Frankenstein

 Henry recently purchased himself a set of legos. He is always asking for new lego sets and he has been asking for one of these monster fighter lego sets for a long time. They don't even have these sets in Target anymore but Henry keeps asking for them. He has always has a fascination with all things Halloween or monsters or scary things. He was so excited to finally get the Frankenstein monster lego mini figure.

I had to explain to him that the mad scientist is actually Frankenstein and the Monster is just a monster he made. After trying to explain a little of the story behind these figures I realized I didn't remember all that much about the story. I read it in one of my Humanities classes in college but that was now about 18 years ago. I still had the book on my shelf so I dug it out and decided to read it. 

I actually really enjoyed the book. I read it with a pencil in hand to make notes and underline as I went. This was interesting because the things that stood out to me when I was a college student aren't the same things I focused on this time through.  I found myself very interested in what the Monster thought was the duty a creator has to its creations.  I couldn't help but look at myself and my creations. I couldn't help but look at my children and see what my actions or lack of action have produced in them. Sure they each have personalities that I had nothing to do with but I certainly create the environment in which these "little monsters" of mine develop.

The copy that I have has the story and also a number of different essays looking at the book from different angles. There is a pychoanalytical , feminist, reader's response, and a whole bunch of historical information about the time it was written, the author, and the genre.  I honestly didn't even want to look at these again. I do remember reading these in college but other than some of the historical information I really didn't want to rip the book apart like I had to do in college.

It was a good read for me. It is certainly not a the type of book I can usually be found reading.  I certainly have gravitated to more of the escape, easy read, mind candy kind of books lately. Perhaps I should read more of these old classics. I have many of them on my shelf already. The challenge of them certainly leaves me with more to think about.

I guess I should thank Henry for buying a new lego set and inspiring me to pick up Frankenstein.