Chapter 6 · Frankenstein

Copywork

Little alteration, except the growth of our dear children, has taken place since you left us. The blue lake and snow-clad mountains—they never change; and I think our placid home and our contented hearts are regulated by the same immutable laws.

We passed a fortnight in these perambulations: my health and spirits had long been restored, and they gained additional strength from the salubrious air I breathed, the natural incidents of our progress, and the conversation of my friend. Study had before secluded me from the intercourse of my fellow-creatures, and rendered me unsocial; but Clerval called forth the better feelings of my heart; he again taught me to love the aspect of nature, and the cheerful faces of children. Excellent friend! how sincerely you did love me, and endeavour to elevate my mind until it was on a level with your own. A selfish pursuit had cramped and narrowed me, until your gentleness and affection warmed and opened my senses; I became the same happy creature who, a few years ago, loved and beloved by all, had no sorrow or care.

Read both passages aloud, one after the other. Which one sounds more sure of itself?

Discussion

Narration Tell back what happens, from Elizabeth's letter to the Sunday return. Then choose the moment you think matters most, and say what it changes.

Elizabeth tells Victor, who has been very ill, that home is as steady as the lake and mountains that “never change.” Is a home that never changes a comfort to Victor now, or a hard place to come back to? Inference
Elizabeth says grief left Justine “much altered.” It gave her “softness and a winning mildness” where she had once been lively. Is that change a loss, or something gained? Theme
For the educator Keep the talk to what Elizabeth reports. Nothing in the letter says what lies ahead for anyone in it.
As Waldman praises him, Victor feels as if Waldman were setting out, “one by one,” the instruments of “a slow and cruel death.” Why might kind praise of his progress feel like that? Character
For the educator The image is Victor's feeling about the praise. Nothing in the chapter puts the being he made nearby.
Victor says Clerval was always quick to see what others were feeling. Yet Clerval never tries to draw out Victor's secret. Why might a friend who sees so much ask so little? Character
For the educator The chapter says Clerval sees Victor's distress. It never says he learns the secret.
Victor joins Clerval in studying Persian, Arabic and Sanskrit at a time when he “wished to fly from reflection.” He says the writers' “melancholy is soothing.” Why might sadness in a book soothe a man who wants to escape his own thoughts? Tone

Make a Connection Think of a story, or a time in your own life, when a friend chose not to ask a hard question. What can that kind of silence do, and not do, for the person who is not asked?

Vocabulary

immutable: The blue lake and snow-clad mountains—they never change; and I think our placid home and our contented hearts are regulated by the same immutable laws. Not able to change at all. Elizabeth says her home is ruled by “the same immutable laws” as the lake and mountains, which she has just said “never change.”
salubrious: We passed a fortnight in these perambulations: my health and spirits had long been restored, and they gained additional strength from the salubrious air I breathed, the natural incidents of our progress, and the conversation of my friend. Good for the health. The air is one of three things Victor says added strength to his recovery, with the small events of the journey and his friend's talk.
approbation: M. Krempe was not equally docile; and in my condition at that time, of almost insupportable sensitiveness, his harsh blunt encomiums gave me even more pain than the benevolent approbation of M. Waldman. Approval. Victor uses it for Waldman's kind praise, which still hurts him, though he says Krempe's blunt praise hurts even more.
vacillating: The poor woman was very vacillating in her repentance. Swinging back and forth without settling on one course. Elizabeth says Madame Moritz was “vacillating” in her repentance: sometimes she begged Justine's pardon, and “much oftener” she blamed her.

Critical thinking

Looking back on the walk, Victor says a “selfish pursuit” had “cramped and narrowed” him, until Clerval “warmed and opened” his senses. How well does that explain what was wrong with him?
The chapter ends on a Sunday afternoon. The peasants are dancing, and Victor bounds along in “unbridled joy and hilarity.” Is Victor's joy at the end of this chapter a real healing, or a way of not looking at what he did?