Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and the Repercussions of Overindulged Children Mary Shelley teaches us all about the long-term effects of spoiling a child to the extreme in her novel Frankenstein . Set in the mid-19th century, the novel details the life of Victor Frankenstein and the monster he created. However, it also serves as a model of the ultimate repercussions of overindulgent children. This is an issue that too few parents worry about today. Because their parents did their best to provide well and ensure a better life for them, today's parents are of the same opinion, regardless of whether they had a "missing" childhood or not. As a result, their children receive the best clothes and toys and are sent to the best nurseries, preschools, schools and universities. Like Victor, many become self-centered and selfish adults. Victor, as the firstborn, spent the first years of his life as an only child, born into an aristocratic family and full of affection. “I remained for several years their only child… [T]hey [his parents] seemed to draw inexhaustible reserves of affection from a mine of love to give… to me” (Shelley 16). He's a guy who lacked for nothing and who was completely and completely indulged, allowed to do what he wanted. "[T]hey [his parents] were not tyrants to govern our fortunes according to their whim, but the agents and makers of all the many delights we enjoyed" (Shelley 19). Victor is more than the apple of their eye; he is the center of their world. “I was their toy and their idol…whose future destiny…was in their hands…as they fulfilled their duties to me…I was guided [by a belief]…that everything seemed just a train of fun for me... I was their only concern." (Shelley 16) All of this, though seemingly idyllic, gave Victor a sense of divine importance, "bestowed upon them [his parents] from Heaven," (Shelley 16) as a gift from God. Everything in his life revolves around him, and the only thing that really matters in the world as he perceives it, is himself and his happiness. Even when his parents adopt a beautiful young orphan, Elizabeth Lavenza, he interprets it as an action intended to amuse and satisfy him. His mother, Caroline, reinforces this belief when she announces, “I have a beautiful present for my Victor” (Shelley 18), and he gladly accepts her as his new toy, “mine to protect the love and keep it". .