In What Ways Do Stephenson, Shelley And Banks Engage The Reader In The Incredible And Fantastic Narr Essay, Research Paper

???????? All three

of these novels are either all or partly written in the first-person. They seem

to be about the evils of humans, and they are meant to make you think. They do

this by using a Gothic sort of scene for the novels to be set in. All of the

stories? attitudes to human nature are about how even the most respectable and

good and honest people (Dr. Jekyll & Victor Frankenstein) can have a totally

evil side. The Wasp Factory shows how an otherwise normal person can be lured

into evil practices. This is also somewhat true in Frankenstein when

Frankenstein?s creation starts to kill people after his ?father? Victor

Frankenstein does not love him. ???????? All of the chapters up

until Dr Lanyon?s narrative are in the third person, from the author?s point of

view. The last 2 chapters are Henry Jekyll?s full statement of the case, and

Dr. Lanyon?s narrative. This is quite an effective way of setting out the

novel, as the reader is told the story in third person narrative first so that

you know the whole story. Then in the last two chapters to add that bit of

realism, are written in the first person form. This makes the reader believe

that the person who is writing is actually the character, writing the truth

according to him. To make it seem even more realistic, Dr. Lanyon is supposed

to have received a letter from Dr. Jekyll. To make sure that the reader knows

that it is a novel, but seems real, the date on the letter is 18 something.

This means that no one can relate to the exact year. This method of not putting

the date in is also used at the start of Dr. Jekyll?s narrative: ?I was born in

the year 18? to a large fortune.? ???????? In comparison Frankenstein

is written totally in a series of first person narratives. It is not just

written from Victor Frankenstein?s point of view though. The central chapter is

written from the monster?s point of view, but the rest of the novel is written

as a series of letters from a person called Robert Walton. Robert Walton is an

explorer trying to find the Northwest Passage. He keeps writing home to his

sister, telling her of how he is doing. This is where Victor Frankenstein first

comes to light (Mr. Walton chasing a large figure, each on Husky powered sleds,

spots him in the distance). He climbs aboard the ship, which is stuck in ice,

and tells his story. We hear it in Mr. Walton?s letters back to his sister. The

central narrative told from the monster?s point of view helps to contrast the

very bias and hateful view of Victor Frankenstein. ???????? These are two novels

written and set in the nineteenth centuries. The third novel, The Wasp Factory

is set in modern day rural Scotland. It is about a child called Frank and his

abnormal, sadistic rituals. It is written entirely from his bizarre point of

view. The writer seems to have related it to Frankenstein, by calling the main

character Frank. This is because Frank?s problems are perhaps because of his

father?s lack of input during his upbringing. This is the same reason that the

monster in Frankenstein kills people. The whole setting in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is very gothic, it is all

set in London, when the London smog?s where happening. This causes a very grey,

depressing scene. Most of the sub-stories are set at night time, so it is even

harder to see in front of you, making it easy for people to appear to ?vanish?

into the night. Whenever Mr.H strikes, there seems to be nobody about on the

streets, making it scarier to go out on your own because there is no one to

witness any trouble that you may fall into or to help you. As well as the fact

that although you maybe only meters away from a house in the middle of the

biggest city in England, you are made to feel isolated because of the lack of

visibility. This novel was brought out at a time when Jack the ripper was still

in peoples minds, giving the readers more sense of it being true. Dr.J is known

for not being too extrovert, and is a bit of a recluse. This loneliness adds to

the gothic and chilling of the novel. The loneliness and isolation create a

sense of no one to turn to. If they he was a socialite and everyone knew him

then it would seem less personal and maybe more comforting. Mr.H stays in a

bedsit, which is filled with people who are a bit shifty and maybe slightly

gothic. ???????? Frankenstein is also a

gothic novel. When V.F. is creating his monster he locks himself in his

workshop, which Mary Shelly calls a ?filthy workshop of creation.? He also goes

around a lot of graveyards and mortuaries on his own, at night, which creates

quite a gothic feeling. The whole workshop is very gothic when he first creates

his monster, as he is created totally on his own when this baby-like monster is

created. The whole way that the monster is talked of, as a giant brutish evil,

is quite gothic, especially when he shows himself in public, and he is chased

away into the country. The monster?s story is set in a dark forest, where he is

on his own apart from the family living next door. When he meets V.F., they are

isolated on the glacier there is no one about to be comforting. This sense of

isolation of characters is the same as Dr. J and Mr. H. ???????? The Wasp Factory also

has a gothic setting, but it is a funny gothic, as there are certain parts that

are light hearted at the same time. Frank is on his own for most of the time

frame of the novel and very rarely leaves the island. This is because, as he

says, he feels ill because he is leaving the factory. The whole lonely isolated

setting of the house also increases the gothic setting. Frank?s strange habit

of killing many animals to put at his ?sacrificial poles? is quite gothic, as

it gives a strong sense of death. As his brother?s calls seem to get closer and

closer, the general feeling around the island gets more gothic. On the day that

Eric does arrive, Iain Banks goes into great detail about how the day was

overcast and humid, a daytime gothic setting. All the descriptions of the

weather seem to describe it getting darker and darker. Then when his brother

strikes at night he sends lots of burning sheep, all screaming, which makes it

more gothic. This is because when you are alone in the dark you have no way of

telling what is around you, because your main sense, sight cannot be used, so

you are prone to surprise and shock. Because of the nature of the novel you,

know that something like this is going to happen, which builds suspense. ???????? Stephenson tries to tell

us that everyone has an evil side in them and it cannot be got rid of, it just

must be controlled. His example, Dr. Jekyll, is a respected doctor, who is

reasonably well off and well associated. But when he starts to experiment with

a potion it reveals all of his repressed evils that lurk in his subconscious. Throughout

the novel he seems to be suggesting that although evil is a bad thing it cannot

by eliminated from anybody and by simply repressing it, it may erupt violently.

In the case of Mr. Hyde who is the channel for Dr. Jekyll?s evil, there is

quite an old fashioned representation of evil that is not really as relevant

today as it was when it was written. Although not that relevant today, the

underlying moral of accepting evil and not experimenting or playing with it, it

is timeless and will always have meaning. Mr. Hyde was thought of as evil when

the novel was written because he was physically ugly and had no apparent

compassion. This is still considered nasty, but not as evil as it was intended

when the novel was written. ???????? Mary Shelley is using V.F.

and his creation as examples of evil. The main character of evil is

Frankenstein because he creates and then rejects his creation. The novel was

also written at a time when physical appearance was of paramount importance and

?freaks? like Frankenstein?s creation, were obviously thought of badly by God

and therefore given ugly features. Mary Shelley tries to use this and reflect

it back to the society of the time, by saying that it was too preoccupied by

the physical features of people and that it tended to ignore inner features.

The creation says that he was born benevolent, which is probably true but

because of Frankenstein?s lack of attention and disgust for its physical

ugliness, he has twisted and warped into a bitter person, who hates the society

that rejects him. The fact is though that Frankenstein?s creation remains evil

despite the fact that it is not his fault. He does kill Frankenstein?s wife who

is not connected in any way to his rejection, and she is only killed for

revenge. The fact that Frankenstein presses on and does create his creation is

a warning to us not to let our ambition cloud our moral judgement or not to

realise the true consequences of our actions when dealing with lives. ???????? Frank from The Wasp

Factory seems to be modelled on Frankenstein?s monster in that he is not

necessarily born evil but is made evil by his guardian, his dad. His name Frank

is similar to Frankenstein. His dad has not brought him up properly and mainly

only taught him about facts of science, and only philosophies that he believes

to be true. Because Frank has never been around any other children he is never

able to learn about life from more than one person?s view and therefore has a

very biased view. Frank?s father has never taught him that animals should be

treated in the same way as humans. His father has caused his problems because

he has never treated Frank like a human being but only as a subject to be

experimented on and used to test out thoughts. For example there is the whole

test of how long Frank would live without realising that he is in fact a woman

who is being fed male hormones. Once again her creator, her father, is the evil

one for not respecting and treating his daughter as another human being.