what keeps victor from killing himself in the beginning of ch 9

Victor feels immense guilt for what he feels that he has inflicted on the world. He certainly contemplates killing himself but resolves that this would be a selfish act. He still has responsibilities to his family that he would leave behind. Elizabeth, his father and surviving brother would remain at the creature's mercy,

"Should I by my base desertion leave them exposed and unprotected to the malice of the fiend whom I had let loose among them?"