Compare the two books Frankenstein and Jurassic Park and pay particular attention to the language used, time in which the book was written and any other issues raised.
Daniel Freeman 11v1
Compare the two books Frankenstein and Jurassic Park and pay
particular attention to the language used, time in which the book was
written and any other issues raised.
I am going to be looking the following two books in this essay Mary
Shelly's Frankenstein and Michael Chricton's Jurassic Park.
Frankenstein is a fictional biography of a man by the name of Victor
Frankenstein. Frankenstein is a man who has been heavily involved in
science his entire life, but he is not into the conventional sciences
his interests are within the more alternative sciences. These
interests result in Frankenstein having a radical new idea. He desires
to create a living creature using the `spare parts' of deceased human
beings. But when he meets his goal he is filled with regret as he
learns what he has created is far from human and never could be. And
if it had any kind of existence it would be an unbearable and painful
one. His creation would be forced to hide within the shadows of
society and treated as an outcast when his only desire is to be
accepted as a human. But he knows the only reason he can't is because
of his gruesome looks. As the story continues Frankenstein's fears
pretty much come true, and as the monster experiences more of humanity
he realises he doesn't want to be part of it, just get revenge on it.
The monster soon goes after his creator Frankenstein but instead of
killing him straight away the monster makes it more painful and just
kills all those close to him. But then you read about on
Frankenstein's dieing day and his monster visits him but it is too
late Frankenstein is dead and his monster is surprisingly devastated
and wishes death upon himself as well.
Michael Chricton's Jurassic Park is a story about a man
named John Hammond who has discovered a new way of cloning dinosaurs.
He with the help of a select few scientists end up creating a sort of
theme park filled with living breathing dinosaurs. But one of the
parks employees is paid to sabotage the project. The story then
changes into a escape story for those remaining people on the island
as all the dinosaurs have been freed as part of the sabotage and they
need to get off the island.
The two books are very similar in many ways even though
the time periods they were written are so far apart. In both books
they science fiction story line; this is aided even more by the fact
...
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theme park filled with living breathing dinosaurs. But one of the
parks employees is paid to sabotage the project. The story then
changes into a escape story for those remaining people on the island
as all the dinosaurs have been freed as part of the sabotage and they
need to get off the island.
The two books are very similar in many ways even though
the time periods they were written are so far apart. In both books
they science fiction story line; this is aided even more by the fact
that the main characters in both stories are heavily into science here
is a quote to prove Frankenstein's love for science:
"Curiosity, earnest research to learn the hidden laws of nature,
gladness akin to rapture, as they were unfolded to me are among the
earliest sensations I can remember."
That quote gives the reader the impression that Frankenstein has been
a scientist all his life even from an early age. In Jurassic Park
throughout the book there is frequent evidence to prove that Hammond
too is a devoted lover of science but I think the thing that proves
this best is the amount of money his company has invested into various
projects worldwide over the years; the book would lead you to believe
that he has invested millions for example:
"The Hammond Foundation is a respected source of academic
grants they fund research all over the world, including dinosaur
researchers."
In both books they raise the idea of artificially creating
life, this subject is becoming increasingly talked about today in
modern society, as now the level of technology is so high that it is
in fact possible to create new life so Jurassic park may soon be known
as a `science fact' book, who knows? I'm sure you have heard about the
sheep that was `unnaturally' created a few years back; there has been
lots of conflict over if that was right or wrong. In these two books
on both occasions this has ended with disastrous consequences. This
gives the reader the impression that both writers feel or felt that
tampering with nature in that way is wrong and that it would always
end badly.
The two books do also vary in many ways such as Jurassic is ultimately
a story of escape, an escape from the island, an escape from death, an
escape from Hammond's failure and shattered dream. Whereas in
Frankenstein the story is of Frankenstein's pursuit of the monster he
created, the evil within it and its hatred and loathing towards
mankind. Also the books differ in ending and the way the reader is
left after finishing the book. Jurassic park's ending leaves you
feeling happy and hopeful after the book tells you of how all the
`baddies' get either killed by the dinosaurs or the trail of
destruction behind them and the `goodies' escape the island reasonably
unharmed so I suppose you would say that was a happy ending. Compare
this to Frankenstein's ending which mainly consists of everyone dieing
be it a favourable character or even the monster himself who Shelly
seems to make you feel sorry for towards the end and actually dare I
say it, like, well, he banishes himself from society and walks off
into the snow in the hope of dieing. This could also be a reflection
of the consumer in the different times nowadays we like to hear nice
happy ending to a story but when Frankenstein was written it was a
very dark time and a dark and malevolent ending was much more suitable
for the consumer of that period in time (If they could even read it
anyway).
Another obvious difference between the two books is the language
adopted for each one. In Frankenstein there is frequent use of simile
for example;
"I appeared rather like one doomed by slavery,"
That line is used in the book when Frankenstein was telling the reader
about how hard he was working on his creation and how its almost how
he has to, like a slave. Here is a thought; I suppose in a way the
monster throughout the book is being personified as really he is not
human he is just a pile of discarded humans not is not really a
writing device or an example of language it just came into my head.
Here is another line from Frankenstein:
"Rage and Hatred had at first deprived me of utterance,"
That is an extremely good line; just by reading it you could probably
tell when it was written it is a very good example of typical the
Victorian style English language. After reading Frankenstein it seems
that the way in which we talk nowadays is quite dull. Jurassic park
reads like any other modern novel but of course with more scientific
language, as it is a science fiction book. Here is a line from the
book to prove that:
"Grant was awakened by a loud grinding sound, followed by
a mechanical clanking."
That quote is very good and typical of the book it uses a lot of
onomatopoeia like the book does so much. Another thing I noticed
whilst reading the books is that Jurassic Park has a lot more speech
than Frankenstein. Also whilst reading the books I noticed that the
things the writers use to describe horror are very different, in
Frankenstein as it is a biography (however fictional) when something
is scary he describes it by saying how it makes him feel for example:
"How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe?"
In Jurassic park it is different as it isn't a biography and it is
just the writer describing how something appears not how it appears to
a certain character in the story. In Jurassic Park there is not much
about how these scary things affect the characters just what they did
about them, this could suggest that when a dinosaur is running at you
haven't got much time to think about it or the writer just hasn't
considered it, here is a quote for evidence. To give a sort of an
introduction `grant' has spotted some pterodactyls and they are flying
toward him and it goes straight into:
""Come on!" Grant said, grabbing their hands. They ran across the
meadow, hearing the approaching scream."
Frankenstein also uses a lot of religious language throughout the book
with words like
"Daemons," and,
"Evil,"
And also somewhere in the middle of the book it says about how all
creatures should come from:
"The hands of god."
In modern society there are far less religious people than they were
in Shelly's time this could act, as more evidence that the books were
written in different times, and that in language, although not content
is a far older book.
I enjoyed reading both of these books and it was interesting to
compare them the books are very similar in so many ways but still
written so differently both writers should be proud of producing such
excellent pieces of literature. I must say though being a boy born in
the late 20^th century and being stereotypically lazy I did enjoy
reading Jurassic park more than I did Frankenstein but I think this is
because I had an idea more about what they were saying and the
language was clearer. Another part of it would have to be that I found
it easier to relate with the characters in Jurassic Park as they
seemed more normal than good old Victor and of course being from the
same period of time as them helps. Chricton's book gives the reader
more of an action packed thrill ride, whereas Shelly's was more of an
emotional book although still gruesome and quite enjoyable and it is
much more mature book and didn't give u the impression it is
deliberately accessible it also is a lot more personal and had
Shelly's views all the way through but between the lines. But a great
man once said:
"Don't let acceptance exempt your expression."
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