When I slept or was absent, the forms of the venerable blind father, the gentle Agatha, and the excellent Felix flitted before me. I looked upon them as superior beings who would be the arbiters of my future destiny. I formed in my imagination a thousand pictures of presenting myself to them, and their reception of me. I imagined that they would be disgusted, until, by my gentle demeanour and conciliating words, I should first win their favour and afterwards their love. (12.17)
The monster doesn't have a family of his own (a family of birth), so he's trying to make one (a family of choice). The difference between a family of birth and a family of choice is a super important to writers in the nineteenth century—that's why there are so many orphans in nineteenth-century literature—but here, Mr. Monster doesn't get to have either.
