- Elena Marshel (E), Lauren Reiff (L), Benjamin Sweeney (B), Kim Eastridge [writer] (K)
- The Creation
- L: didn’t see it as a physical appearance; like a language barrier; inability to communicate
- E: trying to make it fit disability studies; didn’t start until William died and the Creation’s perspective began that it started to fall into place (the ideas of this being a disability text)
- K: uncomfortable with the idea of it; feels like an intense stereotype of disabled people but i understand it can be a commentary; kinda saddening to see the comparison of disabled people to the creation
- L, B, E: connection to Sound of the Fury; novel read in Literary Methods class; included character “Benji” (severely autistic), nonverbal; people treated him as an object, not as a person
- E:Disabled people were treated (historically) similar in both texts
- B: Creation and Benji are both like adult children; not parental figures; appear innocent to them but outwardly appears wrong
- E: viewing both thru disability lens is helpful; POV from Benji and the Creation; understand that their actions were not malicious, that the deviation from physical norm makes people perceive all of their actions as unsettling; can’t blame Benji for how he acts
- L: nonlinear perspectives; changes how the reader interprets the characters
- E: Sound of the Fury, starts from Benji’s perspective and that can be disorientating because neurotypicals could not follow; following thought process of L’s “nonlinear” comment
- Foss: not physical disability given to him in the text, more mental; but there are examples of descriptive language focused on his physical mobility/movement. We see the sensitivity of the Creation through his POV in the text
- K: using satire as a form of commentary: wary about it, especially from coming outside of the community, will be perceived as reinforcement of stereotypes
- E: agreement
- L: “he’s not human, so is it dehumanizing to compare the Creation to disabled people?”
- E: literally, yes
- E: Cottage scene: the Creation could have been accepted if the villagers had perceived him differently; because of their stereotypes against the Creation’s physical deformations, they attacked violently and angrily
- E: if disabled people are treated like they are disabled, they will fit those stereotypes because other people are telling them what they are
- B: (read text multiple times), didn’t think that mental illness or any of that was hugely effective because he is a scientific creation
- B: slow beginning; had to go into without preconceived notions
- E: didn’t realize the Creation’s wife was a part of the story; made them made that Victor did not want to finish the wife
- L: would have been interesting to see
- K: Completion of the Creation’s wife would have been outside of the gender characters within the novel because all of the women characters play limited roles (emotional); would have been interesting to see the emotional capabilities of the Creation, but we will never know
- B: discussion of Mary Shelley and Shelley’s family
- E: wouldn’t know how it compares to other pieces of the same era; Elizabeth has her own emotions/wants/personality
- Could have been pretty progressive to include these characteristics in the book, maybe not
- K: I think that during this period was the reformation of writing and women writers where they began to write commentary on women in marriages and the societal expectations of women
Victor
- K: “related” to Victor on how he falls ill when confronted/anxious/in trouble
- E: not really a good guy or bad guy; everyone has some good aspects and some problematic aspects; related to Victor in the fact that he is human and has these reflexes in facing grief (book began with mother dying)
- L: how he deals with William
- E: think about how Shelley is dealing with grief, had a lot of death in her personal life; ardent need for revenge is like a cautionary tale
- B: Shelley’s father died when she was young; had 6 children but only one lived until adult; husband died as well; Creation and Victor had a father son relationship that maybe Shelley could relate to; the anger of someone dying
- K: didn’t know about the personal deaths in Shelley’s life; fantasy of creating life through bringing people back to life; as an outlet of her grief
- E: fantasy of creating life outside of pregnancy; creating a superhuman and the horrors that occur
- E: wouldn’t have to go thru the perils of childbirth and the potential death of a newborn/child; fantasy of not having the Creation die
- L: Austen class; about the romance period; chances of living to 40 was incredibly low
- B: Victor represents education through formal practices while the Creation represents learning through experience; informality
- E: the Creation is almost a projection of Victor; relates to Harry Potter and how “abnormalities” are dealt with; mutual revenge makes sense as the Creation being a continuation of Victor’s struggles; adversary effects of science
- K: educational pathways (discussed by B) correlate to real life experiences of disabled people; the Creation learning through overhearing; lurking in the shadows whereas Victor learns through official passages
- L: Negatives of science; education that was just for women where it was focused on social etiquette
