• the hapless fate of its original inhabitants

    The Creature and Safie alike bemoan the conquering of native Americans of both the
    Northern and Southern hemispheres by the various European imperial powers, who in
    many cases reduced the natives to a condition of slavery. The Creature's emotional
    identification with their fate is unself-conscious at this point, but the progress
    of his education is leading him to understand an fundamental similarity with their
    abjectness (see, for instance, II:9:5 and note).