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Parenting in Frankenstein and Lord of the Flies

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It is important for human beings to parent their offspring in such a way that they do not internalize feelings during crucial developmental stages, which can be detrimental to themselves or others. Such feelings can be caused by actions similar to those Victor Frankenstein displays, and that which the boys from Lord of the Flies inevitably are forced to encounter. Victor rejects his paternal role in Frankenstein, by physically and emotionally abandoning his creation; the creature never develops a sense of worth, and he reacts very violently. In Lord of the Flies, the boys are abandoned by their parents as a result of the airplane crash; because of the trauma that they experience and lack of appropriate supervision, chaos ensues. Abandonment by parental figures occurs in both novels, in different ways, but the results are disastrous.

In Frankenstein and Lord of the Flies, characters are abandoned in very different contexts but the results are very similar: they become increasingly violent after feelings of fear and abandonment by parental figures manifest in the self; parents should give the necessary emotional and physical support to children to decrease the role violence plays in contemporary culture. In Lord of the Flies, abandonment is quite apparent in the first pages of the novel. One could only imagine the trauma that the boys are forced to deal with, and on top of that, there is no adult supervision and an inadequate supply of nutrition, housing, clothes, and shelter (Black); children are completely dependent on their parents for these basic needs, and when these needs are not being met there is a lack of safety and consistency.

this can only be damaging, Similarly, in Frankenstein, the creature is forced to grapple with an even more severe form of physical abandonment by his father, where he is forced to interpret his surroundings and singularly define his perceptions. The creature states, “A strange multiplicity of sensations seized me, and I saw, felt, heard, and smelt, at the same time; and it was, indeed, a long time before I learned to distinguish between the operations of my various senses, demonstrating his lack of parental guidance when first coming into memorable consciousness. On top of distinct physical abandonment, where Victor literally leaves the room where the creature first “comes to life”, he is left with no means of nutrition, clothing, or shelter; he is even forced to learn how to speak and read by himself.

In both situations, thriving is not possible because there is no sense of safety; children feel safety when they are protected and nurtured by their parents (Black). It would be enough for characters in these novels to internalize feelings of fear from this lack of physical safety, and act out violently. Therefore, parental practices that provide children feelings of physical safety are essential to healthy development; a lack of physical abandonment could decrease violent tendencies in children, and in a wider sense, could decrease violence across a culture Also, not only are characters in these novels physically abandoned, they are also emotionally abandoned by parental figures It is easier to empathize with the creature’s emotional abandonment, since it is easier to distinguish than that in Lord of the Flies; Mary Shelley makes it a point to emphasize the creature‘s emotional wounds.

He is an outcast wherever he goes, multiple times he is brutally attacked for the way he appears, and he had no parent to comfort him or help him build any sense of self worth The longer the creature exists, the longer he hates himself, Most, if not all, of his self loathing and violent actions stem from his father’s blatant rejection, which Frankenstein admits to; “‘Alas! my father,’ said 1, ‘how little do you know me. Human beings, their feelings and passions, would indeed be degraded if such a wretch as I felt pride. Justine, poor unhappy Justine, was as innocent as I, and she suffered the same charge; she died for it; and I am the cause of this — l murdered her, William, Justine, and Henry — they all died by my hands. If Victor fostered the creature’s self-worth, helped him learn his value as a sentient being, the monster would not have internalized such vitriol feelings of rage and hatred, and he would not have reacted so violently to the way he was treated by others. However, the emotional abandonment in Lord of the Flies is quite different than that visible in Frankenstein.

In modern society, it is plausible to assume that an airplane crash is extremely traumatizing to boys ages six to twelve, especially if there are no adults accessible to help them recover from the event, and there is reoccurring trauma still happening, like the killing of the pig, the discovery of the dead parachutist in the trees, and the multiple killings of different boys. Without an adult present to help the children recover from such trauma could only exasperate the effects of traumatic experiences. It is no wonder that characters, specifically like Roger and Jack, act out violently under these extreme circumstances; especially when the “bigguns” are resurrected as parental figures or adults, and are unable to nurse emotional wounds back to health because they are preoccupied with unhealthy and not age- appropriate responsibilities.

Because of the emotional abandonment these characters experience, either from a parent not establishing self-esteem in their child or not being there for them after severe trauma, caused them to behave violently. By successfully helping a child develop emotionally, one can decrease violence in modern society from the starts As a result of abandonment by parental figures in the novels Frankenstein and Lord of the Flies, violence by those who are abandoned occurs Under different circumstances, some sort of physical and emotional abandonment occurs and characters exhibit abnormal, Violent behaviors that stem from inadequate or lack of physical safety, lack of feelings of self-worth, or the inability of children to recover from trauma without adult interference. If parents give their Children the necessary amount of physical and emotional support for healthy childhood development, then the role violence plays in contemporary culture could dramatically decrease.

Cite this paper

Parenting in Frankenstein and Lord of the Flies. (2023, Jun 27). Retrieved from https://samploon.com/parenting-in-frankenstein-and-lord-of-the-flies/

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