Due to General Zaroff’s savage doings for satisfaction, he seems to have lost his humanity and de-valued human life far more than the Villagers and their customs did. Both characters in these two short stories felt that what they were doing was the right thing. In “The Lottery,” they mention “that over in the north village they're talking of giving up the lottery.”(Jackson, paragraph 32). Old Man Warner calls the north village a “pack of fools” stating that, that is not the way to go. He believes they must carry on this tradition and he never has come to realized how awful it is.
Even though they were raised in two completely different environments, they understood the meaning of isolation. With their need for family bond and their desire for love, you can see this to be true. Also because of this isolation, it brings out their desire for vengeance. These chain of events are both Victor’s and the creature’s demise. Even though there paths in life were very different, Victor Frankenstein and his creature were both always trying to gain more knowledge.
“His life was not confining and the delight he took in this observation could not be explained by its suggestion of escape” (x). This explained that he resented his current life so much that he would pay at all costs in seeking his comfort zone for peace by escaping from the reality. Neddy had an “inexplicable contempt for men who did not hurl themselves into pools” (x) and he swum like a “choppy crawl” (x) made a big contrast with his personality. He despised people who knew the problems but were unwilling to look for the peacefulness in mind by finding themselves breathing space. Compared to his clumsy swim, we can tell even without the full
This development in Charlie's personality is ironic since his ambition in the beginning of the story is to get enough mental prowess to be included in the same community that he distances himself from when he criticizes the average human as being limited and slow. Mr Keyes draws a unfortunate parallel between intelligence and arrogance turning Charlie into a elitist snob without much compassion for the people around him. His mental awakening is constantly portrayed as being at the expense of others. In my opinion this draws on the cliché of the book smart know-it-all. There is no attempt to try to explain why Charlie loses his good natured care for those around him other than that he can expose those who have been insincere to him.
Victor could be looked at as the real monster in the novel because of his heartlessness. He spent two years creating this creature that he ends up not liking or loving. Even his devotion is deceiving because, he worked so hard on this creation; reading the novel one would think that he would take care of him like a son”….the beauty of the dream vanished and breathless horror and disgust filled my heat-Victor”( pg42Ch5). Is it possible to reject and call your own son, family or friend disgusting? That was the heatless & monstrous heart of Victor.
He values intellect over compassion and cuts himself off from others. As a consequence, he is isolated from the society. At the end of his search, his alienation gnaws at him, and he returns to renew his bond with humanity by announcing the result of his quest. However, his listeners regard him as a crazy and frightful man—a man to stay away from. Similarly, in Moby-Dick, Captain Ahab is also obsessed with one goal—killing the white whale.
In chapter one, Jack hesitates to stab and kill a piglet because he has never killed anything, and the barbaric act of cutting into a living creature was too overwhelming. Not only does Jack see this as a personal weakness, but he also is embarrassed by his hesitation and says “I was choosing a place.” His explanation that he was looking for a place to stab the piglet was false and everyone knew it was the unbearable blood stopping Jack from killing the creature; however, he vows that next time the pig won't get away. This vow opens the door to the savagery that will overtake him and many of the boys who want to satisfy their primal impulses. Clearly Jack does not start off as a monster, and he still remains in touch with civilization. Although, as the novel continues, Jack's trajectory gradually moves away from the formal, civilized way of life and steadily toward murder and brutality.
One of the many flaws that Victor displays throughout the novel is revealed when he fails to express love and compassion towards the monster; instead, he demonstrates ignorance and recklessness as a creator the moment he abandons his creation. When he gazes upon the completion of his creation, “breathless horror and disgust fill[s] [his] heart… [and he is] [u]nable to endure the aspect of the being [he] create[s]” (Shelley 67). The frightening appearance of the monster blinds Victor, rendering him unable to feel pity towards his creation and he rejects the creature instead. Even when Victor discovers that the monster is highly intelligent and inhabits real, human sentiments, he still regards it with the utmost malevolence and hatred. Victor
The first example of how the search for the attainment of knowledge is not worth the danger it entails is through Frankenstein’s monster. The monster, Victor's horrific creation, throughout the book had incredible potential to be benevolent and pure from the time he was born, but his fascination with human nature, language, and desire to fit in led him to his terrible demise. The first way the monster tried to attain knowledge was through his fascination with human nature. Rejected by his creator and utterly alone, the monster learned what he could of human nature by eavesdropping on a family of cottage dwellers. These people eventually found out of the monsters eavesdropping and the monster was put in danger of being killed and getting his feelings hurt.
This lack of fatherhood is also shown in both Victor and Clerval’s father’s objection to learning. However Victor’s father had a different approach, he stated that the science used in victor’s books had been disapproved long ago and that they were ‘sad trash’. Freudian analysts claim that all sons feel they are in competition with their father and often feel in a battle against the father. This is shown when the rejection and lack of explanation and knowledge from victor’s father leads him to find out for himself, and it is in this task that his passion for science unfolded. Victor discovered ‘the elixir of life’ and that he was capable of ‘bestowing animation upon lifeless matter’ as his knowledge increased.