Nature vs. Nurture

I believe that the majority of how a person develops and how they act is a product of nurture. Nature does have some place in it, but not nearly as much.

When Frankenstein created the monster, in a sense it was like someone having his or her own child. He was supposed to be responsible and teach the monster how to function and behave to fit in with the rest of society. The creature was brand new to life so he really didn’t understand how to act or have any preconceived notions of how he should behave. He hadn’t yet been taught how to hate someone or how to become violent to the point of killing innocent people. He was essentially a massive child who needed a caretaker to make sure that he took the right path in life. Obviously, Victor failed quite miserably with this task.

While I do believe that Nurture has more of an affect on how someone turns out, Nature has its own role. People who have parents and grandparents who have suffered from alcoholism are more likely to become alcoholics themselves. Genetics do ingrain certain habits and personality traits within an individual. However, I also think that it’s possible to avoid falling victim to these more dangerous habits that you receive from your relatives.

The monster was not an inherently evil creature. There were moments within the book, such as when he gathered firewood for the cottagers and saved the girl who fell into the river, where he displays the characteristics of a truly good person. But as the story progressed and more bad things happened to him such as being rejected from society and in one case being shot for simply doing a good deed, he became bitter. Nurture took precedence over how the monster viewed the world around him and it turned him into an angry, murderous individual with little control over his emotions and no concept on how to properly deal with things that upset him.

Victor's Responsibility.

I do believe that Victor is responsible for the actions of the monster. It’s true that he isn’t the one directly telling the monster to do terrible things, but he nevertheless created it. By default he’s the one who should have to answer for this newborn creature.

To me it’s the same as if you were the parent of a young child. Someone that’s really young doesn’t understand why his or her actions may be right or wrong. Therefore, until they learn to take responsibility for themselves, it’s the parent who is responsible for them. You are the one who brought the kid into this world so you’re the one who needs to answer for it when they cannot. Until the thing you are taking care of is capable of making responsible decisions and can take care of itself, you are the one who has to watch over it.

Victor spent years of hard work obsessing over bringing the monster to life. It completely consumed him and cut him off from reality to the point of not speaking to his own family and even his beloved Elizabeth for years. You would think that if he were that excited to have his experiment be a success, then he’d be more than ready to take on the role of being the owner of his creature. Obviously that wasn’t the case, as he reacted with horror and shame rather than happiness at his triumph. Now he’s paying the price for flaking out and abandoning this thing that was depending upon him for guidance in the world.

Eventually I think that Victor is going to have to answer for what he’s done. His negligence and fear caused the abomination that he brought into this world to escape, and people are dying because of it. Victor truly is the one who is to blame for all of the troubles that the monster is causing. If he hadn’t been so determined to mess with things that he should have been, the monster never would have come into existence so yes, I think that all of the blame should be placed upon Victor.

Passion vs. Obsession

I would define passion as an intense enjoyment or love of something. It can be applied to a lot of things in life. Some people have passions for sports, hobbies, or learning, and other people apply it to relationships. However, to me a passion is not something that constantly takes up your times and is always in your thoughts throughout your day. You can control how much time you spend on whatever hobby or subject it is.

Obsession is similar to passion in that you really enjoy a particular thing or person. However, it’s more extreme and to the point that you’re unable to stop thinking about that thing or person. People with obsessions tend to care less about everything else in their life that isn’t somehow related to the object of their obsession.

I don’t think that having a passion for something is a very dangerous idea. People can usually control their passions and focus on other things when they need to. I do believe that certain obsessions can end badly for someone who has them. Individuals who have obsessions with learning and traveling, like Robert Walton for example, may end up learning things that they never really wanted to know and end up in places that they never wanted to be. People who have obsessions with other people are technically called stalkers, and that’s just no good at all. So yes, I’d say that obsessions are not always healthy.

I have what’s probably borderline passion and obsession about the television show Supernatural. I really enjoy it, and sometimes I do have a hard time not talking about it with other people who may not necessarily care. Of course I can stop thinking about it in order to focus on schoolwork and other things that I need to get done, but I can go off on it in conversation for a really long time if given the chance. It’s not the worst thing I could be obsessed with, but sometimes people think I’m weird because of it.

Semester Plans.

Out of everything that I did last semester, I am most proud of getting a 3.8 GPA. That’s the best GPA I’ve ever had, and I’m going to try and get a 4.0 before the end of this school year. Having a good grade point average will look excellent on my college applications.

I do wish that I'd been able to get an A in Psychology, and it's my fault that I didn't because I didn't put forth the effort to study as much as I should have for the quizzes. I also wish I’d paid more attention in Government class. Not because it’s a hard class, but because all the things we discuss in there are relevant to life, especially considering I’m going to be out in the real world very soon. 

When I graduate the thing I'm looking forward to the most is just getting out of high school. I'm ready to go on to college and start getting my own life going. I’m excited to finally be independent from my family, even though I appreciate them a lot. Moving out into the world is something that I’m excited for.

I’m not worried about much as far as graduating goes. I suppose having to be financially independent for once in my life is going to be difficult. Achieving a balance between having a job and keeping up with my classes is going to be a challenge.

This semester I’m going to try and really buckle down to get everything done. Not only that, but produce a high quality of work in order to maintain the best GPA that I can. I’ve really got to watch out for classes like Economics and Government, since I tend to slack off a little in those subjects. It’s not that I don’t try; I just pay so much more attention in classes that I enjoy because they interest me.

It may be the final semester in my last year of high school, but I don’t plan on coming down with “Senioritis” any time soon. It’s not over until I have my diploma, after all.