Title: A Debt Repaid
Author: Larry Segriff
Date of First Publication: 1993
Place of Publication: Frankenstein, The Monster Wakes!
Type: Short Story
Characters: The Creature
Themes: MAD SCIENTIST/MONSTER; RACE/POLITICS
Critical Summary: Centuries after the events in the original Frankenstein novel, the Creature still lives and continues its quest to make more of its own kind. The story opens at night in an unidentified city. The creature is stalking and raping a woman in an attempt to create spawn. After casually committing this act, the Creature moves on to a brick building that is suggested to be a mortuary since there is only one car left in the parking lot. For a long time, the Creature has been forcing an unnamed doctor to create a companion for it. The Doctor is unwilling to do the dirty deed and the Creature reminds the doctor that it holds the lives of the Doctor’s wife and child in its hands. A few days later the Doctor finishes his work and successfully brings the companion to life but it turns out that the Doctor performed a tube litigation in order to prevent the companion from having children. The Doctor states that he did exactly what the Creature said it wants, but he knew that the creature actually truly wants progeny instead. The Creature strikes down the Doctor and it is left unknown whether the Doctor is still alive or not. The Creature then leaves with his prize and is thankful that he left the Doctor’s wife and child alive so he can rape them at a later date.
For the most part, this short story is antithetical to the original Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. The Creature is thoroughly unsympathetic through both its demeanor and the way it casually rapes the woman with well-practiced motions before covering her up and leaving her in the car. This casual disregard further extends into the scenes with the Doctor as it treats the companion as a product to trade for lives. There are also some undertones of racism as the Doctor constantly extolls that the companion could never be truly alive as it is made from many parts from different races and the genetic material will never work well together. The Doctor risks everything to prevent the “Monstrous race” from procreating and the Creature defies the Doctor by stating that it will rape his race instead.
Administrative Notes: Quang Trung (Ben) Le, CSUF; Dr. David Sandner, CSUF