After much toiling, I've finally finished my review of The Sims 2. For some reason, I just couldn't get into writing it. The entire process was brutally painful. It's not that it was a bad game, it's just that it's the sort of game that's simple and complex all at once. Basically, it's a game that involves constantly telling little digital people what to do; when to sleep, when to eat, when to get their freak on and so forth. That's the core of The Sims 2, but obviously, that doesn't constitute an entire review. I have to expand and elaborate on all the minute details of relitivly simple concepts. From a writer's perspective, at least in my writer's mind, such a review is spectacularly tedious to write. I think, for the time being, I'm only going to review games with a story, no more dry sims.
Aside from my troublesome writing, I've been reading a good bit. I re-read Frankenstein for the first time since my teen years. It's not exactly a light read, but it's definitely a great read. For starters, I love Mary Shelly's ornate use of language; words like "reverie", "countenance", "sophism" and "ardently". I decided to use Dashboard's dictionary widget to look up the exact definition of every unusual word I came across while reading. Needless to say, I hit F10 quite a few times.
Aside from the language, I love the story of Victor Frankenstein and his wretched creation. I don't understand how anyone could show any sympathy toward Victor. He is completely the master of his own destruction, as well as the cause of death and suffering inflicted on his loved ones. He carelessly creates a being, gives life to lifeless flesh and then casts it aside when it doesn't live up to his expectations of beauty and perfection. As human beings, we have parents, relatives and countless other people to care for us during our infancy. However, Victor's creation is simply abandoned. Victor literally sees his creation draw its first breath, suddenly becomes sickened by the sight of it and then proceeds to lock himself in his bedroom until the "wretch" quits scratching at the door. Victor's a big believer in "maybe if I don't think about it, it'll go away". He complains about how guilty he feels for ignoring his loved ones in the devotion to such a horrid enterprise, whining about robbing them of his company. Notice the arrogence, like his very presence is a valued treasure to his family. Never once does he wonder about the life he so carelessly created and then discarded. Meanwhile, the creature tries to understand the world into which he is so abruptly thrust. People react to him with abject horror and sometimes violence, but he has no idea why, so he hides.
The creature observes humanity from a far, teaching himself to speak, read and write by secretly watching the daily happenings of a particular family. He wants to be with these people whom he so greatly admires for the love that they show one another, but past experience has taught him that such a meeting could prove to be painful. However, it isn't until he sees his own reflection in a pool of water that he realizes why people spurn him so violently. He then reads the journal he had stashed in the pocket of a jacket that he took from Victor's lab in which Victor chronicles his creation. For the first time, the creature realizes the horror of his situation. He's an abomination, abandoned by his creator through no fault of his own. His entire existence is "look, but don't touch". Yet, he still sees possible solace in his secret family. If they could look past his grotesque visage and see the good in his heart and mind, maybe he need not live the rest of his life as a despised outcast. However, when he is ultimately rejected by the closest thing he's ever had to friendship and love, the creature's feelings of malevolence are replaced with hopeless rage. His creator rejects him and his "family" flees in terror at the mere sight of him. The creature feels completely alone. The creature grows to hate everything he cannot have.
Thus, in time, he decides is to make Victor suffer the way he suffers. The creature murders Victor's toddler brother only to frame an innocent friend of the family; a woman who is ultimately executed for the crime. He only set out to kidnap the child and raise him as his own, but of course, the child is terrified of the creature and crys out in horror at the creature's wretched visage. He also mentions that he's a Frankenstein, which is really the catalyst for his strangulation at the hands of his own brother's dejected creation. Yet, vengeance leaves a bitter taste in his mouth, as his wickedness is only fueled by desperation rather than inherent evil. Truly evil people never feel remorse.
After his first crimes, the creature seeks Victor and begs him to create a companion, particularly female, with whom he might share company. If Victor declines, the creature vows to make him suffer. Now, as I see it, Victor has a few options for some sort of absolution; He could try to befriend his creation, personally providing the sad creature solace. He could do exactly as the creature says, trusting that the two will live in solitude, never to harm another human being. He could also lie to the creature, luring him into his confidence only to kill the wretch, thus putting it out of its misery and protecting further innocents from wrath. The latter requires a great deal of rationalization, but at least it ends things one way or another. If Victor dies in the process, at least he can take comfort in the great beyond, knowing that he at least tried to do something to spare his family from further torment. Unfortunately, Victor isn't decisive enough to deal with the situation. He reluctantly agrees to create a female being, as long as the creature promises to follow through on his vow.
Of course, rather than getting right to work, Victor spends months, languishing in his melancholy reveries, despite the creature's threats. As I said, he's a big believer in "maybe if I don't think about the problem, it will just go away." He actually hopes that MAYBE the creature might be felled in some sort of accident and simply won't return to collect his prize. Eventually, though, Victor does get to the task at hand, despite his repulsion. However, it is said repulsion mixed with Victor's arrogance that leads to utter catastrophe. Upon receiving a visit from the creature, wanting to check on the progress of his companion, Victor decides to grow a spine. He rips the unfinished creation apart with his bare hands, making a stand against that which he perceives as wicked and unnatural. The creature is obviously quite upset about witnessing the destruction of the thing to which his every hope clung, thus he makes the chilling promise to see Victor on his wedding night. Then, just for kicks, the creature travels a town over to strangle Victor's dearest friend. Clearly, this isn't necessarily the best way for one to handle disappointment, but the creature literally feels that any chance for happiness is completely gone.
So, what's next for Victor? Does he tell his surviving loved ones the entire tale, providing his lab notes as proof of his unholy work, allowing them to prepare for any sort of attack? Does he run away, protecting his loved ones through his absence? Does he hire a small band of mercenaries to hunt down and kill his tormentor? No, of course not. After some months of stress induced illness, Victor goes on to wed his beloved Catherine. This is why I despise Victor. He's so arrogant, so utterly incapable of seeing beyond himself that he actually believes that the creature will confront him on his wedding night and they'll battle it out to one end or another. Victor thinks that by getting married, it will at the very least hasten his death and put an end to his suffering. He's so self-absorbed that he doesn't realize that the creature has no desire to end his life. The creature simply wants to make Victor's life as miserable and desolate as his own. Needless to say, Victor's wedding night ends worse for Catherine than it does for Victor.
The creature's evil acts are mainly the product of Victor's irresponsibility and apathy. Granted, the creature made his own choices and thus is not free from blame, but Victor is the sole creator of the situation that drove the creature's actions. The creature didn't choose to awaken to a world in which his very existence is considered wrong.
Whew, that was a lot about Frankenstein! I actually started this losery essay about a week ago, but kept stopping its writing. I wanted to really cover all my thoughts on the book, but I didn't want to cut things short because I didn't feel like banging it out in one sitting. So, I only wrote when I really felt like writing. I know it's lame, but this faux-essay is a good writing exercise.
Anyway, tonight I'll finish reading Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell. I don't usually go for non-fiction, but Assassination Vacation is flat out awesome. Sarah Vowell's sardonic wit, morbid sense of humor and truly zealous love of American history make for a fantastic read. I mean, we all know that Booth shot Lincoln during a play at Ford's Theater, but there's so much more to the story. Little details like the fact that Booth timed his shot to coincide with one of said play's jokes. She actually makes it fun to read about presidential assassinations, as sick as that may seem. The chapter on President Garfield's assassination is worth the entire book. Vowell's telling of Charles Guiteau, Garfield's killer, is fascinating and hysterical.
Anyway, it's time to put this post down.
Posted by Mike at July 18, 2005 09:51 PM