Tips on Reading from Frankenstein's Monster

(This was a recent assignment for my creative writing and communication course. I thought it would fit well into my October reading schedule, which will focus on Victorian books or spooky reads, and this ticks both boxes. I'm thinking of writing more of these reflections in which famous fictional characters read books. Do you think that would be interesting?)

Mary Shelley’s famous classic has more modern parallels than we may imagine. Frankenstein’s bewildered, abandoned monster discovers a knapsack containing a handful of books, including John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Since he’s taught himself to read, books are fodder for his urgent hunger for knowledge. But the monster mistakes the epic fantasy poem for history instead of the speculative vision from John Milton’s fertile brain it really was.

The monster’s pallid complexion surely erupts into gooseflesh and his coarse hair prickles the further on he reads. Then at last, torrid tears flood his bloodshot, recycled eyes. The poor monster can’t help relating to the character of Satan, who is thrown out of heaven, doomed to be an outcast and shunned by everyone he comes across. He even concludes there might be shared DNA between them. Hence, Paradise Lost becomes a huge influence on the monster’s despairing decision to wreak havoc on the innocent family members of the heartless creator who’d rejected him. He decides that since he’s evidently a devil, he might as well see if he derives satisfaction from behaving like one.

The desolate monster succumbs to credulity, believing everything he reads just because somebody wrote it and it’s there in print. This fictional incident suggests that the printed word sometimes carries clout it arguably shouldn’t. And of course, there will always be readers, like Frankenstein’s monster, who interpret a written piece in ways its author never intended.

Fast forward two hundred years, and we see the monster’s plight repeated by many others in our 21st century era of internet-fueled, panic-driven publications. Essays, articles, treatises, magazines and e-books are produced in record time. The internet gives self-proclaimed experts freedom to jump on their soap boxes about anything under the sun, which can set off a ripple effect of delusions. We’ve created a baffling culture in which readers believe all sorts of things. And the underlying reason is still simply because they appear ‘true’ when they are printed.

What’s more, we contend with a more sinister scenario than Frankenstein’s monster ever faced. He simply chanced upon that lost bag of books while he was out walking. He never dealt with the likelihood of alarming, printed literature zooming his way specifically. But computer algorithms determine the nature of the inflammatory content that may appear in our newsfeeds. It seems tailor made for each credulous soul. Depending on what lurks deep in our personal view histories, algorithms dredge up similar material to parade before us. It’s almost guaranteed to include something triggering among the mix. Human nature is unfortunately biased to latch onto negativity and drama, hence skewed stories crafted to upset us often rise to the top of our feed like cream in a milk pail. Keeping in mind the monster’s experience with Paradise Lost, the content we see is not necessarily accurate but just provocative. ‘If it bleeds it leads’ has long been a motto in the world of journalists, which may help explain why doom and gloom seems to wing its way straight to our screens.

If we are perpetually anxious, angry, disgruntled or depressed, perhaps the online world prompts us to be, for the sake of seducing our attention and getting our oh-too-willing fingers clicking links. The heartless, impersonal force that compels us cares nothing for our personal welfare or headspace, so long as we are staying online.

Ironically, our out-of-control online world has become a type of Frankenstein’s monster itself. The brainy tech designers behind the internet and social media profess to have had no idea what they unleashed. They haven’t a clue what might pop up on any individual’s newsfeed next, just as horrified science student Victor Frankenstein never knew which dearly beloved family member his recklessly vengeful creation would target next. And like Victor, they often express horror when they hear stories of how their own brainchild has taken on a life of its own.

In his book, Stolen Focus, journalist Johann Hari recounts his interviews with some Silicon Valley tech geniuses at the cutting edge of building our monster. These young men were once showered with praise and accolades for their work and applauded for building such a great and life-changing aid for humanity. But now in retrospect, the tech designers liken themselves to hapless Victor Frankenstein, who formed a living entity out of the best cadaver parts he could dig up in graveyards. Victor thought he’d be responsible for blessing the world with a wonderful super-being. Instead, the creature rampaged around murdering people and his every next move became anyone’s guess – a mystery impossible to predict.

Hari argues that the internet has become a similar malignant entity to Frankenstein’s monster, seducing us to believe whatever we read, shattering our attention spans and wreaking serious harm on our headspaces. He professed skepticism at first, considering this theory overly dramatic. Yet when he admitted his disbelief to those Silicon Valley designers, they looked at him as if he were, ‘a maiden aunt in the 1850s who had just found out about sex.’ The creators of our internet and social media claim to be too well aware of the sinister side to the brilliant creation they unleashed on our world.

Our takeaways from these revelations are clear. We must aim not to be like Frankenstein’s gullible monster, who believed every word he read of Paradise Lost. Without being total cynics who dispute every word we come across, we should read with a discerning and questioning spirit. Awareness is the key to avoid being sucked into a vortex of exaggerated reporting, misinformation, over-stated click baits and simple bad news which members of the general public don’t need to know.

Frankenstein’s monster is a villain, but he’s also shown to be a victim. Let us strive to be neither. We won’t add to the villainy by unwittingly spreading misinformation further when we reactively press SHARE with our trigger-happy fingers. Nor will we unthinkingly swallow any clickbait that drifts our way.

‘Of what a strange nature is knowledge,’ reflects Frankenstein’s monster to himself. ‘It clings to the mind when it has once seized on it, like lichen on a rock.’ That being the case, it is difficult to un-learn any false or disturbing content we take on board. Let’s aim to cultivate valuable moss in our minds, knowledge which is true, encouraging and motivating. And let’s try and clear the weeds that try to grab a strangle hand on our thoughts, content which is useless for not being true or beneficial at all.

Here is my review of Frankenstein by the amazing Mary Shelley, whose voice also turned out to be quite prophetic.