Date of Award

1-1-2023

Language

English

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

College/School/Department

Department of English

Content Description

1 online resource (iv, 44 pages)

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

James Lilley

Keywords

English, Flowers for Algernon, Frankenstein, Keyes, science-fiction, Shelley

Subject Categories

English Language and Literature

Abstract

As a genre, science-fiction has the ability to operate within historical and scientific contexts in order to present stories that include speculative elements of reality, while still maintaining an aspect of empiricism. Science-fiction allows for the exploration of themes and concepts that are unknown to the current epoch of knowledge and provides an inquisitive look on the human condition. The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of human creationism and experimentation within two science-fiction texts. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Daniel Keyes’ Flowers for Algernon, two texts that were written in different scientific eras, both provide similar tales of creationism through human experimentation. Both navigate the process of creationism with a foundation in the Judeo-Christian mythos through John Milton’s Paradise Lost, and eventually with what was considered revolutionary science. This paper seeks to discuss the similarities between Frankenstein and Flowers for Algernon, while simultaneously demonstrating science-fiction’s dynamism in literature. As science has developed, so has the fiction to accompany it, and we are able to understand this through studying the historical context of when each novel was written.

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