Frankenstein

My favorite part of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was when the "monster" described his isolated development of using his senses and learning to communicate.  From my very limited knowledge of the story before reading it, I had always thought that (1) Frankenstein was the name of the monster and (2) the monster communicated through grunts and was not very intelligent.

Imagine my surprise when Frankenstein's dialogue is more eloquent that my own speech!  Although fictional, Shelley aptly described a child's process in learning speech through Frankenstein's creation's experience.

"By degrees I made a discovery of still greater moment. I found that these people possessed a method of communicating their experience and feelings to one another by articulate sounds. I perceived that the words they spoke sometimes produced pleasure or pain, smiles or sadness, in the minds and countenances of the hearers. This was indeed a godlike science, and I ardently desired to become acquainted with it."

Like the creation, children desperately want to be part of the talking, adult world.  This is why they communicate with coos as infants and later form singular words and still later, two word sentences.  Also, the creation does not learn to speak until he spends most of his time observing the cottagers. Like a child, he would never learn to speak in isolation, but instead must be exposed to speaking adults.

Shelly also described Frankenstein's creations and his first days of being overwhelmed by his own senses.

"A strange multiplicity of sensations seized me, and I saw, felt, heard, and smelt, at the same time; and it was, indeed, a long time before I learned to distinguish between the operations of my various senses."

As infants, children sight is limited to only a couple feet directly in front of them - just the right amount to perceive a parent's face when being held.  However, Frankenstein's creation was overwhelmed by all of his senses at once and since Frankenstein abandoned him, he was left to make sense of it on his own.