Prevalence of Obesity in USA

Annotated Bibliography

Introduction

Psychological and physical traumas, nervous disorders, hysteria, fear, and a number of different other concerns were more focused since the eighteenth century. These aspects become more common with the social, psychological, and physical conditions of women in the feminist approach in nineteenth and twentieth century. Science and scientific studies also provides basis for the advancement in every study, this also provides grounds for combining the trend of introducing science and psychological studies in the literature. For a number of different scholars and critics, Mary Shelley's “Frankenstein” is one of the examples that reflect effect of physical and psychological traumas on women and their reproductive organs. The women who suffered such traumas lost control over their reproductive organs. One more important aspect was that these women have no control over childbirth or pregnancy. Mary Shelley faced physical and psychological traumas from her isolated childhood, her mother's death, her marriage, miscarriages, premature birth and death of her first child, medical conditions, fear of child birth, and birth of her new child are all the conditions that resulted in the creating “Frankeitien”. This annotated bibliography is comprised of different studies, which support the effect of physical and psychological traumas on Shelley reflected through her gothic and sci-fi novel “Frankenstein”.

Discussion

Almond, B.R. (1998). “The monster within: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and a patient's fears of childbirth and mothering” International Journal of Psychoanalysis, Aug;79 (Pt 4):p.775-86.

Almond in this paper highlights different aspects associated with the childbirth and fantasy in women during child birth. This paper explores Shelley's fantasies during her childbirth fear and imaginations of giving birth to “a psychological monster (Almond, 1998, p.775). This study is based on the two main hypotheses about the child birth and Shelley's mental and psychological conditions. One concept reflected in this study covers the intrapsychic issue associated with the fear of child birth, faced by Shelly. This idea was presented as “incest babies” and reflects the maternal aggression faced during pregnancy (Almond, 1998). Fear and shame about body form, reproductive organs and child birth are all reflected in this novel.

According to Almond, this novel also presents the mental and maternal aggression and fear that there are some destructive parts of mother that transferred to the child (Almond, 1998). Almond also supports his study with the feminist and psychoanalytic critics who also highlighted these features in their studies. This novel is the perfect reflection about the issues of sexuality, pregnancy, fears, procreation and reproduction. As a psychoanalyst, Almond also discussed these features in the novel on the basis of Shelley's novel and her life, with his clinical experiences to study fear in these conditions.

Bewell, A. (1998) “An Issue of Monstrous Desire: Frankenstein and Obstetrics.” The Yale Journal of Criticism Vol. 59, pp. 105-128.

Alan Bewell in his study reflected on both physical and psychological traumas faced by Shelley and her views reflected in her novel about the creation of child, pregnancy and pain faced by the mother for giving birth to the ...