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English 378G: Science and Fiction - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Susan Stryker, “My Words to Victor Frankenstein Above the Village of Chamounix: Performing Transgender Rage”
        
        Similarly to Johnson, Stryker focuses her analysis of Frankenstein on gender. This perspective comes from a transsexual woman, who is cognisant of society’s negative opinion of them. The feelings of nonacceptance and abandonment are quite similar to those of the creature’s in Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. When detailing these similarities, Stryker writes, “like the monster, the longer I live in these conditions, the more rage I harbor” (224).
      - Elizabeth Young, “The United States of Frankenstein”
        
        Like any major work of art, Shelley's Frankenstein has been interpreted and adapted to fit a number of agendas. In the case of 19th century America, the heated debate over the status of slavery brought this idea to the forefront. Frankenstein became a cautionary tale of the dangers of rebellious slaves and the need for strict laws to keep the "black monstrosities" from harming white people. A quote from the novel which Young believes exemplifies this is idea is: "You are my creator, but I am your master -- obey!" (Shelley 116). The slavish creature rebels against his father and kills those who are close to him -- the slave-owning aristocracy's greatest fear. Frankenstein's monster is a child with the strength of a full grown man, which is why he must be controlled or destroyed.
      - Barbara Johnson, “My Monster / My Self”
        
        Johnson argues that Frankenstein offers a critique of the institution of parenthood.
    - - Victor LaValle, Dietrich Smith, Destroyer
        
        LaValle’s graphic novel is heavily inspired by Frankenstein, notably because it focuses on the themes of scientific abomination and nonacceptance.
        
        In chapter six of Destroyer, half-cyborg twelve-year-old Akai makes an appeal to Frankenstein’s creature. He says, “There’s not another living thing like us. There probably never will be again. You and me are the same. Have you ever been able to say something like that before? Doesn’t it sound nice?” (LaValle 139). In LaValle’s work, Akai serves the purpose of the artificial creature. When he meets the original creature, he notices their shared similarities, notably that neither of them consented to be made.
      - Glenn Ligon,“Study for Frankenstein #1”
        
        An interesting link between LaValle and Ligon's works is the role of numbers. The first example of this is the number six. The line "Sometimes I wished to express my sensations in my own mode, but the uncouth and inarticulate sounds which broke from me frightened me into silence again" repeats exactly six times in Ligon's artwork; the graphic novel Destroyer has six chapters. The first third of the painting is mostly clear, then becomes progressively more illegible. This is similar to the character Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Josephine Baker -- someone we initially empathize with, whose actions progressively become less and less justifiable. These decisions may be completely coincidental, but their implications are interesting to consider.
  - - - This appeal Adam makes to God in Paradise Lost is used again by the creature in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein's creature did not consent to his existence, so he asks his creator the same sort of question the first man did.
      - “Like Adam, I was created apparently united by no link to any other being in existence; but his state was far different from mine in every other aspect” (Shelley 90). The creature in Frankenstein is in a worse state than Adam, for he is entirely alone and never witnessed paradise. Unlike God in Paradise Lost, Victor is a creator who gave his son no guidance once he was born and then declared him his enemy.
  - - - Kathryn Crim, “Marx, Silk Poems, and the Pretext of Qualities”
        
        Crim’s piece invites the reader to consider the slavish nature of the silkworm, and compare it with the state of the human worker. The analysis relies heavily on the ideas of Karl Marx’s pretext of qualities – what gives a person meaning. Like the other reinterpretations, Crim’s essay wants to apply what a piece of literature says about the real world, in addition to what the real world says about it. Silk Poems is from the perspective of a silkworm, who documents its existence and raises questions of labor and human values. According to Crim, like the worker, the silkworm has been determined by human society to have a single value – a labor source to benefit the powerful.
- - - - Le Guin and Cavendish's stories are unique in that they are from a non-human/non-human-like perspective. While the Oankali and the aliens from Levi's story are not human beings, they are understood as sentient beings capable of writing. That being the case, the trees in each story are incredibly intelligent and thoughtful creatures, aware of their existence -- at least to a degree. They are both critical of the actions of man, and how they negatively impact the environment around them. These ideas are similar to many other readings because they touch on the idea that humankind is never satisfied by its ambition, which can lead to disastrous consequences.
    - - There are a number of perspectives to consider when discussing perception in the novel Dawn. Two notable subcategories that come to mind are the role of autonomy and of awareness.
        
        Autonomy
        
        In Dawn, Lilith awakens to a nightmare scenario where she is one of few surviving humans aboard an alien spacecraft. One of the central themes of this text is the struggle to make your own choices, i.e. autonomy. Traditionally, there have been compromises in literature over a woman's ability to create her own destiny; oftentimes the woman loses out and either a man or society makes choices for them. This novel complicates the question of autonomy because in some ways Lilith is free and in other ways we can see that she is completely dependent on the Oankali for survival.
        
        Rhiannon Graybill, “Introduction,” “Fuzzy, Messy, Icky,” from Texts after Terror
        
        Graybill's passages are not from the novel Dawn, however, they deal with the same questions of autonomy as Lilith deals with in the story. Graybill is concerned with the history of sexual violence against women and its role in literature. Stories featuring rape and other horrible experiences have existed for millennia -- from biblical texts to modern dystopian fiction novels.
        
        Awareness
        
        The Oankali are incredibly intelligent beings who possess all knowledge of their specie's history and biology. With such information and awareness of their condition, they do not need to rely on the same kinds of flawed beliefs and assumptions about the world that humans do. This state of existence is similar to Francis Bacon's argument in "Idols of the Mind." In order for civilization, in this case whether that be human or Oankali, to progress, individuals must work rationally with one another and discover the truths of things, irrespective of tradition. By knowing the truth about the past, they can move forward and not dwell on insignificant details that get in the way of improvement.
    - - In Bacon’s work, he posits there are four idols which beset men’s minds. They are: idols of the tribe, idols of the cave, idols of the marketplace, and idols of the theater. Though distinct, all four idols contribute to the state of the early modern human condition. Bacon is critical to how individuals in society act, especially when these actions prevent progression in society. To him, a focus on science and empirical knowledge is much more beneficial than limiting one’s capacity to studying the ancient pagan poets.
    - - "The mind is its own place, and in itself / can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven" (Milton I. 254-255).
        
        Human conceptions of the world are not fixed -- by changing our perspective, whether figuratively or literally, we gain new insight. Nearly every piece of literature in this class has related to the idea that the natural world is changeable.
    - - The silkworm speaker of this poem writes from a perspective of immense self importance for itself and its species. The worm engages in active creation of a product deeply desired by human beings, and it wants the reader to know this intimately. Silkworms have been an afterthought by humans for the past several thousand years, and the fruits of their labor have been enjoyed without any signs of appreciation. The silkworm author in some ways can relate to Frankenstein's monster, as it is abandoned after its purpose has been served. With this knowledge of the wrongs committed against its species, however, the silkworm is resilient and does not let these obstacles stand in its way of its life mission -- to create silk.
  - - - The naked human eye cannot distinguish the parts of a needle’s point. Through the use of a microscope, we can zoom into the point and notice how dull and irregular the seemingly sharp and pointed object actually is. The text perpetuates the idea that zooming in changes the way we perceive the world.
    - - Pascal’s piece focuses on defamiliarization of our current understanding by way of offering a vastly different perspective. He reminds the audience just how small humans are, relative to the universe, and asks us not to dwell on this fact, nor to take our position of power on Earth for granted. To think critically about ourselves and our condition, we must “not look for certainty and stability,” he argues.
    - - Levi’s Cold War era short story presents the reader with detailed observations of Earth, written by an alien life form. There is great attention to detail of human civilization, without the intimate understanding of what they really are observing. For example, there are descriptions of cities, ships, and lights, but there is not much commentary on what greater purpose these 'observations' serve. This work relates to the others mentioned because the focus is to remove yourself from human conventions and be critical of our current understandings of the world.
    - - This video shows the importance of both zooming out and in of oneself to gather meaning. It raises questions of scale – both how tiny we as humans are in the context of the universe, and how unbelievably complex creatures we are at the microscopic level.
- - - - Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
        
        Frankenstein bridges the connection of knowledge for scientific and selfish reasons. While part of Frankenstein is about the quest for knowledge strictly for its acquisition, the other focuses on how scientific ambition is dangerous as the scientist will go to drastic lengths to realize their hypothesis.
        
        In Frankenstein, Victor decides not to create a female companion for the creature because he fears doing so will create more harm for humanity by possibly introducing a rival species. This is an example of Victor thinking about the consequences of his actions before blindly following his own curiosity and ambition. He is seemingly unlike the character he was at the beginning -- one who did follow his ambitions -- and has become more rational through his learned experiences.
  - - - Benjamin Labatut’s chapter “Prussian Blue” details the origins of famous ‘accidental’ discoveries in the field of science, and how noble designs and products have ultimately been corrupted for terrible purposes. The most notable example of this is the story of the Jewish chemist Fritz Haber. On page twenty-six we are introduced to the German scientist, who oversaw the use of his creation, chlorine gas, employed on both the western and eastern fronts of the First World War. Never before in human history were troops killed on such impersonal levels by an uncontrollable, toxic, substance. Particularly important to this scientific abomination is how it was received not just by the world, but by his own family. The scientist's wife Clara "accused him of perverting science by deriving a method for exterminating humans on an industrial scale" (Labatut 26). The perversion of science was of no concern to Haber, for if he could refine his creation even more, he would. To him, learning more about how the chemical reactions occur and can be used most effectively, was to be the only consideration. Like Victor Frankenstein, Fritz Haber’s own family had to suffer from the consequences of his creation. Disillusioned by her husband's disrespect of the field of science for personal success, she took his service pistol and shot herself in the family garden. The author writes, “she bled to death in the arms of their thirteen-year-old son” (Labatut 27). Haunted by the memory of his wife, he nevertheless continued to refine chemical weapons for the remainder of the Great War. Haber is not nearly as remorseful as Frankenstein, perhaps because the former had some positive impacts on humanity – e.g. fertilizer, however, the two share a common trait of following scientific ambition to dangerous lengths. Labatut is able to condense the complex life of Fritz Haber down to mere paragraphs in length, allowing the reader to learn about and come to our own conclusions on a real-life Victor Frankenstein.