Victor Frankenstein's Frightful Life

Victor Frankenstein is a dynamic character in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as he raises questions that ponder life's most challenging and unanswerable mysteries. Through Victor the reader is forced to face the issue of a man trying play the role of God and the morality of those decisons.

 

 

Timeline of Victor Frankenstein throughout Frankenstein:

http://prezi.com/eid0awtdxvd2/victor-frankensteins-story/

Voncille Reveals All

Voncille Sherard is a black woman originally from the south who was hired as a domestic worker. She was to watch the employers children, although a child herself, in most of the homes she worked. Voncille was brought up to attend church and pray each night and would instill those values upon the children she raised. Having been employed by several households, Voncille has dealt with many types of people and their treatment towards African American help. While in her first home her employer treated her as her own child and would take her out shopping with her, have her sit in the front of the bus or on her lap, would hug her and call her baby, and would yell at the man who would hand Voncille the heavy bag of groceries. So far Voncille's story sounds similar to that of the women in The Help. She raised her employers' children and cleaned their homes. Although she is only eight years old, Voncille and the black women from the help completed the same type of jobs. However here is where Voncille's story takes a turn for the worst. After having to drop out of college she returned home and got a job as a domestic for a baby of six months. She was to get to the employer's small, two-bedroom apartment at eleven and at five or six the husband of the home would bring her home. One day the husband came home alone around one or two and tried to force her into bed, telling her how much more she could make if she agreed. Voncille refused, and told the wife that she would have to find other arrangements for getting her home. Her arrangements now consisted of the husband and his friend both in the car for the ride home. About a week after the incident, Voncille had an encounter with the husband's friend. He also tried to force her into bed which she responded with sprinting from the home, racing to her house.
 
The story of Voncille is more realistic than those of The Help but there are several similarities between the two. Voncille spoke of  woman who on the first day took out a fork and a plate telling her that those were hers to use. We see Minny telling her daughter the rules of domestic work which includes just that, separate plates and utensils for the help. We see Voncille and Aibileen both caring for children and trying to instill a sense of morality on the children whose parents don't have time for them. However The Help doesn't address the major fear of Voncille which was the possiblility of sexual assault from her employer. The reason for this may be that the women of The Help are older than Voncille who is at an extremely vulnerable age. Although the topics addressed are different, both works are accurate portayals of the racism and resentment towards the black maids. They dehumanized themselves in order to treat these women with little to no respect. The actual maid's account seems to have a stonger impact as you know this story is completely true and this was a possible fate of many, many young girls.

Racing in the Rain Quote

Yes the race is long-to finish first, first you must finish.

Is 'The Help' helping in stereotyping?

I can understand why the book is seen as aiding the stereotype of African Americans in the U.S.. The novel is centered around black domestic maids in Jackson, Mississippi who have to deal with horribly cruel employers and a harsh environment. I get that the author is white and that she writes in a southern dialect that some find offensive. However I don't see the novel as stereotypical as it is only telling it how it was. The author herself was raised by a black maid and wants to tell the story of how unfairly these women were treated. This is really how society treated the African American maids of the south and it was probably worse. The help actually had separate bathrooms in which they were required to use and were forced to return home in fear of violence from white extremists. Unlike Mammy in Gone with the Wind the African American women in The Help are strong and inspiring. The maids know that they are endangering themselves and their families by talking about the injustices done to them but decide that they must take a stand. They are brave women who leave their home and children in order to raise the children of their employers and provide for their family. The relationship between the children and the maids is like that of a mother and daughter or a mother and son and is appreciated by those children when they are old enough to realize who their true caretakers were. They are forever grateful of their maids who raised them and provided them with the affection they hadn't received from their parents. However when it comes time to hire a maid of their own they seem to conform to the mob mentality of society and refuse to treat these women with respect. They are the true cowards as they turn their backs on the women who raised them.

A West Virginia Journal

January 7, 1959

I’m following what the papers been writing about that couple from Virginia, the Lovings. It’s hard not to follow when they’re headlining every paper ‘round. What I’m getting at is the two were married in D.C. ‘cause there ain’t no law ‘gainst it there but then moved back to Virginia. Didn’t they know that in Virginia their marriage wasn’ gonna fly? Virginia is under strict code, has been for centuries, and this code is made to keep the whites and the blacks from mixin’.  They have to know as everybody knows that Jim Crow got his hands gripped tight round the South. They shoulda stayed in D.C. where no one would mind what color they are but now they in deep with the law. Just yesterday the two confessed guilty to violatin’ the interracial marriage ban and were given a year in the state penitentiary. I read that the only way for them to not go to jail is to leave the state. I don’t know what they are gonna do next, but if it were up to me I would get myself out of Virginia. I agree that the law needs to be changed but the way them folks going about it makes me uneasy. Not everyone is acceptin’ of change. All I sayin’ is that these two had been arrested for gettin’ married, not like they robbed a bank or stole an automobile, but it’s gonna take a lot for people down south to change the way they think. They been raised to believe that there ain’t no way a black girl and a white man are equal ‘nough to go on a get married and I don’t think that their mind is gonna change anytime soon. I am gonna keep on readin’ ‘bout these Lovings in the papers and I wish them the best. Who knows what could happen? Maybe this could be one of them landmark events that they teach kids ‘bout in the classrooms someday. I just wish them safety, wouldn’t want for them what happened in Arkansas with them students just tryin’ to go to school and gettin’ the near crud kicked outta them. Wonder whats gonna happen, but ‘til then, I’ll be readin'!

The House Holds All the Humans' Secrets

"If you were to tell the story of your world, your journey, how would you do it?"

 

My walls are far from bare. Pictures, paintings, clocks and even wreaths have found their ways to hooks, decorating each and every wall. I wouldn't say the extra weight is unpleasant, because it's not. It can shield from the sun and protect from the cold, besides, one can learn a lot by the art decorating a man's walls. And the ceiling, don't get me started. It seems as though my inhabitants are blind as the sheer number of lights which penetrate my walls are enough to light an entire football field, which, from my understanding, is quite large as I have never actually seen one myself. When the humans forget to turn out the lights, leaving their blinding shine glaring all night, I am utterly annoyed as I prefer the darkness. The humans with their human eyes, cannot see, if you even want to call it see as I don't have actual 'eyes', what I can. Perspective, in my opinion, is about experience. It's hard to gain perspective, being cemented in the ground, but I'll do my best to make due with the cards I've been dealt. As someone, once again one can argue that I'm not a someone but a something, who is only an observer I find it easy to criticize those who have inhabited my walls. What I'm trying to say, in so many words, is that I've done my share of watching. Now its time for someone to listen. This is my story. I know what goes on in every crack and every crevasse of this place. I've know for decades. This is also the story of the families who've lived within me. Oh, where are my manners? I should be well learned as a pleasant Protestant family with immaculate etiquette has once been residents. They were kind enough, a little dry for my tastes but served me well. The Cambells painted my walls with a lovely, pastel, eggshell purple, a lavender one can argue. But before I'm able to deviate again, I, as I am formally known, am the ranch-style home located at six Annette road.

My story, would be told from the point-of-view of the house.

Who knows the secrets of a family better than the house in which they reside? One can create a façade fooling the public, but once inside the comforts of their own home they return to their true nature.

Pets, becoming a part of the family?

My family's received countless Christmas cards where the dog is right smack in the middle of the picture, next to the smiling children. Americans today are treating their pets as members of their family, a child to care for and nurture. Dogs have come a long way from just being used as hunting companions or sheep herders. Two-thirds of American households own at least one pet, totaling to about 7.1 million. A reason for the increase in pet ownership is that it has become more affordable for Americans with the growth of the middle-class. Another huge reason pets have grown in numbers is their loving nature. Pets don't judge, they don't talk back, and they are completely loyal. They are the perfect companion and provide for a sense of stability in one's life. You know that when you return after a tough day your furry friend will be there waiting for you. They know how to cheer you up, the perfect time to help and what mood you're in. It's no wonder Americans are treating them as a valued part of the family. They care about the family just as a person would, protecting its master the best it can. If unconditional love isn't enough to be considered family, I don't know what is.