Abstract

The story of Frankenstein, Victor is popularly and critically regarded as, among other stories, the story of a mad Scienceand mad scientists. In this chapter, that mad Scienceand mad scientists narrative is explored in relation to the study of childhood. The relationship between the scientist and the child is examined first through the story Frankenstein, Victor and his nameless Childhoodas monster creation. Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft critique of science is engaged as a critical element of that relationship. The chapter then examines three further relationships of children to science and scientists through the stories of Ender Wiggin, Tetsuo, and CHAPPiE. In each narrative, Promethean problems are revealed for the study of childhood. The chapter concludes with the provocation that Frankenstein, Victor failing was not his apparently failed experiment but rather his failure to care for the Childhoodas monster.