Book Talk Handout: Frankenstein

Frankenstein Book Talk Paper

Frankenstein is set in 1700’s Europe. The story tracks a young scientist who is picked up aboard a ship the northern Atlantic Ocean. The bulk of the story is told from the perspective of the scientist Victor Frankenstein, but both the monster and the sailor are used as the point of view. The story starts with Frankenstein being picked up in the northern Atlantic Ocean and after becoming comfortable with the sailor, regales his tale. Victor Frankenstein grew up in Geneva Switzerland with his mother, father, brothers, and adopted “sister” who was his cousin Elizabeth. Victor was always very fond of science and began studying at the University after his mother passed away. While at the University, Frankenstein pushes himself extremely hard to create life by piecing together a bunch of different dead body parts, and pumping electricity through lighting into the creature. Just as soon as he creates this creature, he instantly regrets it, and leaves his laboratory, allowing the creature to escape. After he created this monster that now escaped, he fell extremely ill and was tended by his best friend Henry. Henry tended to Victor and helped him recover. When he was recovered, Frankenstein studied near eastern languages with Henry. After Victor received a letter from his father detailing the murder of his young brother, Victor went home as soon as he could. It had now been over 6 years since he had created the monster. Victor went home to find that his monster was the one who murdered his little brother. William, Victor’s brother, was killed by the monster but his friend who was walking out at night looking for him was falsely accused of the murder and executed for the crime. These two deaths weighed heavily on Victor who sought help from nature and fled into the mountains.

While in the mountains, Victor confronts his monster who has learned to talk, and tells Victor of what has transpired since he was created. The monster had fled and wandered into the wilderness and eventually stumbled upon a family that wanted to help him. He learned to read but was eventually forced out back into the wilderness. It was in the Switzerland wilderness when the monster came to hate his creator for giving him life, and so when the monster found the brother of his creator, he killed him in revenge. After he details his story, he instructs Victor that he will leave and never bother him again if he were to make the Monster a wife to live with. Victor agrees, although not happy about it, and eventually retreats to England accompanied again by Henry where he is to work on the wife of his monster. Before Victor leaves for England, he promises to marry his cousin Elizabeth upon his return. The monster watches Victor working on his new creation from the hills above Victors cottage, and sees when Victor tears his creation to shreds and will not create another monster to wed his earlier creation. The monster is outraged and vows to kill everyone who was ever important to him. When Victor is ready to leave England he finds that Henry was killed by being strangled to death by the monster. This hurts Frankenstein’s spirit, who later returns to his native country and marries with Elizabeth. After a short while living with Elizabeth, the monster finds the two and kills Elizabeth when Victor is away. Frankenstein vows to kill the monster and begins his pursuit after his father passes away of a fever. Victor Frankenstein follows the monster all around the world. The monster wants Victor to follow him, as he wants to see the anguish and pain as he tracks and tries to kill him. Eventually Victor dies on the ship that he was picked up by in the very first chapters of the book. The monster confronts the dead body of Frankenstein and when confronted by the sailor, who wants to kill him, the monster asks why he should have been hated so much just because he looks different and that his life would be one of hardship and struggle, that now Frankenstein was able to rest while he had to go on living a hard life.

I originally chose this text because it a fit with the theme of my three-week unit plan. I wanted to tie the book talk in with my three-week unit plan and since I have never read the book, I figured that this would be a good time to read a piece of classic literature. This text is appropriate for high schoolers, and although I have heard from my colleagues that they read it in 9^th or 10^th grade, I would rather have 12^th graders read it because at their higher reading level, they will be able to understand more of the language. This book is filled with very dense language that was difficult even for me at times. I found myself looking up different words in order to understand the meaning of the text. This book would be very challenging for high school freshman or sophomores to read, let alone actually get some sort of meaning out of the book.

I plan on teaching this book as a part of a larger class setting, along with Poe, Lovecraft, and Stoker. I envision this book being one that is taught as a whole class or offered as one book in a group reading assignment. There are a lot of events in this book, and the language is dense enough to make it very difficult for younger readers. I would recommend teaching this book in a class talking about gothic literature. Due to the fact that this book is written by a woman this book could also be a selection for students to read works of literature by great female writers, because in many classrooms female writers are not studied as much as male writers. This book could also be done as a part of a classics literature class. I know several students who have read this book along with other classics because the book is very well known and has stood the test of time.

One of the many difficulties I can foresee teaching this book is that of the language. The book is written in the early 19^th century in what would be considered today very difficult language or high English. Another issue that might arise while teaching this book is the confusion over who is the “I” of the given section. The book switches between three different points of view and this could be difficult for some students to follow. I personally listened to an audio version of this book and was lost when the point of view changed. This issue can be solved with proper scaffolding during the book, or frontloading before you start the book as a class. I don’t foresee any major issues with parents objecting to this book, only for the reason that they probably had to read this book at some point in their education. This book is used in many classrooms across the nation and not one that is highly controversial in nature. I can however see how some students might react negatively to the amount of death in this book, but with conversation and scaffolding along the way, I don’t see this issue as one of concern for the majority of the students.