1) Please read "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley, Letter IV and Chapters I-II, pages 8-23.
2) Please respond to FIVE of the questions below in this blog space using direct evidence from the text. Read each other's responses and try to create a cross-section of questions from each of the sections. Please list which numbers you are doing, so other can choose different one.
We will go through these one by one tomorrow in class...and we will begin the film Surrogates.
We will go through these one by one tomorrow in class...and we will begin the film Surrogates.
1. Show how the Letters frame the upcoming story of
Frankenstein.
2. Analyze how Robert Walton’s life and travels
adhere to the ideals of Romanticism.
3. Explain how Walton educates himself for his
sailing adventure.
4. Predict how successful Walton’s voyage will be
to find an Arctic passage, and the problems he could encounter on his
adventure.
5. What does Walton desire when he writes the
second letter?
6. Explain why Walton feels particularly fortunate
to have secured the master of his ship.
7. Show how the shipmaster’s failed love story
adheres to the ideals of Romanticism.
8. Infer how Walton’s “belief in the marvelous”
makes him an ideal listener of Frankenstein’s story.
9. Formulate how the setting of the fourth letter
is typically Romantic.
10. Tell what the sailors first see in the
distance.
11. Describe the man who boards the ship.
12. Explain why the man is in the Arctic .
13. Analyze how the man fulfills Captain Walton’s
desires.
14. Generalize why the man agrees to tell Walton
his story.
15. Evaluate why the man cautions Walton against
his “search for knowledge and wisdom.”
16. What is Walton’s duty as the man tells his
story?
Chapter One
17. Tell how Victor Frankenstein’s parents met.
18. Summarize how Mary Shelley interjects her social
interest of caring for the poor into Frankenstein.
19. Show how Shelley portrays the women, Caroline
and Elizabeth, in Chapter One.
20. Describe Victor’s childhood.
21. Explain how Elizabeth
22. Assess how Victor feels about Elizabeth
Chapter Two
23. Tell about Victor’s social tendencies and how he
interacts with friends.
24. Contrast Victor’s academic interests with those
of his friend, Henry Clerval.
25. Infer Victor’s meaning when he says of his
desire to learn about science: “I find it arise, like a mountain river, from
ignoble and almost forgotten sources; but, swelling as it proceeded, it became
the torrent which, in its course, has swept away all my hopes and joys.”
26. Which authors and topics does Victor become
obsessed with reading?
27. Generalize how Victor learns about alchemy and
natural science. How does this fit with the characteristics of Romanticism?
28. Describe Victor’s experience with lightning. How
was it a turning point in his life?
29. Explain Victor’s destiny. Locate a quote from
the novel to support your answer.
