Frankenjournals

Criticism of Frankenstein through a Marxist feminist lens...

poo

"What chiefly struck me was the gentle manners of these people; and I longed to join them, but dared not--I remembered too well the treatment I had suffered the night before from the barbarous villagers" pg. 127
Society has banned the monster for his being different, believing that different means unequal, though it does not. This goes entirely against the Marxist ideal of pure equality, though this would never work because of the inherent human attitude. Not only this, but because he is male, some would argue that the people are more feared of his being powerful.

"The young man was constantly employed out of doors, and the girl in various laborious occupations within. The old man, whom I perceived to be blind, employed his leisure hours on his instrument or in contemplation" pg.128
Duh... such obvious anti-feminism. Of course the woman does the jobs inside and the man does those outside... Inequality is a beyotch.

"They possessed a delightful house (for such it was in my eyes), and every luxury; they had a fire to warm them when chill, and delicious viands when hungry; they were dressed in excellent clothes" pg. 128
Or so he balieves. Just goes to show how little people appreciate what they have. Too bad they lost everything in the pursuit of justice. Justice always prevails in MARXISM!!!!

"Their nourishment consisted entirely of the vegetables of their garden, and the milk of one cow, who gave very little during the winter, when its masters could scarcely procure food to support it" pg.128
Same page. I'm just trying to squeeze 'em out all at once. Good that they work for their own keep though. It really makes one realize how important each job is, including the woman's around the house.

"They often, I believe, suffered the pangs of hunger very poignantly, especially the two younger cottagers; for several times they placed food before the old man, when they reserved none for themselves" pg.131
Giving--it's an important part of any system. To give one must recieve. And each is expected to give up their food to the old man. I love how the monster thinks of the woman cottager though.

"Through this work I obtained a cursory knowledge of history, and a view of the several empires at present existing in the world: it gave me an insight into the manners, governments, and religions of the different nations of the earth" pg. 139
Knowledge is power... but it's how one uses it that really counts. However, surprising that Felix would teach Safie so much :)

"I heard of the slothful Asiatics; of the stupendous genius and mental activity of the Grecians; of the wars and wonderful virtue of the early Romans-of their subsequent degeneration-of the decline of that mighty empire; of chivalry, Christianity, and kings."
And the faults in government and society. By each there was some form of segregation.

"I heard of the discovery of the American hemisphere, and wept with Safie over the hapless fate of its original inhabitants" pg. 139
Yeah, not really much i need to say on this one. Capitalism sucks.

"I heard of the division of property , of immense wealth and squalid poverty; of rank, descent, and noble blood" pg.140
Again, Marx believed that these could tie in to feminism, but socialist feminists take this as an insult, to think that anti-feminism is just classified in a larger sphere.

"I learned that the possessions most esteemed by your fellow-creatures were, high and unsullied descent united with riches. A man might be respected with only one of these acquisitions; but without either he was considered, except in very rare instances, as a vagabond and a slave, doomed to waste his powers for the profit of the chosen few" pg.140
Classic example of classism.

"I heard the difference of sexes; of the birth and growth of children; how the father doated on the smiles of the infant, and the lively sallies of the older child; how all the life and cares of the mother were wrapt up in the precious charge" pg. 141
yeah. wtf? That totally sucks that women were thought of like that for so long. How would one even go about life like that?! Anyway... women meant to be like servants... ugh.

"He was descended from a good family in France, where he had lived for many years in affluence, respected by his superiors, and beloved by his equals. His son was bred in the service of his country; and Agatha had ranked with ladies of the highest distinction. A few months before my arrival, they had lived in a large and luxurious city, called Paris, surrounded by friends, and possessed of every enjoyment which virtue, refinement of intellect, or taste, accompanied by a moderate fortune, could afford" pg. 143
And they lost that all in an attempt for equality. That's a moment when you're like "...damn..."

"The father of Safie had been the cause of their ruin. He was a Turkish merchant, and had inhabited Paris for many years, when, for some reason which I could not learn, he became obnoxious to the government" pg. 144
Probably because they did not favor him because he was turkish.
among the examples of sexism, i wished to compare it to one of racism. Now, it was difficult to find a good one contained in any useable chapter, so i had to make due... and honestly, i find that racism are both very close-- they're pointless and meaningless and only occur because one person wants power over another.

"The injustice of his sentence was very flagrant; all Paris was indignant; and it was judged that his religion and wealth, rather that the crime alleged against him, had been the cause of his condemnation" pg. 144
I figured this might also be a good comparison--his wages earned rightly had also condemned him. In the Marxist system, you get what you earn, and if you save it and do well with it, then that is your own business (sad, that most misinterpret Marxism as being communism, as this ideal is not communistic at all).

" The Turk quickly perceived the impression that his daughter had made on the heart of Felix, and endeavored to secure him more entirely in his interests by the promise of her hand in marriage, so soon as he should be conveyed a place of safety" pg. 144
Kind of sad that he is using his daughter as somethng of a shield. Anti-feminism. Another one of those ironic examples, though, that intellectuals will find and understand as a mockery of real sexism.

"She instructed her daughter in the tenets of her religion and taught her to aspire to higher powers of intellect, and an independence of spirit, forbidden to the female followers of Mahomet" pg. 145
Finally, some actual feminism. She's actually teaching her to aim higher, not like a woman, and not amongst men, but amongst individuals, human beings. Strange to say, but the suppressed women had more dignity than the oppressive men.

"The prospect of marrying a Christian, and remaining in a country where women were allowed to take a rank in society, was enchanting to her" pg. 146
Again, good show! But why a christian? lol. Wonder if the rank in society is just a ruse, though?

"They remained confined for five months before the trial took place; the result of which deprived them of their fortune, and condemned them to a perpetual exile from their native country" pg.147
Again, a possible misinterpretation of Marxism--this could be called communism at work. However, marxism is based on total political and legal fairness, not simply governmental choice.

"Felix soon learned that the treacherous Turk, for whom he and his family endured such unheard-of oppression, on discovering that his deliverer was thus reduced to poverty and impotence, became a traitor to good feeling and honour, and had quitted Italy with his daughter, insultingly sending Felix a pittance of money to aid him, as he said, in some plan of future maintenance" pg. 147
What a douche. Society teaches them to do what is necessary to stay out of trouble, out of the law's way. Why fear the law? Because it is unfair. And what must happen then? It must be change, for the betterment of society and mankind as a whole.

"He could have endured poverty, and when this distress had been the need of his virtue, he would have gloried in it; but the ingratitude of the Turk, and the loss of his beloved Safie, were misfortunes more bitter and irreparable" pg. 148
At least he can admit that he needs her for so many mental and physical reasons; whether it is for love or not, aid is a necessity.

"When the news reached Leghorn, that Felix was deprived of his wealth and rank, the merchant commanded his daughter to think no more of her lover, but to prepare to return with him to her native country" pg. 148
Again, douche move man!!! And she is expected to do exactly as he says simply because she is a woman... A good finisher, this one shows not only that corrupt government turns people ruthless and ruins good people's lives, but but that causes a bitter society in which a scapegoat is felt necessary. Unfortunately, women were chosen (among others, considering women themselves are necessary for life :))

Feminismness

Will Satcher
Mrs. Bosch
AP English 12
10 December, 2008
Feminism is the idea in the right of women to have social, political, and economic equivalence with men. It was a journey that involved numerous movements, speculations, and values concerned with the issues of gender differences and promotions for women’s civil liberties and interests. The history of feminism are separated into three sections. The first wave was during the nineteenth and continued to the early twentieth centuries, the second was during the 1960s and 1970s, and the third continues from the 1990s to present-day. Feminist conjectures surfaced from these movements, and are evident in a range of disciplines such as feminist history and feminist literature. Feminist advocates have promoted women's legal liberties (rights of contract, property rights, voting rights, etc.), rights to self-integrity and autonomy, abortion and reproductive rights, protection from household violence, for workplace rights (including maternity leave and equal pay), and in opposition to any additional forms of prejudice.
Throughout a great deal of its history, most feminist engagements and premises had leaders, usually middle-class Caucasian women from Western Europe and North America. However, since Sojourner Truth’s speech to American feminists in 1851, women of other races had (and have) anticipated other feminist movements and ideals. This development hastened in the 60s with the Civil Rights movement in the United States and the fail of European colonialism in Africa, the Caribbean, sections of Latin America, and Southeast Asia. Since then, women in former European colonies and the Third World have proposed "Post-colonial" and "Third World" feminisms. Some “Postcolonial feminists,” such as Chandra Talpade Mohanty, disapprove of Western feminism for being ethnocentric. Black feminists, such as Angela Davis and Alice Walker, also share this view.
Since the 1980s, “Standpoint feminists” have contended that feminism should observe how women's understanding of unfairness relates to that of racism, homophobia, classism, and colonization. In the late 1980s and 1990s, postmodern feminists disputed that gender roles are socially conceived, and that it is out of the question to simply spread a single doctrine of what and how a woman is meant to be across customs and ages. Feminists and scholars have divided the movement's history into three "waves". The first wave is commonly known as the women's suffrage movements of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, predominantly concerning the woman’s right to vote. The second wave refers to the ideas and events linked with the women's liberation movement beginning in the 1960s, which drove for legal and social equality for women. The third wave refers to the continuance and affects of the perceived failures of second-wave feminism commencing in the 1990s.
Socialist feminism links the repression of women to Marxist ideas about manipulation and labor. Socialist feminists view women as being subdued as a result of their unfair standing in both the workplace and society. Prostitution, domestic labor, childcare, and matrimony are all seen as ways in which women are exploited by a patriarchal structure that undervalues women and the significant efforts on their part. Socialist feminists see the need to work collectively with not only men, but all ethnicities and cultures, as they see the subjugation of women as a piece of a bigger pattern that affects each person concerned with the capitalist system.
Marx believed that when class oppression was defeated, gender oppression would disappear with it. In the ideas of many socialist feminists, however, this observation of gender oppression as a sub-category of class oppression is naïve and a large amount of the efforts of socialist feminists is concentrated on separating gender dealings from class dealings. Some contributors to socialist feminism have condemned these conventional Marxist ideals for being essentially voiceless on gender oppression except to consider it alongside broader class oppression. Other socialist feminists point to the typical Marxist writings “of Frederick Engels and August Bebel as a powerful explanation for the relationship between gender mistreatment and class exploitation.”











Work Cited
Gilligan, Carol. “In a Different Voice: Women's Conception of the Self and of Morality.” Educational Resources Information Center. 1977. December 10, 2008. < _nfpb="true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0="EJ174986&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0="no&accno="EJ174986">

West, Candace; Zimmerman, Don H. “Doing Gender.” Sage Journals Online. June, 1987. December 10, 2008.