Title: The Beautiful Thing We Will Become
Author: Kristi Demeester
Date of First Publication: 2016
Place of Publication: Eternal Frankenstein
Type: Short story
Characters: No Character
Themes: ANDROID; POSTHUMAN; MAD SCIENTIST/MONSTER; SYMPATHETIC MONSTER; WOMEN WRITING MONSTERS; QUEER FRANKENSTEIN
Critical Summary: This short story begins with a young girl named Mary Anne, and her best friend Katrina. She is depressed with her life since her father left her mother and herself. She suffers from an eating disorder, yet finds peace in her strange friend Katrina. She realizes that Katrina comes to school with gauze on her hands always, and she is not the same. One day, she then gets a note instructing her to meet under a specific tree at night, which was hers and Katrina’s meeting place. She then follows Katrina to her house, and notices there is a new door that was never there before. Mary Anne has a close relationship with Katrina’s father as he has become a surrogate for her own father once he left. She dreams of cutting her skin and become something else, something more beautiful since she feels so empty inside. Mary Anne goes home, but then one day decides to sneak into Katrina’s home, and walks into the room with the new door. Inside she sees the shape of a face and Katrina’s father sitting in the corner. She begs him to make her beautiful. He then makes her into the “doll” she always wanted to be, and she then climbs into bed with Katrina, and calls her “sister,” meaning they were the same now.
This work does have a connection with Frankenstein because it is about wanting more because something is never enough. For example, Victor always wanted more and he was never truly happy, much like Mary Anne, so they both took insane measures to achieve their dreams. Some creature is created in both stories, and they are both sad creatures who just want more. There are many themes that tie in with Frankenstein. For example, Android is one because Mary Anne and Frankenstein’s bodies were transformed. Mary Anne turned into a “doll” and was cut apart and transformed from being a human being. The next theme was Mad Scientist/Monsters because Katrina’s dad was clearly not stable since he kept on expressing how he had to do it over and over again, which is why he created the “dolls.” Next would be the Sympathetic Monster because Katrina and Mary Anne both ended up as “dolls” and they both had their own monsters, and were not happy with themselves and always seemed to want more. The last theme was Women Writing Monsters because this was written by a female, as well as Frankenstein, and the two main characters in this short story were females.
Administrative Notes: Gabriela Yanez, CSUF; Kyle Kalmanson (editing)