In Mary Shelley's contribution to modern mythology, Frankenstein, or the New Prometheus, the Monster (another victim of naming) tells his story. We see him watching a loving family in their forest cottage and discovering that people possess a method of communicating their experiences and feelings to one another by articulate sounds. Determined to learn language and have his humanity recognized, he discerns the ideas appropriated to sounds and labors at both pronunciation and the clandestine replenishing of their store of wood as if by an invisible hand. Eventually he can comprehend and imitate almost every word that is spoken, and is resolved to comprehend the paper signs that stand for sounds that he hears being read aloud.