Franken Education, or When Science Runs Amok
The story of Victor Frankenstein is popularly and critically regarded as, among other stories, the story of a mad scientist. In this chapter, that mad scientist narrative is explored in relation to the study of childhood. The relationship between the scientist and the child is examined first through the story of Victor and his nameless monster creation. Mary Shelley's critique of science is engaged as a critical element of that relationship. The chapter then examines three further relationships of children to science and scientists through the stories of Ender Wiggin, Tetsuo, and CHAPPiE. In each narrative, Promethean problems are revealed for the study of childhood. The chapter concludes with the provocation that Victor Frankenstein's failing was not his apparently failed experiment but rather his failure to care for the monster.