The construction of physical beings by man-made techniques has lead the advancement of creationist literature over the years; the most memorable of the genre is Mary Shelley’s thrilling tale, Frankenstein. In the novel, Dr. Victor Frankenstein reanimates a pieced together dead corpse through the use of technology and electricity. The creature that results from the experiment can be explained through cybernetics, “the study of feedback and derived concepts such as communication and control in living organisms, machines and organizations”(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics)∞. As a being that is governed by machines he can thus be classified as the first cyborg in literature. It is Donna Haraway's writing give technical meaning to the term cyborg, what it is and how it functions; but it is through Mary Shelley's representation of Frankenstein's monster in her gothic novel Frankenstein that the image of a cyborg is brought to life. This image of Frankenstein's monster can be compared with a more modern image of a cyborg in literature, Yod in Marge Piercy's He, She and It∞. Both beings were produced to test human limitations by creating bastardized life forms who appear human but whose creation is linked to machines instead of biological means. The creators Dr. Frankenstein and Avram, Yod's maker, demonstrate their similar obsession with creating and galvanizing inanimate beings. By comparing the creature’s similarities with those of Yod a parallel between the two constructed beings can be made and thus prove that the creature is classified as a cyborg and therefore Mary Shelley was the first cybernetics writer.

Readers are first introduced to the creature through Victor’s perverse imagination and abuse of power. His exploration of natural science lead him to the galvanization of inanimate objects and the idea of the creation of the monster; “my imagination was too much exalted by my first success to permit me to doubt of my ability to give life to an animal as complex and wonderful as a man” (Shelley 36). The creation of the monster made Victor “pursue nature to her hiding places” (Shelley 37) showing the discontinuity of his creation process and its perversion of nature. Victor created a monster in the image of beauty in his mind yet the outcome proved to be disastrous. The monster was pieced together from dead parts of corpses and animated by electricity. This dependency on a creator to piece together limbs and circuits as well as a need for galvanization by machine classifies the creature under cybernetics and ultimately labels him a cyborg. Although the creature was created in man form through a galvanizing process he still exhibits human qualities, “the creature at his conception and galvanization cries out from the light and pain showing his connection to the natural world” (102). However this is not an uncommon for cyborgs to do because of their connection with the biological as well as technological.

Avram’s attempts at creating Yod are synonymous with Victor Frankenstein’s as he experimented in a clinical environment attempting to create a cyborg. It is through Avram’s previous nine attempts that he succeeded in bringing Yod to life mirroring Victor’s struggles to reanimate a whole corpse. There is nothing biological about Avram’s techniques in creating Yod as he is wires and circuits covered by overlying skin but like Victor’s monster, he imitates human form. Yod, unlike the creature, possesses distinctly human characteristics in the way he looks and is even programmed to feel; this can be regarded as the evolution of the perfect cyborg from Shelley to Piercy. Where the creature was hideous and pieced together Yod is flawless and a replica of a human. This description of Yod is continuous with the monster as the creature who is described as having “yellow skin [that] scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath” (Shelley 41). The immediate reaction to birth expresses the human characteristics of a baby, fear, anger, pain and through the monsters and Yod’s reaction to birth; there is a connection between human qualities underlying the reliance on technology.

The Creatures dependence on technology classifies him under cybernetics showing his relationship with advancements. The monster, although dependent on the advances in science for life, is also dependent on the advancements of book technology. He is greatly influenced by Milton’s Paradise Lost and allies himself with the fallen angel Satan, caste from heaven. His interaction with literature could not have been possible without the advancements in printing and publishing as well as the circulation of literature. The information he gleaned from his interaction with Paradise Lost, Plutarch’s Lives, and The sorrows of Werter parallel Victors early self-education. The creature galvanizes himself and creates a sense of self through the interaction with text; this demonstrates how books, like futuristic technologies, form the minds of those who use them. His outward appearance can be related to him mind as a composite of pieces like his mind was imprinted by different texts. Like electricity sent a shock through his body, the monsters mind was shocked into imagination through the medium of literature “they produced in me an infinity of new images and feelings, that sometimes raised me to ecstasy, but more frequently sunk me into the lowest dejection” (Shelly 102). As he read his mind galvanized producing thoughts and ideas through the warm medium like Catherine in Northanger Abbey, and with the galvanization of thought he questions his origin and self.

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