Frank: Vol. 1 Chpts 1-3

1. A new sentence!
2. Check book
3. Check and review vocabulary

Discussion
1. In what ways does Victor's statement that "the world was to me a secret which I desired to divine" (38) serve as characterization? What is characterization? Think about Walton!

2. In what ways do Henry & Victor differ? Why might Shelley be setting them up as foils? (**A character in a work whose behavior and values contrast with those of another character in order to highlight the distinctive temperament of that character (usually the protagonist)) (Bedford St Martins Press).

3. In what way does Shelley characterize Elizabeth when she writes "the saintly soul (who) shone like a shrine-dedicated lamp in our peaceful home?" (39). What role does this characterization set for Elizabeth?
4. Is Victor's fascination with the Philosopher's Stone an admirable one? Look closely at the passage on page 42: "Under the guidance of my new preceptors, I entered with the greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life; but the latter soon obtained my undivided attention. Wealth was an inferior object; but what glory would attend the discovery, if I could banish disease from the human frame and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death!" What is Hubris?
5. What does Victor's search for a like-minded thinker tell us about human nature? Why might Shelley have portrayed this characteristic in both Victor and Robert?

6. What themes have been presented thus far?

Frank: The Letters

1. Let's learn a new sentence pattern! You love the semi-colon!
2. Check books
3. Check and review vocab
4. Some background.

• Who was Mary Shelley? What is this Frankenstein we speak of?
• Some major themes we'll see: fate vs free will, personal responsibility, loneliness, nature, family, knowledge (it's power and the acquisition of), and science. This is not an all-inclusive list, but these ideas will pop up quite often.
• What is epistemology? How does it play a role in the text thus far? In the future?

Discussion questions: use text evidence to support your claims

1. What is Walton's attitude toward his quest? What does his attitude reveal about his character?

2. Why do you think Walton feels lonely even though he is on board a ship with a full crew? Why do you think Walton is attracted to the stranger?

3. What details suggest that both Walton and the stranger are willing to make big sacrifices in the search for knowledge? Look at similarities and differences. Does knowledge promise immortality?

4. Why do you think Shelley chose to lead into the stranger's story by starting with a frame story about Robert?

Day 2: Where I'm From & more

Poems, poems and more poems.

1. Pick a favorite line from someone else's poem (make it a complete thought or image or description) and put it on the board. This is the start of Chalk Talk.
2. After all comments are on the board, respond to four lines with constructive feedback. What is constructive feedback? Let's define that. Debrief the comments.
3. What's for homework for Tuesday? What does annotate mean? What's this about vocab? All questions answered as we dive into Frankenstein! Check out the essential documents for the syllabus and the vocab sheets.
4. Any questions or worries or anything, send me an email, stop by my office, or otherwise get in touch with me.

Welcome & Where I'm From

Welcome & introductions

1. The Blog and all its glory
2. Essential documents: course information, syllabus, goals, etc
3. Name game: "My Name".

Let's get reading and writing

1. The poem to inspire your own writing.
2. Let's take a listen.
3. Discussion: Is there anything you aren't familiar with? Is there anything you notice in the poem? What kinds of things does Lyon list or describe? What kinds of details does she remember about her past?
4. Brainstorm: free write for 5 minutes about people, places and things that define who you are.
1. Let's turn those ideas into metaphors and similes.

Homework

1. Check syllabus on blog.

PAEE: 204-the end

Quiz

Free write: "I struggled to my feet and began to walk. My father had been right — the paintings were not to be found — and had turned back as soon as he sensed this, which was almost instantly. I had gone on, blindly. I was a work on paper: weightless, sketchy, all impulse" (210). What is Max realizing about himself? What insight does this offer us into his character? Into the character of his father?

Now -- bring it to you. Reflect on and write about a time when your parents saw something more quickly than you did. And I'm not talking about seeing a spider or a deer crossing the road. I'm talking about seeing something monumental, something important that it took you a while to understand.

Discussion
1. Let's look at Micheline as she appears throughout the novel. In what ways does the discovery of Micheline make Max rethink his past?
2. On p. 220, Daniel says, "Let us never speak of this again." What does Daniel want to forget? Thin literally and figuratively.
3. p. 225: "And so my father's picture joined the other images in the lost museum of my mind."
4. p. 227: "The will told me Rose was most likely in Paris, and I felt a vague unpleasant anger toward the dead. How often had my father been in contact with her during my decades of faithful silence? With what knowledge had he died."
5. p. 231: "Did this mean that a son's love and grief for his father triumphed over all? Or that, in a moment of reckoning, I had seen and remembered nothing? I understood then that Rose had begun to bid only once I had stopped. She had been sent to Drouot's, or went of her own accord, in case I had forgotten what I would see there."
6. p. 231: "The shimmering of the city was also part of the canvas: Matisse's lemons seemed to float above the table and the white plate on which they might have rested, if they had been given rest. It was a still life that had not been granted stillness. I thought of the dimensions of the painting, of its flat and hovering planes, and that somewhere, in between the two, lingered those whom I had lost."

PAEE: 176-203

Quiz

Max has a sister! What?! Where can we see Micheline in the text? Break up into groups and find her.

C block:

PAEE: 113-175

Quiz

Free write: "Her every belonging, Madam van Seyveld said, has been replaced by something that resembled its predecessor but was fundamentally different" (123). This same sentiment was shared by many people after the war. We can even see this happening to Max as he is trying to replace Rose/their relationship and his father's paintings.

Option 1: Think about your character for the scrapbook project and write about something that was replaced in their lives with a similar yet "fundamentally different" item.

Option 2: Think about your own life and write about how something was replaced with something similar but "fundamentally different."

More art & history of Paris

Jacques Jaujard and more

Discussion
1. In what ways is Chaim's refusal to have his passport stamped "Deporté" a sign of his struggle with identity? struggle with insider/outsider dynamics?
2. What does Sara contrast Chaim and Max's war time experiences on p. 131?
3. In what ways has Max receded from the foreground of the action?
4. Exactly what did Rose do during the water and what is she trying to do now?