ANALYSIS OF THE NOVEL “Frankissstein” BY JANETTE WITTERSON

In the present text I'm going to make a structural analysis of the novel and to consider its message.

The narration follows two parallel stories that are set in the present and in the past (during XIV century). The narrator in each story is a first person narrator who speaks from the protagonists' points of view. The story set in the past deals with Mary Shelley and her creation “Frankenstein” while the story set in the present tells about the future inventions and evolution and it is told by the protagonist Ryan Shelley.

The structure of the novel is very complex because the two stories are alternate in the chapters. In addition, each story is full of flashbacks that makes the global narration hard to understand on a superficial reading.

The two stories share some things that make the novel deep and full of point of reflection about the past and the future that together affect the present you are living. The first thing is the topic of the creation of an artificial intelligence. In her novel Mary Shelley managed it giving life to her experiment “Frankenstein” while Ryan Shelley faces the topic during meetings, dialogues and researches about how artificial intelligence will be significant for human beings in the future.

Starting from the topic of artificial intelligence the main characters start making reflections about the sense of life, the concept of relativity and the importance and the use of human brain. That are arguments of discussion typical of post-modernism because they deal with looking for a meaningful life, recognizing that human beings' life is a sum of their past memories and their future expectations and understanding the importance of consciousness in human mind.

Each story, that set in the past and that set in the present, actually projects the reader in the future. Mary Shelley and her friends share inner thoughts about the soul, the sense of life and the meaningful experience to create something, such as a novel, full of life. They think about the sense of creation and their future desires. On the other hand, Ryan Shelley is projected by Victor Stein in the future. They speak about artificial intelligence evolution, creating artificial life and facing their interior desire. An example is the protagonist Ryan who is a transgender. He/She decided to follow his/her male instincts and contemporary to preserve his/her female ones. He/She had the courage to shape his/herself and draw his/her life. For this reason Victor is interested in him/her and wants to know his/her deeply desires and thoughts. What Victor gives Ryan is the possibility to look for the future and change the present reality improving human brain and facing the world in a different way. It seems to be a difficult challenge because it seems a revolution. What is interesting is the relation with the deep study of human mind. In the novel human mind results to be powerful and possible to change evolutionary. According to Victor, at the end human mind could could be immortal.

The novel gives the reader meaningful messages, what I have perceived is an analysis of human intellect and a tension to the infinite and unknown towards the soul. I found the novel complex and full of reflection but I'm conscious that I didn't manage to perceive all the messages the novelist wants to give the reader.