From here on, this is the story he told Victor in the hut on Montanvert. Victor remembered it and passed it on to Walton, and Walton wrote it down.
He says it is very hard for him to remember the beginning of his existence. Everything from that time is blurred and tangled. Seeing, hearing, touching and smelling all rushed in at once, and it was a long time before he could tell one sense from another.
A strong light pressed on his nerves, so he shut his eyes, and darkness came. The darkness troubled him, and when he opened his eyes again the light poured back in. That was how he learned what it was to open and close his eyes.