Testimonies of Adversity and Triumph

  Triumph through adversity: Personal Reflections spurred by Frankenstein Novel       I want to argue that there are two aspects related to the theme of triumph through adversity present in "Frankenstein." The first deals with the part of Dr. Frankenstein's life until the moment of creation of his Monster. The second is related to the story of the Creature itself.      PART I: JAN HANASZ     Let us focus on Victor Frankenstein's story first. As many scientists do, he made many sacrifices in his single-minded pursuit of creating life. For a fleeting moment when his Creature moves and exhibits signs of life, he triumphs.      The adversities that Dr. Frankenstein encountered and the sacrifices he had to make can be related to the sacrifices made by many modern scientists in pursuit of their research. It brings to mind the life of my granduncle Jan Hanasz , so much so that I would like to exploit these parallels later....

Detailed Timeline of Jan Hanasz's life: 1934 Born in Poznan. Took part in the family misfortunes from 1939 to 1945 1949 during his Father's trial, he was pressed to ritual self-critique for the crimes of his father and was forced "to explain his position" to his socialist colleagues during the Polish Socialist Youth meeting (In my father's opinion, this youthful trauma has scarred and hardened my grand-uncle forever.) 1958 finished University (Nicolas Copernicus) and started his scientific work as an astronomer 1968 he receives a doctorate in Astronomy 1970-1983 he leads Polish scientists in the Polish-Soviet Intercosmos Space collaboration 1979 he receives habilitation (the highest scientific degree offered in Poland) 1980 his wife suffers from massive brain hemorrhaging: she subsequently spends six months in a hospital 1980-1981 he becomes a member of the first polish independent workers union called "Solidarity." 1982-1989 he becomes a leading figure ...