Loss of Innocence

As in our fishbowls. we often discussed the very important factor of time. "When did he go to college, When did he die, When did he create the monster." These events all have factual evidence and can be pinpointed to a certain location, but when does the monster truly lose his innocence? We've had entire fishbowl discussions about the main point where the monster loses its innocence, and for that matter many points where it loses its innocence. That's where we get to the real discourse about this topic; when does the monster first lose its innocence and which loss is the most important? Let's analyze these 2 questions separately.

First off, when does the monster first lose its innocence?

I believe this pivotal moment in the monster's life is when he is first created. As victor flees from the sight of his creation and comes back, he continues to call the monster ugly, which definitely impacted the monster as it was one of its first interactions with the world. Victor can be quoted,

"I had gazed on him while unfinished; he was ugly then, but when those muscles and joints were rendered capable of motion, it became a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived" (Shelley pg43).

This instance of pure hatred and pity sparked a sadness within the monster that can be traced as the first official loss of the monster's innocence, right after its creation. Regardless of this first instant, the monster still has hope that others will not be like Victor and will eventually accept him for who he is. Or will they?

Now let's address the second part of our question at hand; Which loss of innocence is the most important?

Of all the times where we consider it a loss of innocence, from the time the monster first killed to when he was shot for trying to save a drowning girl, I came down to 1 main point that can be highly debated about its importance. As the monster adjusts his way of living and learns from an innocent family in a cottage, he uses a literal understanding of "Lost Paradise" as hope for his acceptance. He understands the delicacies of life and learns from the behaviors of the children and the blind man. As he is accepted by the blind man on the level of his wit, everything changes when the children face him. These innocent creatures the monster was studying suddenly screamed and ran for their lives. And this was all in terms of sheer pain and fear from the ugliness of our monster. 

The fact that the monster spent all that time trying to learn and integrate himself into society serves to explain the depth of his heartbreak when he is rejected. When the simple blind man speaks to the monster, he is not in any form of fear and accepts the intellect of the monster, but when the girls see his disfigured figure, they are extremely frightened. It's a fear that eventually drives the monster to make very rash decisions in terms of his surroundings. 

Do you guys think there's a more important loss of innocence? If so just comment or message me on facebook, twitter, snapchat, or instagram!

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Special K