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What may not be expected in a country of eternal light?
This quote from the chapter "Letter 1" comes from Walton’s initial letter to his sister in England. It encapsulates a key idea in Frankenstein—that light is a symbol of knowledge and discovery. Walton’s quest to reach the northernmost part of the earth is similar in spirit to Victor’s quest for the secret of life: both seek ultimate knowledge, and both sacrifice the comfort of the realm of known knowledge in their respective pursuits. Additionally, the beauty and simplicity of the phrasing epitomize the 18th-century scientific rationalists’ optimism about, and trust in, knowledge as a pure good.
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