bad, or most likely, something in-between the two. The parenting skills which parents apply will never create the perfect adult, yet they can steer children in the right direction. Parents want their children to be successful and productive members of society, but with no absolutely correct way to raise a child, parents must do the best they can.
Usually parents take what they learn from their own personal experiences and apply it to their children to try and shape them into good people. If they can accomplish that, they have succeeded in the somewhat un gratified, yet pleasing job of parenting. Bibliography: Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein, The Modern Prometheus (the 1818 version). Edited by D.
L. Macdonald & Kathleen Scheme. Peterborough: Broadview Press, 1998. Mellor, Anne K. Possessing Nature: The Female in Frankenstein. Frankenstein.
By Mary Shelley. New York: W. W. Norton and Co. , 1996. 274 - 286. Top, Martin. Mary Shelleys Monster.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1976. Bann, Stephen, ed. Frankenstein, Creation and Monstrosity. London: Reaction Books, 1994. Spark, Muriel. Mary Shelley.
New York: Meridian, 1988. Betting, Fred. Making Monstrous: Frankenstein, Criticism, Theory. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1991.
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Research essay sample on Lack Of Responsibility Mary Shelley
