Today’s Agenda
1) Papers will be handed out, and we will discuss revisions. I will take revisions Wednesday of the week we return from break.
2) Discussion of issues in Literary Arguments
Okay, now that we have discussed the papers, it is time to move into Frankenstein. For today, you read up to the end of chapter 3.
Let’s begin with a journal entry:
One of the things you may have noticed is that the story is told to the reader through the framework of Robert Walton’s letters to his sister, Margaret Saville. The only other story we have seen this semester that was structured this way was Chaucer’s The Canterbury tales, in which the narrator, who is one of the characters, relates the stories to us. This is narrative device is called a “Frame Narrative.” Notice that we did not have this in Robinson Crusoe. In that novel, the narrator was the same person, presumably, who was having the recorded adventures.
In your Approaches to Literature class, you learned about the importance of SPEAKER and AUDIENCE, and how an understanding of these two parties can inform your understanding of a story. In your journal, I would like you to write on the following topic:
What are the qualities and characteristics of the SPEAKER of Frankenstein, as you now understand him? Similarly, what are the qualities and characteristics of the audience of Frankenstein, as you now understand them? How might the concerns of these individuals impact the s story – which, you MUST remember, is NOT BEING TOLD BY FRANKENSTEIN,but, rather, by ROBERT.
Group work:
One of the motifs that links the letters to the opening chapters is the motif of childhood development – in particular, a motif of education. Robert tells us a little about how he was educated, and Frankenstein tells us a little about how he was educated. In your groups, identify these passages and discuss how the education of these characters differs from your OWN education.
Class Discussion:
Mini-lecture:
As I told you last time, Mary Shelley was 19 years old when she wrote this novel. You might be interested in knowing that, when she came back to the novel in 1831, she attached a note to the end of chapter two, the chapters that detail the growth and development of Frankenstein. She writes:
If there were ever to be another edition of this book, I should re-write these first two chapters. The incidents are tame and ill arranged – the language sometimes childish. – They are unworthy of the rest of the narrative.
Now, this may come as a bit of a shock, as we have spent so much time talking about how important these first few chapters are. But before we get too shocked, there are some things we need to consider. 1) Shelley is not saying that she would remove the chapters, only re-write them. 2) Her primary complaint is that the incidents are tame and ill arranged. Well, let’s take that comment on.
She says that the incidents are tame – what does that mean? I would read that as generally uninteresting. Well, uninteresting in comparison to what? She says the rest of the narrative, but we haven’t read that yet, so we can’t think about it right now. But we have read the opening letters, which she seems to like, as she does not object to them.
I think most of us would agree that the opening letters are perhaps more exciting than the opening chapters, but does that mean that they are more interesting? Remember we are getting insight into childhood – which we have not see before.
Another way of thinking about this comment is to note that the opening chapters – with the possible exception of the death of Frankenstein’s mother — are simply less dramatic than the opening letters, and this may be why she objects to them.
We might also take up the second complaint, which is that the events in these chapters are ill-arraigned. Well, what does she mean by this? Could they be arraigned another way? It is not clear how, as they follow a chronological order. So this leads us to conclude that her objection is in regards to the events she has chosen to focus on in this time line. Which events, exactly, she wishes to remove, or include, we cannot know. However, I think it is very fair to notice the time that changed for MARY between 1819 and 1831. She is no longer a young, recently married woman exploring the world for the first time. She is 12 years old, and at a very different station in her life, on in which the KINDS of events she focuses on may not longer be as relevant to her as they were when she was 19.She is talking about things most 19 year old’s talk about, namely childhood.
Read the next 50 pages of Frankenstein, and post one page on your reaction to the text.
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Jason Stewart
Adam Crowley, Eh 241
26 February 2009
Once reading a volume from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein we can see the evolution of literature from what we started reading this semester. It was not until we read Robinson Crusoe that we were introduced to the novel, but throughout the works we read, like Dante’s Inferno and Paradise Lost we are yet to see the childhood aspects of characters. In Frankenstein we learn about Robert Walton’s childhood as well as Victor Frankenstein’s, which gives the reader a better understanding of the character’s they are reading about. Discovering that Victor was so well read as a child (much like Mary Shelley), but not just in children’s stories, but also in banished texts about alchemy and magic. The childhood information we are given about Victor helps to better drive the plot of the story and to better understand what has influenced him to try to create his “perfect human”. This helps the reader greatly because we are not just dropped into a story about an eighteen year old man who hates being complacent in life, but rather given details about the main character’s life, which is another step of literature’s evolution: the evolution to detailed character’s.
The character Victor Frankenstein lost his mother just as he was about to venture out to a university in Ingolstadt. The odd part is that he seemed to show no large signs of grief at the loss of his mother. Victor goes into great detail about how much he loves his mother throughout his childhood, and then upon her death he shows a small amount of grief and then travels off to Ingolstadt to pursue more knowledge of science. It can be argued that this suppressed grief that Victor does not even identify eventually haunts him and encompasses him in his passion to create his “perfect human”, or rather a replacement for his mother, whom he saw to be so perfect.
William Dow II
2/26/2009
EH241.001
Reaction to Frankenstein
The novel of Frankenstein by Mary Shelly is an interesting one. The beginning starts a little odd for anyone who is knowledgeable about Frankenstein in recent pop culture. The oddest part of the story for me is what we discussed in class the discussion of childhood. This is really the first novel I have read that discussed childhood as deeply as Frankenstein. I have read many books that have discussed the childhood of the main character but not the way Shelly did in Frankenstein she seems to use childhood in a way for giving a background and framing the personality of the major players in the novel it’s just more background information that rarely ties into the rest of the novel. The story was a little odd to me throughout the reading the beginning the letters from the ship captain to his sister was a little off putting as it through me off when I started to read it pulled me away from the story a little. The letter format distracted me more then helped me prepare for the rest of the novel, it kept me guessing about how the captain and his sister where going too tied into the story. Even reading as far as I have and knowing now, what I know I am still not sure that it is great way to start the story off it takes people away from the story even maybe turn people off to the story.
Brian
Professor Crowley
Eh241
Post for Frankenstein:
Frankenstein by Mary Shelly has already made a impression on me that I think will last for a very long time. In the beginning of the novel where the men on the ship look out and see a “huge” man on a dog sled was interesting. I did not catch it at first, thinking it was just another man in the story, but later on as I read, I looked up in awe from the novel knowing it was the monster. I almost laughed but it also was creepy. Thats what I think is great about this novel,Mary Shelly shocks the reader and what is most impressive is that Shelly was only 19 when she wrote this novel. It has lasted over time to become one of the greatest novels of all time. I can now see why pop culture has taken the ideas from Frankenstien and had huge success with it. The novel is fantastic.
I like how the narrative is told through the framework of letters. Every letter I read in the novel, I wonder more and more who are these people in the story? I wonder who really is Frankenstien, his father, Clerval, and Elizabeth. I also wonder who the Waltons are because of their letters to each other.
This novel is very interesting because it leaves the reader hanging on many aspects of the characters lives. I am confident that Shelly will expose these characters and we as readers, will learn who they really are later in the story. The novel is hard to put down because we want to learn what’s “next” for these characters and how they all tie into each other. Most of all, I personally want to learn more about what the monster is doing while the novel pans out. What most of all shocks me about this novel, is that Mary Shelly wrote it for a contest when she was only 19 years old.
As I was reading, it seemed as if Victor Franksenstein was changing. In the beginning of chapter four, Frankenstein became obsessed with this monster that he had created. I think that because Victor’s father did not want him getting into supernatural horrors, and because he pretty much educated himself, he got bored and decided that he was interested in this type of thing. Frankenstein talks about how beautiful the thing is that he created and relates everything to life and death. Then after Frankenstein sees the “yellow eye and skin, and black lips,” he says he should not have created this monster. At first it was so great and Frankenstein thought he had done the impossible. As he is going on about how awful this thing was that he created, there is a reference to one of the works we have read this semester, Dante. The quote says, “it became a thing such as even Dante could not have concieved.” Dante wrote of satan and regret. I think Frankenstein is relating what he created, to Dante’s work and characters. Except Frankenstein says that the monster he created is more horrifying than anything Dante could imagine. Some other things that noticed while reading did not really have to do exactly with what was happening. Mary Shelly mentions darkness a lot while talking about the “monster” Frankenstein created. She also relates a lot of things to eyes and seasons. I’m not sure why she wrote this way relating events to seasons making it seem like time went by so quickly. While this novel could be connected with Dante’s works, this novel is like no other that we have read so far this semester.
Benjamin McGray
EH 241
Adam Crowley
February 26, 2009
This portion of the story was ver interesting. It was astonishing how quickly things changed for Frankenstein. I think Mary Shelley did an awesome job expressing the extent of the utter despair that Frankenstein was experiencing, which contrasted dramatically with the excitement and optimism that he was exhibiting in the first few chapters. It is also interesting to note that the single thing, natural philosophy, that brought him the most positive stimulation quickly turned into an area of extreme torment for him.
What I found the most interesting however, is the question that Shelley begins to bring up in these chapters. The question of the story starts to manifest asking who is to blame for the awful things that are taking place, creator of creation? When Frankenstein’s brother William is brutally murdered presumably (by Frankenstein) by the creation, and Justine is wrongly accused and put to death, Frankenstein holds himself largely if not completely responsible. After all why shouldn’t he? Had he not undertaken the horrid task of giving life to such a thing, it appears that the murder would not have taken place, in Frankenstein’s mind at least. But then again, it wasn’t the creator that physically committed the deed, and it wasn’t by any instruction of his that the creation carried out the act, so how can Frankenstein be blamed? It is a question that seems to take on a far bigger issue than that of the literal content of the book. It seems that Shelley is commenting on the nature of the relationship between Creator and Creation in reference to God and humankind. If it is in a man’s nature to be corrupt or murderous, and it was God who made man with his nature, then who is to blame? man or God?
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has already made a lasting impression on me. The opening of the novel that began with the men seeing this large man on a sled in the north pole didn’t click with me right away. I thought the new man’s arrival on the ship was ominous and so random that they would find someone in the middle of the North Atlantic.
Reading further, I was able to conclude that this huge man creature might actually be Frankenstein, and the letters at the beginning were not from his creator, but from another perspective.
My favorite piece about this book so far, is how there has been so many characters, and so much depiction about early development and childhood that has shape shifted the protagonist into who he will soon become. I think having all this key background information about the characters and their lives is crucial to get a better understanding of who these people actually are, and there motives for doing the things they do later throughout the book.
The other thing about this book, is I find myself reading pass the stopping point. Every paragraph in Frankenstein keeps me more and more engaged and involved with the text. I have such a hard time trying to stop reading it!
Timothy McGuire
I am surprised by the amount of things that has happened so far in such a little amount of text. My first surprise is that the first author we come across to start building a character from the childhood forward is Mary Shelly. Maybe its because she was such a young author. This is shocking considering how compelling the text has been so far. I thought it was genius to start this story through the adventures of a man on his way to Antarctica. The moment I read about the large man on a dog sled I knew it had to be the monster. The later description of the monster headed over the cliffs in the storm had confirmed this in my mind. Still this intricate level of writing is shocking at that age. It also makes for a very suspenseful book as you know somewhere lurking around the monster is bound to show up again… yet we know virtually nothing about him. I think the strongest feelings I have gotten from this text are a sense of suspense. I am dying to know whats going to happen next and how things are going to pan out. Is the captain going to be talked out of his voyage? Will Victor find the monster in Antarctica? Is the Monster really a murderer? Who murdered William? What will happen with Elizabeth? Its seems as if the suspense will never stop building and that questions are only ever answered with more questions.
Sarah Rackliffe
EH 241
Professor Crowley
January 15, 2009
Reaction to Frankenstein
My first reaction to this text was on the first page. In the very beginning of this text we see a man and learn that he has a deep love for education. He is so excited to be attending this university. Now and days you have to attend college for a good career and most people would like to do without, but to Frankenstein this is exciting and fun for him. Another thing I noticed and got a reaction from in these chapters was his constant working. He says that he doesn’t even notice the seasons changing, he too busy reading and working that he doesn’t even care. He also seems to forget about his family while pursuing this. He mentions that he hasn’t seen them in a very long time.
In these chapters Frankenstein references Dante which I found interesting because of past reading being written by Dante. It is interesting to see how these authors all tie together and watching them reference each other in their works pretty neat. He says that this “man” that he created is so scary and wrong that not even Dante could think this guy up. It’s interesting to see Dante’s work referenced as scary. His ideas can be frighten but nothing enough to really scare me. Now because of all the horror movies we have that Dante’s work seems like a bedtime story.
I found it really funny how this man wanted so much to created this other human being and when he does, he is frighten by him. He is so frighten by him he ends up running out of his apartment to escape from him. Frankenstein put so much time, effort and education into this project but seemed to forget what the consequences could be. He never thought of what this “man” would think or do when he was brought to life. In fact, he worries about this so much that he becomes ill. Now and days it’s very common to look at the pros and cons before coming to a decision or even creating something. I don’t know that if it just something they didn’t do in that time or if it was just Frankenstein being so intrigued in this project that he doesn’t bother to maybe see a bad side to his idea.
The second 50 pages of Frankenstein contrast sharply with the first. In the first 50 pages we get a lot of optimism from the characters. Walden’s optimism about his voyage and his discovery of his true friend, Frankenstein. We also hear of Frankenstein’s love of learning and the optimism and confidence with which he approaches his schoolwork. Frankenstein seems to have really found his passion in the study of science. In the second 50 pages we start to see how his passion for natural science is going to lead to his ruin. Shelly seems to be telling readers to question the use of science.
This part of the book reminds me of the premise of the TV show Battlestar Galactica (awesome show!). The humans in the show create these cylons, which are like advanced robots, basically to do work for them, and then the cylons revolt against them. I think that Shelley is partly responsible for creating this whole genre of entertainment that deals with pros and cons of creating beings with science. When you try to create something that is like a human but us not a human you never really know what is going to happen. Really when you try to create anything new with science you run the risk of disaster. Science is scary in this way. And at the time that Shelly was writing, and even now, there is a struggle between religion and science. The question is always whether or not God would want us to use science to create human like beings. And when science seems to explain things that were always thought to be done by God, like evolution, people get really upset.
Caleb Ashey
EH241 Professor Crowley
Reaction to Frankenstein
The beginning of this book is not what I expected from reading frankenstein. All of the classic stories that come from this book make it out to be a halloween kind of story. This story I enjoy more though because it is not as corny. Its different from stories that we have been reading because it does focus on the childhood aspects of the characters lives. Which gives us important background information because it lets us get into the head of each character. It allows us to make assumptions about how they feel about certain things and lets us assume about how they are going to react and even predict whats going to happen in the book because you have that background information. It also amazing that Mary Shelly was only 19 when she was writing this. Even today it is not common for someone so young to write something so influential. I know of only one author today who was around the same age when he started writing. But is works are no where near Shelly’s work. I also enjoy the way the story is being told, through the letters. I think this makes it more personal so I want to read more, kind of like im reading someones journal.
Leah Gomes
27 February 2009
Adam Crowley
British Writers
Reaction to Frankenstien
The fact that Mary Shelley created a character just to start of a book that tells the story of another character seems kind of pointless. I guess I can understand why she would do that; to show how we are to relate to Frankenstein through Walton. But while I was reading the first few letters I couldn’t really focus on the story, because I just wanted to get on with the real story. This is how I feel about Prefaces, Introductions, and Forwards, too. Even though I am told that the information in them (as in the Letters) is important, I think that if a writer has something important to say, they should say it in the story; make it chapter one. It will be interesting to see how the Speaker, Audience, and Situation all come together at the end when I look back at what has happened. So, instead of Shelley letting you figure out how she wants you to see the characters, she has the Letters written first to sort of instruct you, or lead you, in the direction she wants you to go. But isn’t that what good writing is supposed to do. It is like she isn’t sure that the story she is going to tell will be understood in the way that she means it. Also, the layout of this edition is very weird – first with the Letters, then with three volumes, each with chapters. It doesn’t really seem appropriate for a book of this type. I guess it is hard to say, and maybe I should address the issue after I have read the more of it, then I will have seen it on a whole and seen how the parts all fit together.
Stefanie Foutch
2/27/09
EH 241
Major British Writers
My Reaction to Frankenstein
I have never seen any of the movies that have anything to do with Frankenstein, I never even tasted Franken Berry cereal. I do know the general concept of Frankenstein, a mad professor makes a living monster out of body parts he digs up from a graveyard. However, I always thought that Frankenstein was the name of the monster. With that said, I had no idea what the story of Frankenstein actually was about, until now.
I had a general idea of what the story of Frankenstein would be about, however, I did not quite expect this. I was very disturbed by Mr. Frankenstein, it seemed almost shocking to me how he would dig up body parts for his creation. I was also intrigued by how consumed Victor Frankenstein became with creating life. He was so focused on it, that he completely lost track of everything. However, the part that completely baffled me was when Victor had finally given life to his creation, and he ran a way from it! He was so set on making this creation, he was completely looking forward to it. When it finally happens, he runs away! I was definitely a little confused when that happened. After he ran away from his creation, he did not bother with finding it again, he just hoped it would leave him a lone. This I found funny, because the first thing I thought was; “What are you thinking? What kind of havoc is the monster going to create? You can’t just let it run around!” I was also surprised at how much time went by and nothing was mentioned of the monster. Later on in the book, Victor receives the terrible news that William was killed. The first thing I thought after reading that was; “Oh my goodness, the monster did it!” Which later on turned out to be one of Victor suspicions after seeing the monster on the way to his father’s house. Even though my first guess was that the monster committed the crime, I was still shocked that the monster when to Victor’s home town. I was wondering what had happened to the monster during all that time he was gone. After Victor reaches his father’s house he discovers that his cousin, Justine was wrongfully convicted of committing the murder. Even though Justine knew she was not the murderer she admitted to committing the crime. I was saddened when she was hung for a crime she did not do.
A lot happened it the first part of the book. I had no idea what exactly to expect when reading this book. I did find out that there is a lot more to the story of Frankenstein than I imagined. Since so much happened in the first part of the book, I am expecting that there will be many more twists and turns throughout the story. I am enjoying the book more than I thought I would.
Kacey Beckwith
3-10-09
EH 241
Major British Writers
Professor Adam Crowley
Reaction to the Reading
When I was reading Frankenstein, I found the layout of the book to be very oddly done. First, the book begins with letters from our initial character. These letters help to explain to the reader who this person is and what type of character he will play. Then, the book continues with chapters, told by the same initial character, and which are broken up into books as sections. I do not believe that I have ever seen another book of any kind written in quite the same form as Frankenstein.
After reading this much of the book, I feel that Mary Shelley had a good reason for doing this. Perhaps it was so that she could make the book more comprehensible to its readers. By breaking the book up into chapters and again into different sections, it is easier to comprehend the different parts of the book. This seems like a very logical way to form one’s writing, although it is certainly a new concept to me.
I hope that once I reach the end of the story, all of these pieces will come together to show a more concrete reasoning on why the author wrote in this form. It seems as though Mary Shelley has a way of placing things in a very dramatic order, and I assume the end of this story will not disappoint in any way.