Although almost impossible to read, this came after clicking on a random spot on the picture above. It is an explanation of a simple day in Mary Shelley's life. She explains walking down the street on a gray day, and proceeds to mention her monster: "As I write this, she is muttering to herself in the bathtub; the water is bitterly cold and must be frequently changed." Mary Shelley incorporates both her life and the monster's life - which seems as though they may be the same thing.
Mary Shelley describes how her monster is now hers, yet she has not "breathed fire" into her. The monster is waiting for her. I was confused at the non-chronological order here, because at first she is explaining a simply day in the life with her monster, then she is talking about how her monster fled her after conception. The monster has only a cloth left, devout of any clothing Mary Shelley had given to her before she fled.
This portion of the hypertext entails Mary Shelley's actual creation; the stitching of the monster. "Authoress, I amend, smiling," is one of the quotes from Patchwork Girl that really stood out to me. It seems as thought this is technically the theme of the story; that Mary Shelley is the creator and lover of this new monster. Mary Shelley also mentions the unity that will be very true later on in the adventures of this hypertext.
Mary Shelley's monster departs. She tells of the feelings she is having at the moment: "repugnance, fear, and profound responsibility." She tells of how her neighbors stare at her, which seems like a metaphor for how Mary Shelley lives her life. This hypertext is becoming more and more of an actual narrative to me, because it is starting to patch itself together and I am beginning to realize the structure does not really have much of a point to it.
Again, this is just a recollection of how Mary Shelley is attempting to teach her monster. This time, she is attempting to teach it about life, and hold conversations with it. However, it is seemingly impossible, because of the imperfection of the creation. Mary Shelley is able to hold simple conversations with her monster, from topics of blackberry preserves to sorcery. Mary Shelley says "I despise of treating any one subject adequately, unless it be by crossing it enough times ... that our overlaid footprints begin to cover the whole..." Mary Shelley is talking about how she is unable to have social interaction, but was able to with her monster. There are a few themes I found at this point. Destruction, femininity, and sexuality. Mary Shelley seems to be in love with her creation, not repulsed by it as she is at first. She feels it must be destroyed for fear of society, but instead she considers it to be as important as a significant other. The next few screenshots I have are of the same nature; they are from the journal and document her interactions with the monster, the creation, and society.
Although I was using "links" all along, I very rarely used them. At this point in the journal, I decided to try a non-chronological route and just click the link that seemed most relative. However, there was only one choice for this.
These two segments are both about the creation of the monster, once again. They go into detail about the operations involved and the pain that Mary Shelley's monster endures to become an actual...thing. Her monster begins to help assemble herself, pulling off scraps of skin and giving them to Mary Shelley to attach. "I swabbed the blood from both our thighs." This again reminds me of the main theme that Mary Shelley's monster is herself.
This tells of the departure of Mary Shelley's creation - something I thought that I would come across much later. The hypertext goes on to explain the sort of post-partum depression that she felt after the departure of her monster; the feeling of being "bloated" after having such control over her monster. She goes to a dressmaker's shop outfitted in a mourning outfit, which she calls a "monster's disguise," or a farewell to a monstrous life left behind..."my own."
This begins the phrenology. Each time you click on one of the links in the brain, it would take you to a different explanation as to how Mary Shelley created the hypertext, and how it is so similar to Mary Shelley's monster itself. "We live in the expectation of traditional narrative progression..." This quote from the hypertext further portrays how Mary Shelley is attributing her monster's creation to the creation of the hypertext.