Frankenstein and Industrialization How did the changes brought about by the factory system challenge the family? How do some of the authors included in Chapter Four, in Rogers, treat this issue? Does Mary Shelley have any insights or criticisms with regard to the family and industrial society? The changes brought about by the factory system changed drastically the whole family structure. This is especially evident from the way children and women were treated in the industrial society. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein discusses changes within the family from two different perspectives one of which is Victor's and the other one that of the creature. The Industrial Revolution created a unique new category of people who were dependent on their job alone for income, a job from which they might be laid off without any reason. The factory worker had no land, no home, and no source of income but his job. Working in the factory meant more self-discipline and less personal freedom for workers. The system tended to depersonalize society and reduced workers to an impersonal status. This Economy powered by machines, turned people into machines as well. Even though life overall was improving, the industrialism brought misery to the workers and their families. Family structure and gender roles within the family were changed by the growth of the industrial society. Families as economic unit did not exist anymore. Productive work was taken out of the cottage. A new pattern of family life emerged. Families now worked on factories and mills for people they did not know. Production was the key in the industrial society and family was a minor issue. Families were less closely bound together than in the past - the economic link wa... ... middle of paper ... ...here, instead he was rejected by society. Without understanding why, he soon knew that he was "a poor, helpless, miserable wretch…I could distinguish nothing; but feeling pain invade me on all sides, I sat down and wept." (11-16) On the mountain at the hut the creature tells his story where he implies that he was forced to his evil habits by the state of society in which he lived. But Victor was the one who forced him into it and denied the monster of family. He had no friends and no mother nor father; he did not have his creator near him, and he had no one to bless him with "smiles and caresses." "I was alone," he says, and "I remembered Adam's supplication to his creator. But where was mine? He had abandoned me, and in the bitterness of my heart, I cursed him." We become more responsive to the creature's isolation, his rejection, and his abandonment. (11-16)
In the 19th Century it was the Father who was known to be the one that worked, or the breadwinner for the family. However, after World War II we began to see a shifting in this as the women’s right’s movement took place and women began to get paid more for working and now entered the workplace regularly. This also occurred because of the great economic growth that was occurring at the time. So as things changed economically, the family progressed with it as well. However, not all was a positive progression as during this time we also began to see divorce increase as well as and increase in the number of women who became pregnant without having been married. These were huge changes and shifts in the family dynamics as the family became under pressure from the ever-changing economics and culture. With both parents entering the workforce, little supervision is given to the children. This was totally unlike the Leave it to Beaver family, the Cleavers in which only the father went to work and the mother had time to care for the kids. Having both parents work definitely cut into family time or time that in the past had been spent between parents and children. This gave way to leaving society an open door in having a greater impact on children then they would have received at home through the training and modeling of their parents. Because of their thinking to progress with the world around them and in the way the world was progressing in thought, it left an open door for their families to become impacted negatively by
Industrialization had a major impact on the lives of every American, including women. Before the era of industrialization, around the 1790's, a typical home scene depicted women carding and spinning while the man in the family weaves (Doc F). One statistic shows that men dominated women in the factory work, while women took over teaching and domestic services (Doc G). This information all relates to the changes in women because they were being discriminated against and given children's work while the men worked in factories all day. Women wanted to be given an equal chance, just as the men had been given.
The Industrial Revolution in America began to develop in the mid-eighteen hundreds after the Civil War. Prior to this industrial growth the work force was mainly based in agriculture, especially in the South (“Industrial Revolution”). The advancement in machinery and manufacturing on a large scale changed the structure of the work force. Families began to leave the farm and relocate to larger settings to work in the ever-growing industries. One area that saw a major change in the work force was textile manufacturing. Towns in the early nineteen hundreds were established around mills, and workers were subjected to strenuous working conditions. It would take decades before these issues were addressed. Until then, people worked and struggled for a life for themselves and their families. While conditions were harsh in the textile industry, it was the sense of community that sustained life in the mill villages.
The factory whistle blows right in the middle of your favorite dream. You wake up in a startle as you glance at the clock. 5:30 am. You rush to get out of bed, seeing that you have to get to work in 30 minutes. You splash some water on your face, brush your teeth, put on some fine factory clothes, pull your hair back, grab an apple and run as fast as a gazelle. The Industrial Revolution had both positive and negatives on the lives of adults and children during that time period.
This new side arouse from desperation and rejection, he was scared, and he could not stand the loneliness. Victor’s did not create a monster. Victor changed the character of the creature, the creature showed more humanity than his creator and now he act as though he looks, like a
The fact the creature refers to a Biblical story teaches us that what Victor has done is not ethical or morally right as the bible connotes truth and wellbeing, the creature feels he is not treated as Adam because he is rejected like the fallen angel is from heaven; the philosophy is that one should absolve themselves of all sin, leaving the creature feeling like his is owed something from Victor. Furthermore during the romantic period it was said that ‘All man is born good’ however this contradicts the creatures life as he is sinned against, hated by Victor and feared by society from the day he was created although he did no wrong. The creature is given no chance in life like Adam was; he is simply a creation who is isolated fr...
After killing his younger brother, Elizabeth , and his best friend, Victor after having no family left wanted to put an end to it all so he ended up chasing his creation and dying before catching it. After bringing the creature into this world and leaving it behind to fend for itself the creature endured lots of agony and pain from society which drove its rage to Victor and his family and he ended up kill this younger brother and soon to be wife. Both were isolated from society, Victor brought isolation upon himself through locking himself up to create the creature and ignoring everything around him as stated in the article, “The summer months passed while I was thus engaged, heart and soul, in one pursuit. It was a most beautiful season; never did the fields bestow a more plentiful harvest, or the vines yield a more luxuriant vintage: but my eyes were insensible to the charms of nature. And the same feelings which made me neglect the scenes around me caused me also to forget those friends who were so many miles absent, and whom I had not seen for so long a time. I knew my silence disquieted them; and I well-remembered the words of my father: "I know that while you are pleased with yourself, you will think of us with affection, and we shall hear regularly from you. You must pardon me if I regard any interruption in your correspondence as a proof that your other duties are equally neglected.” As
The radical changes of the nineteenth century were unlike any the world had seen before. A sense of these changes were felt by all in many aspects; not just politically, but in social and cultural means as well. When Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was published in 1831, it was clear that many general elements of the romantic era were well reflected. Similarly, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels' The Communist Manifesto appeared in 1848, a time of great national political revolutions throughout Europe. While textually these historic nineteenth century texts have little in common, it is clear however that they both are strong reactions to previous movements of European society. Underlying Shelley's Frankenstein are strong uses of romanticism, whereas The Communist Manifesto is undoubtedly opposing the consequences of the industrial revolution in Europe; both reactions of the past, yet effective in starkly different ways.
One of the major problems that were occurring, were the harsh conditions of Industrialization in the work industry. Workers fought for higher wages and decent working conditions. However, this reform was mainly focused on women and children. The restriction ...
“Oh! No mortal could support the horror of that countenance. A mummy again endued with animation could not be so hideous as that wretch” (Shelley 57). This statement is how Mary Shelley successfully portrayed the overall negative consensus of the industrialization of Europe in the 1800s in her novel Frankenstein. This story parallels the world’s transition from nature and emotion to reason and truth which was the primary cause for the industrial revolution. Though the revolution brought new technology and knowledge, people felt as though they were enslaved by this sudden change. This is clear through Shelley’s Dr. Frankenstein and the ‘wretched monster’ that would forever change the world.
Smartphones. Televisions. Computers. In this time period when technology has become prevalent, it is almost impossible for someone to not have constant contact with such gadgets on an everyday basis. As technology becomes more advanced, human beings are further entrenched in this field of innovation. In fact, some have claimed that their dependence on it is so extreme that instead of using other means, they strive to eliminate its negative effects through more innovation (Dreyfuss). Such overdependence can be considered as an addiction. One of the most prominent changes that sparked this addiction was the Industrial Revolution, a boom in technological progress. During the Industrial Revolution, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a gothic novel that
Although some may argue that the creature is to blame for the pain and misfortune of Victor, Victor has a large role the events that take place. By creating a creature that is tainted by the human society and knowledge, Victor causes some of his own pain. The creature has thoughts like “No father had watched my infant days, no mother had blessed me with smiles and caresses” (87) which raises many questions in his mind. These questions lead him to become very confused with who and what he was. Since Victor left the creature to fend for himself after being created, and didn’t give him any good representations of humanity. At the beginning of the creature’s life “no distinct ideas occupied [the creature’s] mind; all was confused”(73); the more he started to gain knowledge, the more questions that arose in his head. Since there was no one there to answer his questions, his confusion turned to anger. Eventually the creature “declared everlasting war against the [human] species, and more than
The Industrial Revolution was a time of great change and increased efficiency. No more would be goods be produced by sole means of farming and agriculture, but now by the use of machinery and factories. Technology was beginning to increase along with the food supply as well as the population. However, this increase in population would greatly impact the social aspect of that time. Urbanization was becoming much more widespread. Cities were becoming overwhelmingly crowded and there was an increase in disease as well as harsh child labor. Although child labor would be reduced somewhat due to unions, the Industrial Revolution still contained both it’s positive and negative results.
When the creature was given life, he was abandoned. He did not know of his creator or of the daily functions of the world around him. The creature was left to fend for himself. He gained knowledge every day by observing his environment and learning from his mistakes. The main lesson he learned was how mean man could be. Man abused the creature because he was a monster to them. Later on, the creature began to hate himself and his creator for the way he was made. “Of my creation and creator I was absolutely ignorant, but I knew that I possessed no money, no friends, no kind of property. I was, besides, endued with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome; I was not even of the same nature as man. . . Was I, then, a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned?” (Chapter 13). After Victor’s death, the creature reveals his feelings about his actions and how they affected Victor. “But it is true that I am a wretch. I have murdered the lovely and the helpless; I have strangled the innocent as they slept and grasped to death his throat who never injured me or any other living thing. I have devoted my creator, the select specimen of all that is worthy of love and admiration among men, to misery; I have pursued him even to that irremediable ruin. There he lies, white and cold in death. You hate me, but your abhorrence cannot equal that with which I regard myself” (Chapter 24).
The novella is set in the early 1800’s, which is during the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution marked a period of technological advancement. As technology advancement increased, work at factories became popular. Workers began to abandon their craft and moved to urban areas to find jobs. Also, fewer workers were needed because machines began to replace their craft. Workers who lost their jobs due to the machines felt dehumanized because their craft was deteriorating. Furthermore, human connections also decreased as a result of the factory work scene.