Frankenstein Chapter 24 Summary

  • The Great Pursuit begins, but it's pretty one-sided: the monster leaves a trail of clues for Victor to follow, but never allows his creator to get close enough to catch him.
  • It's on this chase that Victor meets Walton, and now he asks Walton to pursue the monster after Victor dies.
  • After that, Victor's narrative ends, and we're back to the outside frame, where Victor is on the boat with that sensitive, superior guy who writes letters to his sister. Remember?
  • Walton, for some reason, believes all of Victor's lunatic ravings.
  • He also wishes he had known Victor when he was normal, too, because he thinks he would have made a good friend.
  • That makes us seriously question Walton, because really? This guy has just told you an insane story about how he created a monster and you wish you could have been friends with him?
  • Meanwhile, the crew asks Walton if they can head home already, because with the sub-zero temperatures and the stuck-in-the-ice situation, morale has gotten unbearably low.
  • Victor berates them for giving up, and they are momentarily moved to agree with him.
  • But two days later, they ask again, and Walton is all "Fine. We can go home."
  • When the ship is about to return to England, Victor dies. Just like that.

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  • A few days pass.
  • Walton hears strange noises coming from the room with Victor's body. He finds the monster crying over the body.
  • !!!
  • Of course, the first thing Walton notices is how ugly the monster is. Still, he's pretty nice. (Walton, that is.)
  • The monster concludes that now that his maker is dead, he has no more purpose in life, such as killing Victor's friends or leaving Victor puzzling clues or stalking Victor from afar.
  • Now that he has nothing left, the monster decides to build a funeral pyre for himself on a mountaintop and die, which sounds awfully dramatic if you ask us.
  • He leaves the ship and disappears into the dark—conveniently leaving open the question of whether or not he actually does die. And hey! It only took 100+ years to come out with Frankenstein II: The Bride of Frankenstein.

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