Close Reading of a Passage

“The different accidents of life are not so changeable as the feelings of human nature.  I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body.  For this I had deprived myself of rest and health.  I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.  Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room, and continued a long time traversing my bed-chamber, unable to compose my mind to sleep.”

 http://quercuscalliprinos.blogspot.com/2011/05/despair-guilt-and-remorse-in.html

                This excerpt proved vital to me thus far into the book.  So far the two major controlling ideas are: Victor reanimating a dead body, and his guilt for the adverse affects of playing God.  The concept of thinking something will make you happy for longer than you anticipate such as the car you drive, size of your house, or paycheck was a major theme of my English 101 class, and is somewhat relatable to the psychology of Victor in Frankenstein.   My English 101 class read a book “Discovering PopularCulture” that discussed the American Dream and overall happiness.  Many authors depicted what Americans’ defined happiness as, and why they were wrong to think something material would make them happy for as long as they think.   I find this relatable to Victor because of how he went about his creation.  He deprived himself sleep and health because he was so sure that the product of his hard work would yield success far out weighing any trials he would endure in the process of creating the monster.  Like many Americans who swear on a new car being that thing they so badly need to feel truly happy and remain in a fantasizing state that blocks out the reality of potential consequences, Victor remains so engulfed in his work he fails to forecast any negative outcome that may be the verdict of his action.  Victor defined his health and happiness’s around the construction of his creation, and now that it has been constructed and so many things are going so terribly wrong he spends his days now wishing it away.  I believe the overwhelming guilt and sorrow for his actions leading to the death of two loved ones will play out to influence the rest of the story as a new controlling idea.