Little Labors

More Frankenstein

Frankenstein isn’t the name of the monster, it is only the name of the creator of the monster, and the monster himself is never given a name, which contributes to the productive confusion that leads most people, even those who know better, to think of and speak of the creature as “Frankenstein.”

Dr. Frankenstein, the father (and mother) in a sense, notices the creature, shortly after creation, peering over the edge of a bed, like a toddler in his parents’ room. Dr. Frankenstein flees in terror from the sight. The creature is then left on his own. For awhile he hangs out around the house of a family he dreams of belonging to; the head of that family is a blind man; the creature one day gathers the courage to present himself to the kind, blind man; the man listens, sensitively, to the creature’s story; then the man’s children return, scream in terror, and fight the “monster” off, even as said monster cries and clings to the knees of the blind father, as would a very young child.

After that, the creature becomes angry, and violent — also like a young child.

The creature eats only fruits and berries, and never meat.

Most people report that when seeing babies they have a desire to eat them.

So babies do appear in literature maybe more than we might first notice.