[numerical results of the exercise]
We have seen that the Frankenstein story is unfinished and
that outcomes for the various characters may be quite different
than what we first assumed them to be. This is important for us
to notice, especially with regard to Walton's situation. As in
Kenneth Branagh's film (see "The Waltons" advertisement in To
a Candid World), Walton's vow to "kill no albatross", his violation
of that vow, and the consequences are not taken as seriously as
they are from the Saville perspective. Often, as in the Branagh film,
we forget them altogether. Our tendency to lose track of what the
author has intended as something of vital importance is not limited
to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and there are hints within the story
that point to that as a problem worth investigating.

A classic example of inattention to things that matter most, such as
we see in our response to Frankenstein:  In the Lord's Prayer, the
desired goal is that things on earth be as they are in heaven. When St.
John visits heaven, however, something quite odd and significant
happens. In the 19th and 22nd chapters of Revelation, John falls at the
feet of an angel with the intent of worshipping the angel. Each time St.
John does this, the angel tells St. John to desist. This is a matter of
utmost importance to the angel and to things as they are in heaven.
St. John, when we examine the historical record of the period, is
attempting to do things in heaven as they are done on earth, which is
the opposite of the goal of the Lord's Prayer. Anyone who truly desires
that things on earth be as they are in heaven will be most interested in
St. John's serious pattern of error. They will want to know the cause of
St. John's error and will look for indications of it in his past. There is
much in the other books of the Greek Bible that will be of great help in
this regard. Yet,  many centuries after the Lord's Prayer became a
central feature of European life, there is no attention to the obvious
and extreme contradiction or the consequences.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is among the most valuable books,
because it provides us with a demonstration of our tendency to accept or
ignore contradictions and to allow ourselves to be manipulated. At the time
Shelley wrote Frankenstein, there were people, such as Thomas Paine,
Robert Owen, William Godwin, Dr. William Lawrence, and Percy Shelley,
whose criticism of Christianity was essentially the same as the angel's
criticism of St. John in Revelation chapters 19 and 22. The value of
exercise of untried resources of mind, which Frankenstein is designed to
develop, is that we learn that when problems are not clearly identified
they are not solved and only cause more difficulty. Through discovery
and practice with Frankenstein, we become aware that there is remedy
for much conflict that has not been noticed. If you would like to know
how readers responded to the exercise, [numerical results of the exercise].
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