For my major project, I decided to create a painting. I was inspired by many of the different books we have read throughout the semester and went through multiple ideas before deciding what I wanted to create. The book that ultimately inspired this painting was Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. There is so much imagery throughout the novel that evokes an assortment of the senses.
Through this painting, I wanted to represent how Frankenstein’s creation, as a disabled character, views the world with rose colored glasses until that view is shattered by the harsh reality of who he is and what he is. One of the main reasons I decided to create this piece was based on how the creation was never truly given an actual name, and how he creates his identity through books he taught himself to read. I wanted to portray how people with disabilities often feels as if they have lost their identity or feel as if they have completely changed as a person due to their disability. In order to do this, the painting is split down the middle to create a reflection of two different worlds: one being the perfect world the creation lives in for part of the story where he sees the good in everything, and the other being the hellish world after the creation sees his reflection and he realizes what he looks like, as well as the isolation the creation later feels.
During Frankenstein, the creation goes through many points where he is not completely sure as to why people run from him and scream at him in fear. He first experiences this reaction when he was created. Frankenstein, his creator, ran from him in fear. As the novel progresses, we get to see the world through the creation’s point of view. Eventually, it is made known that the creation is teaching himself how to read through books he found in a bag. One of the books that the creation receives a lot of knowledge from is Paradise Lost by John Milton. After reading about Adam and Satan, the creation compares himself to both individuals and ultimately identifies as both. In order to portray this comparison, I wanted to represent how, as people, we have a mix of both good and bad in each one of us. The creation had the right idea to compare himself to both Adam and Satan. I created a silhouette of a man whose proportions are slightly off, as if he was pieced together with different parts like the creation was, and I centered him on the canvas to make him the focal point of the painting. Along with silhouette of the creation, I painted an angel wing on one side to represent the part of him that identifies as Adam, and I painted a demonic wing on the other side to illustrate the part of him that identifies with Satan.
On the heavenly side that illustrated Adam’s half of the painting, the canvas is filled with bright colors that bring a lightness to the world. The other main thing I reflected was the cabin that the creation spends a lot of time near. I felt like the time the creation spent near the cabin was a defining time for him. The creation can see how happy the family is living in the cabin, which is why I painted the cabin to look bright, new, and full of life and happiness. The creation only wants a family that will love and accept him, which he never truly receives. However, he makes progress at reaching this goal as he makes contact with the older gentleman at the cabin. We come to find out that the old man is blind, which allows the creation to build a sense of community and belonging because the old man listens and does not judge him for what he looks like.
This sense of belonging is disrupted by the able-bodied man who arrives and begins yelling at the creation to get away and out of the cabin. The events that follow are portrayed on the hellish side of the painting. After staying away for a little while, the creation returns to find that the cabin is empty, dark, and decrepit. He realizes that the family is gone, as well as his only friend. He bonds with the old man, who understands him, and then it is taken and ripped away from him. On the left side of the painting, the cabin is reflected, but looks the way the creation sees it after the people have left. The cabin is in a sense dying due to the lack of life and happiness from the family.
I wanted to represent how the creation views the world throughout the novel, and I feel as if I completed my goal of doing so.
Word Count: 807
I pledge. Alexandra Slaughter
