Frankenstein: 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), madness, hubris, and science. This is not an all-inclusive list, but these ideas will pop up quite often.

A little writing: What is wonder? "This appearance excited our unqualified wonder" (25). Think about the denotation (actual definition) and the connotation (the idea or feeling the word evokes).

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: The fun continues

Poems, poems and more poems.

1. Let's share. Be sure to listen and write down those moments than stand out to you.
2. What's for homework for Tuesday? What does annotate mean (see guidelines)? 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.
3. Any questions or worries or anything, send me an email, stop by my office, or otherwise get in touch.
4. Go forth. Good luck. Enjoy!

Welcome! Welcome to E1.

1. Welcome (Who am I? Who are you?)
2. Whipplehill Page & Class Blog
3. Course Description
4. Basic Information
5. Set up DropBox!
6. Where I’m From

PAAE: the end

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? Think 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."

PAAE: 176-204

Free write: Max struggles to find a balance between what he wants and what Rose has done for society. He also struggles with the decisions his parents made about keeping his sister's death a secret. This is a classic individual versus society conflict.

**How have we seen this manifested in the novel thus far? (be specific and use the text)

**How has this type of struggle come up in your life OR the life of your character?

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

PAAE: 147-175

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."

Jacques Jaujard and more

Discussion

** Let's look at some slides, first

1. In what ways is Chaim's refusal to have his passport stamped "Deporté" a sign of his struggle with identity, a struggle with its dynamics and what define him?

2. p. 124: the resourcefulness of the art dealers (I love this story!)

3. p. 129: Chevalier's "Valentine"

4. What does Sara contrast of Chaim and Max's war time experiences on p. 131?

5. In what ways has Max receded from the foreground of the action?

6. Exactly what did Rose do during the water (p. 148-152, 158, 170-175)?

7. Do you think Max needs Rose or wants Rose? Justify your response.

8. Recovery of one painting ... p. 162

9. Dream p. 165

10. Rose's rebuttal: p. 169

**How has Max's voice changed over the course of the novel thus far? How would you describehis voice in Parts 1 & 2? Part 3?

PAAE: 113-146

Night & Fog video

** Let's look at some slides