Monstrosity and heroism are extremely complex matters as both are in the human nature, and one cannot be without the other. Although most people have a definition for hero and one for monster, and they think the two terms are always clearly distinct, that is never the case. Monstrosity and heroism are not clear cut, as authors like Mary Shelley and Harper Lee have tries to convey. In her novel Frankenstein, Shelley tells a story of a man who, in his dangerous pursue of knowledge, creates a being that will lead his life to ruin. Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a bildungsroman narrated by a girl whose father attempts to challenge their racist society by defending a black man in court. These two stories discuss heroism and monstrosity through the ordinary heroism of a monster, the courage of those disapproved by society (Atticus and Boo Radley), the behaviour of Victor, a character that initially appears to be benevolent.
The theme of heroism is little evident in Frankenstein. The being that is also monstrous is one of the most heroic characters in the novel, for he is, until a certain point in his life, an ordinary hero. One can note such ordinary heroism in the help he constantly provides the cottagers: “(…) during the night, I (…) brought home firing sufficient for the consumption of several days” (Shelley 82). Although what he does is not extremely significant in the eyes of an outsider, the creature provides help in the best way he can, and his help does have a positive impact on the cottagers’ lifestyle. Besides collecting wood, the creature “cleared their path from the snow, and performed those offices that [he] had seen done by Felix.” (Shelley 85) He performs all of these activities without expecting to receive anything in return, and that is what makes a person an ordinary hero. The path cleared of snow is a symbol of the monster’s benevolence, of his wish to bring joy to a family he had never approached. Nevertheless, the creature’s help does not extend solely to the cottager. He saves a girl’s life “I rushed from my hiding place, and with extreme labour from the force of the current, saved her, and dragged her to shore” (Shelley 108). As he saves a girl he had never seen before in a time when he was regretful due to the rejection by the cottagers, the creature acts like a true hero. He provides help to a human, although he had begun to despise them. The creature is seen as malevolent creature by all of those surrounding him. However, his initial benevolence cannot be ignored, but nor can his monstrous acts, for he is also, differently than the heroes in To Kill a Mockingbird, a wicked being.
Heroism is a recurrent theme in the novel TKAM, and much more evident than in the novel Frankenstein. Its heroic characters are portrayed by people who act against what is normal, against society. Atticus would be one of them, and he is disliked by many by “simply defending a Negro” (Lee 100) in a trial. In a time when those of black skin were despised, defending one is an act of pure courage and of a hero. As Atticus does so, he becomes the target of general disapproval and discontentment. Atticus perseverance is one of his heroic traits, for it has no limits: “Just because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try and win” (Lee 101). He is aware that the prejudice in society is too extent to allow him to win the case, and yet he risks his safety and his good reputation to try to make a change in this prejudice. However, Atticus is not the only heroic character in the novel: “Boo was our neighbour. He gave us two soap dolls (…) and our lives” (Lee 373). Boo Radley is an extremely misunderstood character in TKAM. He is seen by everyone as a phantom, but he is a saviour and a benevolent creature, who saves Scout and Jem from a death in the hands of Bob Ewell. Both Atticus and Boo Radley are poorly seen by the people in Maycomb despite their heroism, for someone’s actions may seem heroic to some and monstrous to others.
Monstrosity is quite evident in the novel Frankenstein, and it is associated, among others, with what results of Victor Frankenstein’s greed for knowledge and wish to play God. Part of the process of creating a living being requires him to torture animals, and he does so, aware of his own wickedness: “Who can conceive the horrors of my secret toil as I (…) tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless clay?” (Shelley 35). Victor is described as a nature lover, yet he does not hesitate on harming animals, which are such an important part of nature. More than interfering with a number of ecosystems, Victor acts disrespectful towards many that lost their loved ones, for he steals body parts from several graves: “I pursued nature to her hiding places. (…) I dabbled among the lowed damps of the grave” (Shelley 35). To steal from one’s grave is, more than immoral, illegal. As he endures to conquer his objective, Victor loses the notion of what is right and wrong, and that is reflected in his actions. Nevertheless, Frankenstein is not only wicked for his actions while trying to accomplish his purpose, but by the purpose itself: “I had worked for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into a lifeless being” (Shelley 37). Victor’s true monstrosity rests on his wish to create a being made of death, of several people. He wishes to play God and believes he can succeed. Victor’s behaviour is the most monstrous before the creature being created, for he acts as he does simply due to his ambition. However, he is thought to be evil only by his monster, which demonstrates the difficulty to discern between monstrosity and heroism.
Although monstrous acts are not as many or as noticeable in To Kill a Mockingbird as in Frankenstein, the theme of monstrosity is still in the novel, and is portrayed, instead of by a person (although there are monstrous characters), by the society, the prejudice and racism that shapes people’s opinions on, among many others, Tom Robinson. He is accused of raping a girl and, although an enormous amount of evidence points towards his innocence, he is still convicted: “Judge Taylor was polling the jury: ‘Guilty…guilty…guilty...guilty’” (Lee 282). The narrow-mindedness of the people in Maycomb led them to make a decision not based on facts, but on opinions. To convict a human being due to a wrong general idea on a race is monstrous, yet is acceptable, and is known to happen, which can be noted by Scout’s thought that “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed” (Lee 323). The racism in Maycomb County is even noticed by the children, and even they know that people are not fair and unbiased, that a black man is destined to die the minute he is accused of a crime. Tom Robinson does die, by the hands of police officers when trying to escape from prison: “’Tom’s dead’ (…) Seventeen bullets hit him. They didn’t have to shoot that much’” (Lee 315). Although he had to be stopped by the policeman, he did not need to be shot at so many times. The seventeen bullets that hit him are a symbol of an unjustified hatred that is a part of the society in Maycomb. The unwritten rules of a society are what make it monstrous, yet this monstrosity cannot be noted if the rules are followed.
Monstrosity and heroism are never as clear cut as one might assume. They are not as different and distinguishable as the colours black and white, since they unite to form a human being. This idea has been conveyed in the novels F and TKAM through the portraying of the heroic acts of a malevolent character, the bravery in characters criticized by society, a surprisingly malicious behaviour by a man who is not thought to be so, and the monstrosity in what is thought to be right in a society. The world is not filled with monsters or heroes, it is filled with people who choose to reveal their monstrous or their heroic side.

Works Cited
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: Grand Central, 1960. Print.
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein. Ed. Susan J. Wolfson. 2nd ed. New York: Pearson Education, 2007. Print.