the true savage

When the monster finally tells his maker his story, I see the truest version of the savage man trying to live in society. Victor had already admitted that "If our impulses were confined to hunger, thirst, and desire, we might be nearly free (121)." This is a thread that runs throughout Rousseau. But this theme is even stronger in the wretch. When he is abandoned by Victor, he is left alone as an ugly, savage being. He learns the keys to survival in nature while he is in the woods, where he tries to emulate the beautiful sounds of a bird chirping: "Sometimes I wished to express my sensations in my own mode, but the uncouth and inarticulate sounds which broke from me frightened me into silence again (129)." Throughout his monologue, I see the theory of Rousseau at play. He learns to take shelter, and calls the hovel his own property, eventually learns to use language, and finally uses his imagination to think about how he can approach the cottagers without scaring them. He also only learns of his true ugliness when he starts to watch the cottagers. "I had admired the perfect forms of my cottagers - their grace, beauty, and delicate complexions; but how was I terrified when I viewed myself in a transparent pool! (142) In this sense, he is truly looking at himself through the eyes of the other. He has internalized the norms of the human culture around him, and has deemed himself ugly.