Blog Post #4

            As I read Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, I noticed some key themes throughout the first half of the novel. Victor Frankenstein is presented as someone who is consistently seeking knowledge and new discoveries. This makes me think that Victor is someone who is never completely satisfied with the information he currently knows and is always searching for more. He probably feels as though the more knowledge he gains, the more worth and the value he gains. Victor is someone whose constant yearning for more knowledge and more interesting things ends up working poorly for him, as it causes him to create an uncontrollable monster that impacts him and all of those around him. He is a perfect example of how knowledge is good but too much can ironically cause more complicated situations. The grass is not always greener on the other side. I took from this that knowledge is good, but it is not all that it is cracked up to be. 

This reminded me of my time spent at Tunbridge school as an in-class helper. Every week that I have spent volunteering at the school, I have worked independently with children on math problems. It is enjoyable for me to see the progress that the children make every week, every hour. However, it is equally as upsetting for me when I witness their frustrations when they fail. Something which has left me feeling disheartened is a girl who is consistently disappointed in herself because she cannot figure out how to solve the problems, no matter how hard she tries. As a result of her frustration, she has cried multiple times, as if since she cannot learn these math problems, she is worth nothing. Seeing her so upset breaks my heart and makes me wonder how she must be feeling about herself. No matter how much I try to help her and plead to her that it is okay and assure her that it is hard work, she does not actually hear me. In reading this book and thinking of this occurrence, it makes me think of how heavily people weigh knowledge in their lives. Sure, knowledge is a remarkable thing. But there is almost a stigma where if you do not know as much as the person next to you, then you are not worth as much. I remember this feeling, as I felt it during middle school. I would constantly put myself down if I did not think I was being viewed as smart or knowledgable. I later realized that those feelings hold people back far too often from truly enjoying their life. And it is often the anxiety caused by thinking we are not good enough which makes us more likely fail. Victor Frankenstein's experience with knowledge made me reflect on how we need to stop thinking about what we do not have and focus on what we do have.