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Prose Essay Plans for Frankenstein and Never Let Me Go
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Essay Plans and PointsCompare the ways in which the writers of your two chosen texts make use of symbolism.
Point One: Object correlatives symbolises their character,
FRANK: PAGE 119 the monster reads ‘ruins of empires.’ Thus, symbolises him gaining
knowledge, which is dangerous and corrupting. The intertextuality is important as readers
would have most likely been familiar with what it’s about. It’s quite Romantic in nature, hating
on the Catholic church. Shelley’s husband did that as well. He becomes conscious on ‘was
man, indeed, at once, so powerful, so virtuous, and magnificent, yet so vicious and base?’ He
learns ‘I knew that I possessed no money, no friends, no kind of property.’ The asyndeton here
emphasises his vulnerability. Later he reaches the conclusion ‘if I cannot inspire love, I will
instil fear.’ If he had love then maybe knowledge wouldn’t be so corrupting, though Shelley
doesn’t seem to believe this as Victor has a happy childhood- ‘No human being could have
passed a happier childhood than myself.’ Science fiction- suggests everyone can be
corrupted by science, Shelley being mean to Galvanism.
NLMG: PAGE 64 Symbolism of Kathy’s tape. The cigarette is a little bit of rebellion
‘secretive’ ‘I don’t know how it was where you were, but at Hailsham the guardians were really
strict about smoking’ Direct addresses reminding us this is a dystopian, as we’re reminded why
they were so against smoking. In 1998- the novel is set in the late 90s- the Smoking Kills
campaign started to lower smoking. Science fictions, reminds us that they’re like us but they’re
seen as ‘spiders.’ The fact it goes missing symbolises her loss of rebellion as beginning of
passivity as ‘I’ve got to keep going.’ When she finds it again PAGE 171 it’s not the same one,
but she says ‘it brings back memories of that afternoon in Norfolk’ symbolises her nostalgia
instead of rebellion, because it’s about where she listened to it, not what she listened to.
Point 2: Symbolism of locations of isolation (external world, internal state of the character)
FRANK: PAGE 95 ‘terrifically desolate’ oxymoronic, he hasn’t learnt yet isolation is a bad
thing yet. ‘Trees lay broken and strewn on the ground’ this symbolises his future isolation as
everyone he loves dies. We can infer this through the non-linear structure, as Walton’s
epistolary opening suggests he’s not exactly having the best of times as he’s a ‘creature
destroyed by misery.’ Shelley draws attention to this as he has his heart ‘swelled with
something like joy’ he immediately sees the ‘vile insect’ and has a diatribe to his creation about
how he wants to kill him. The monster is what will destroy him. If we take the monster to
symbolise Victor’s self-destructive tendencies, then this could be seen as Shelley criticising
Romanticism. One of the key components of transcendentalism is that society is flawed. Some-
Like Henry David Thoreau- took to an extreme by removing themselves from society all
together. This will destroy you, as it destroys Victor. Isolation is a key component for a gothic
character, and Victor meets that well.
NLMG: Chapter 18 ‘I’ll have the big grey sky, and my daydreams for company’ suggests,
similar to Victor she feels as if she enjoys being isolated. The simply adjective ‘big’ suggests
her daydreams aren’t complex enough to keep her entertained for that long, adding to the
,vermilisitude. Ishiguro said specifically that he wanted to portray the England of his youth,
isolated and grey. Dystopian- we recognise the world we see and yet it’s perverse- this may
make it more speculative fiction, especially with Dolly. The effect of Thaterism made it empty
and isolated. The non-linear structure means we get constant repeats of the image of Kathy
in her ‘long wearing road’. By the final chapter she’s over the isolation PAGE 281 ‘I went past
field after flat, featureless field, with virtually no change.’ The asyndeton communicated her
boredom, and how she’s ready to die, as her locations keep her too isolated to make new
connections now everyone, she loves is dead. It ends with a fantasy of Tommy. Until she dies
that’s all she has.
Point 3- characters to act as symbols for those who ‘other’ people they don’t know
FRANK: chapter 7 vol 2 PAGE 127 Declay’s are set up as ‘aimable creatures’ repetition of
‘my protectors’ the monster sees them as almost parental figures to make up for his deprivation
from Victor. Yet they react with ‘horror and consternation.’ This flashback structurally takes
place before the monster has killed anyone, and even starts his ‘if I cannot inspire love, I will
instil fear’ arc. Thus, the use of gothic conventions to have overwrought emotions and Agatha
faint seems to be mean to the readers. Shelley may have done this to highlight how the
deformed were put in poorhouses, and that’s not good. The fact that the narration is from the
monster’s narration mean we’re more on his side, as when Victor described him he uses a
bunch of gothic imagery like ‘yellow skin’ ‘watery eyes’ ‘shrivelled complexion’
NLMG: Also written in a time where there was some othering was going on, Ishiguro may
have even experienced some himself. Madame acts as a synecdoche, a part of the non-clone
society representing whole beliefs. Ch 3 ‘afraid of us in the way someone might be afraid of
spiders’ ch 22 ‘we’re all afraid of you’ repetition of afraid across the chapters. Dystopian to be
dehumanised. Like Shelley, Ishiguro also writes from the ‘others’ perspective, so we have
trouble seeing why it’s so bad, like Kathy does. P257 It could be about xenophobia, but also
homophobia. Ch 8 ‘gay stuff’ collective of ‘we’ suggests that she’s included. During 2005 gay
marriage wasn’t legal, and Madame is living with a woman.
, Compare the ways in which the writers of your two chosen texts present the roles individuals
play within their societies.
Point One: Individuals reckless scientific discoveries have far reaching consequences
FRANK: Lots of scientific experiments, with even grave robbing because of galvanism. ‘Poor
William’ and ‘Poor Justine’ are likened due to Victors dumb decisions. Yet Frankenstein could
be seen as Shelley writing back Genesis (helped with the epigraph being from paradise lost, a
Romantic take on Genesis) exposing God’s abandonment PAGE 129. She suffered a lot of
hardships, with multiple child deaths, so this could be a natural reaction. So, it’s not creating
the monster, but how he ‘sought to avoid the wretch’ PAGE 52 In fact, the monster is innocent
at first, with the polyptoton of beauty on page 155 with ‘beautiful flowers’ and ‘thousand sights
of beauty.’ Shelley was a Romantic, and this hyperbole is pretty Romantic to me. Also, he’s
vulnerable. With ‘I processed no friends, no money, no kind of property’ PAGE 119
Asyndeton emphasises how little protection he has, seeing the strangers DeLacey’s as ‘my
protectors.’ Their rejection causes him to say, ‘if I cannot inspire love, then I will instil fear.’
If Victor had been there than the others wouldn’t have died. The religious imagery is pretty
gothic.
NLMG: Unlike Shelley’s, it’s not from the scientist’s perspective. ‘James Morningdale’ is
mentioned in chapter 23, multiple times, but still only in one chapter. He is blamed for ‘the
atmosphere’ that leads to the end of humane cloning. His reckless science and eugenics had
wide reaching consequences. Page 261 ‘It’s might just be some trend that came and went (…)
But for us, it’s our life.’ The collective ‘us’ and ‘our’ represent not just them but all clones
(synecdoche). With Dolly around, this becomes a speculative fiction, and Ishiguro is warnings
against it. In the 1990s, with better health care, discussions around eugenics also became more
prevalent, with the early 1990s curing a girl of immunodeficiency. As this is a speculative
fiction, it doesn’t have the religious themes that Shelley’s work does, though, it can be noted
‘Morningdale’ and ‘Morningstar’ are similar.
Point 2: Individuals are isolated within a society
FRANK: With Victor it’s self-imposed (‘terrifically desolate’) and that makes him a gothic
protagonist. With the monster ch 7 vol 2 PAGE 127 DeLacey’s are set up as ‘aimable creatures’
repetition of ‘my protectors’ the monster sees them as almost parental figures to make up for
his deprivation from Victor. Yet they react with ‘horror and consternation.’ This flashback
structurally takes place before the monster has killed anyone, and even starts his ‘if I cannot
inspire love, I will instil fear’ arc. Thus, the use of gothic conventions to have overwrought
emotions and Agatha faint seems to be mean to the readers. Especially as the DeLacey’s has
been from ‘high distinction’ and now are in ‘perpetual exile’ Shelley may have done this to
highlight how the deformed were put in poorhouses, and that’s not good. As a society we need
to come together and be united. Romantic people feel that society is bad an individualism is
good, but Shelley may be criticising this. The fall of an empire she included as intertextuality
believed that we’ll all become united under one religion.
NLMG: Ishiguro may have even experienced some himself isolation due to racism. Madame
acts as a synecdoche, a part of the non-clone society representing whole beliefs. Ch 3 ‘afraid
of us in the way someone might be afraid of spiders’ ch 22 ‘we’re all afraid of you’ repetition
of afraid across the chapters. Dystopian to be dehumanised. Like Shelley, Ishiguro also writes
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