ALL BEYOND

Turning the pages of a book, whether it’s with excitement or spite, opens the potential to explore new worlds completely unlike our own. Imagining yourself in a far off land or with someone completely new, the pages of a book hold new perspectives and even, if we look in the right places, inspiration.

While we may only think of the classics as books to be read solely in preparation for an exam, there is so much more to this novel than old white men and Iambic Pentameter. Author Mary Shelly tells us the story of Dr. Frankenstein, a scientist who has created new life in the form of a man.

While monstrous creations, murderous rampag es and evil brilliance may not be constants in the everyday lives of most people. Not all aspects of Shelly’s writing should be written off as fantastical stories. In Frankenstein, Shelly invites the idea that the monster, rather than the Doctor’s own creation, is an extension of himself, a side of himself he finds repellant.

Much like Dr. Frankenstein, it can be easy to only carry with us the parts of ourselves that seem most useful in our society Intense drive and motivation can engulf the other sides of ourselves that tell us to slow down, and listen. It can be so easy to forget the simple pleasures and what great potential we can find in listening to our joy.

After reflecting on this novel,I began to realize how we all hold different sides of ourselves, and we listen to some more than others. As we get older and begin to take with us more realistic points of view it is easy to begin to ignore the childlike sides of ourselves. The one that can imagine entire universes on the slide of a play ground and who believe that creatures like Frankenstein exist.