Summary and Analysis
Chapter 16
Summary
The monster and Victor are caught up to each other in time by the end of this chapter. This chapter is pivotal in that it blends the two sides into one story.
The monster sees his family leave their cottage, so he burns it down and goes to live off of the land. His travels carry him near Geneva, where he meets William Frankenstein, Victor's youngest brother. Realizing who the boy is, the monster murders the child and plants the locket in Justine's dress pocket. The monster's final request from Victor is to create him a mate.
Analysis
In Chapter 16, the monster is the victim of an injustice again. After his "adopted family" rejects him, he seeks to find Victor in Geneva. Along the way, the monster is shot through the shoulder after he saves a little girl from drowning in a stream. Recognized and shot as a villain, he is not seen as the savior he really is. He curses all men and, "inflamed by pain," he vows "eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind." He passes a fall, winter, and spring in the woods, traveling at night to reach Geneva.
In a search for food and shelter, the monster encounters young William Frankenstein and kills him. He claims, "I too can create desolation, my enemy is not invulnerable; this death will carry despair to him, and a thousand other miseries shall torment and destroy him." The monster takes the locket from William, goes into a barn for rest, and finds Justine sleeping in the hay. He puts the locket of William's mother into Justine's pocket.