How is the monster in Frankenstein struggling with his physical appearance?

I think one of the most poignant parts of the whole book
comes as the creature relates his struggles to make sense of who he is and his identity
during his time with the De Lacey family. Of course, at this stage he has experienced
the way that his physical appearance makes him abhorrent to humans, but note the
questions that he begins to ask himself as he learns from the De
Laceys:

"But
where were my friends and relations? No father had watched my infant days, no mother had
blessed me with smiles and caresses; or if they had, all my past life was now a blot, a
blind vacancy in which I distinguished nothing. From my earliest remembrance I had been
as I then was in height and proportion. I had never yet seen a being resembling me, or
who claimed any intercourse with me. What was I? The question again recurred, to be
answered only with
groans."

We see here the
creature desperately trying to make sense of himself, and failing dismally. Clearly the
fact that he had never seen another creature with the same physical appearance indicates
massive conflict regarding the way he has been made to look. This is heightened by the
rejection of the De Lacey's when he does reveal himself, as he realises that his creator
had made him to have the same desire for human companionship as humans, but had also
given him a phsyical appearance that made such companionship impossible. This is why of
course he demands that Frankenstein make him a mate.