#dorian grey. dracula. perks of being a wallflower. alice in wonderland. peter pan. walden. the giver. anything jack london wrote. brontës.

[ma-lark-ey]

thinking about how simon probably started to read with baz whatever he was reading, and baz is a big classic lit nerd so they probably wind up reading Frankenstein.

And they both become DEEPLY connected to the book in EXTREMELY different ways.

Baz is struck by the novel because of the inherent way Creature longs for belonging but is shunned by society for factors out of his control, features he had no say in. Baz is struck by the inherent loss in autonomy in the Creature’s existence, the loneliness of it all.

Simon is struck by the bitterness of being rejected and cast aside by the one who made you. By the way society scolds the Creature for acting the exact ways they conditioned him to behave. He’s fixated on the way that The Creature is shamed for acting humane, and shamed for acting monstrous, and shamed for acting at all. Completely reviled by his creator, despite trying at all costs to be desired. How in the Creature’s own words, Frankenstein is God and he is forced to be both Adam and Satan at once.

i think they always debrief on the novels and what they thought the most about. And they sit and argue about Frankenstein for HOURS. On Victor, on Creature, on the family, on if any character can be redeemed or forgiven.

And after they talk in circles for weeks, Baz picks up two copies the Great Gatsby and they do it all over again, because it’s their funny little bonding thing.