BRITISH LITERATURE SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENT
BISHOP MACHEBEUF HIGH SCHOOL
“I darted towards the spot from which the sound
proceeded, but the devil eluded my grasp. Suddenly
the broad disk of the moon arose and shone full upon
his ghastly and distorted shape as he fled with more
than mortal speed.” 180
Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley
Sr. Miriam
[email protected]
Doctor Frankenstein
The Creature
Summer Reading in 3 easy steps
1. Begin reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley early and thoughtfully complete the attached reading
journal questions & vocabulary as you read.
2. Somewhere around the first third to half of the book read the essay questions (last page) and start thinking
about what essay you might want to write about. Finish the book and the reading journal questions.
3. Write the essay (must be typed, double spaced, 12 pt font). Revise. Print it. Hand it in (with the reading
journal) on the first day of school.
Purposes:
First and most importantly, the purpose of reading Frankenstein is to call into question the idea of humanity
(Who am I? Why am I here?), our relationship with ourselves, and our relationship with God, through the
characters’ struggles and their pursuit of the answers to these questions. Please read it with these questions in
mind. Additionally, I seek to instill a sense of theme for the year & to introduce British Literature, in style,
tone, and vocabulary. Finally, all summer reading assignments endeavor to keep the students’ minds active in
the subject matter and critical thinking.
Assignment Details:
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is REQUIRED summer reading, as is completing the attached reading journal
questions and essay. This will be a LARGE GRADE and getting a zero on this assignment will result in a
failing grade for awhile into the semester, which will affect fall sports eligibility.
Some of you may have read this book or an adaptation previously. This reading guide and the essay options will
take you through a philosophical approach of the book take you much deeper than you are likely to have read it
before, calling on the knowledge you gained last year in school, and preparing you for the literary terms you
will need for the coming school year.
Complete the study guide as you read. You will need to keep your copy of the text until you complete the essay
because the essay will require quotes from the text! When you quote from the text, cite the page number of
your quote. Missing quotes from the text will result in a failing grade on the essay!
The book may be found at public libraries and book stores, online booksellers, and the full text can be read
online or printed FOR FREE at: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/84 scroll down and select the version you
would like to download. YOU MAY NOT PRINT THE BOOK AT SCHOOL. This includes versions for
many e-readers, as well as safe online versions for on screen or printable reading. Additionally, I have limited
supplies available.
DUE: The first day of school. This is a hard due date and late work will not be accepted.
If you have printer trouble and are not able to print your assignment, please bring a note from your parent
/guardian AND e-mail your essay to [email protected] . I also will be checking this email
address about once a week during the summer.
You should begin by reading with the “Letters”; don’t just start with chapter one. (You may skip the author’s
introduction.) BUT, if you’re having trouble getting into the book, start with chapter four and come back to the
letters and chapters one-three later.
Reading Questions: 50 points
Essay:
35 points
Vocabulary
15 points
Directions: Answer all reading journal questions on another piece of paper/in a notebook/typed.
Preface: Letters 1-4
1.
What do you learn about the storyteller of the letters from his letters? (What does he do? What is he
like?)
Chapters 1-3—these chapters and indeed nearly the whole of the book are related to Walton
from his new mysterious passenger.
2.
Write questions you have as you read. Refer to the glossary.
3.
What do you think of the narrator Victor Frankenstein? Do you like him/dislike him? Why?
4.
What does he like? What does he dislike?
Chapters 4-5
5.
Victor is narrating these chapters much later in his life, compare and contrast the narrating Victor
and the young Victor he talks about. How are they different in chapter 4? How do they become more
similar in chapter 5? Make a prediction about the book based on these differences.
6.
Victor said he was setting out to create a “new species”. Why create him so human in form? Why
does he abandon his creation
so immediately? Quote for support.
7.
What responsibilities do you think he has toward this creation?
Chapters 6-8
8. Responsibility is a great theme of these chapters. In a few sentences, describe how and why Victor
feels responsible for the tragedies that befall those he loves. What responsibilities do Justine and
Elizabeth feel? Why? Is there anything that Victor should feel responsible for that he is missing?
9. Victor has always felt unable to tell his family about this great science project of his, even when he was
proud of it and ambitious, before he saw the result. If you are fearful to tell those you love about what
you are doing, what is most often the reason? How does that apply to his situation? What did he really
do? Why?
Chapters 9-10
10. Describe your impression of the creature at this point. What is he like in your mind? Pushing aside all
the old movies, what does he look like? What does he move like? What does he think like? What is he
like?
11. Compare and contrast Victor and the creature. Which is rational? Which is emotional? Why? Which
is more compassionate? Which is more virtuous? Why? (This should be a thorough paragraph.)
Chapters 11-13 These are the creature narrating his movements of the last years to Victor (as Victor
tells Walton).
12. Read these chapters pleasurably. Enjoy the creature’s story as he tells it. Try to be moved by him. In
the end of these three chapters, how do you feel about him? What has he learned? What was he like
as he left Ingolstadt? To whom could you compare him? What is he like now? Is he at all like you
described him before? Is he like what Victor thinks he is like? Could he be the same creature who
murdered?
13. What question does he ask at the end of chapter 13 and why is that important?
Chapters 14-16 These chapters are the creature continuing to tell his story
14. The creature learns a lot about himself and learns to better understand his finer feelings by comparing
and contrasting himself with the characters of the three great stories of chapter 15. What does this
experience reveal about yourself or humanity in general?
15. What persists for the creature in the beginning of chapter16? What lesson does he learn about
humanity in this chapter?
Chapters 17-18 These return to Victor’s narration.
16. Where is responsibility and rightness here? It surely was wrong for Victor to have created life the first
time, but is it wrong for him to deny companionship to the creature now? Is this the only/best way?
Ought Victor to feel enslaved?
17. Why does the creature exclaim “this is what it is to live…now I enjoy existence!”?
18. Predict the end of the novel.
Chapters 19-22
19. In chapter 19, Victor says “I was guiltless, but I had indeed drawn down a horrible curse upon my
head, as mortal as that of crime” (141). Do you think that he really believes that? Why or why not?
Quote from the text to support.
20. Victor has begun to call the “being”, the “creature” (which he called him even on suspecting him of
murder) a “devil” a
“demon” instead. What could have prompted this change? Explain why you think so.
Chapter 23
21. The whole book has foreshadowed toward and built toward this chapter. Victor, in telling his story to
Walton, has remembered this end, and hinted about this and the other tragedies. Yet even here, the reader
may find similarities between creator and creature in motivations, emotions, and thoughts. What makes
man monstrous? What makes the monster monstrous?
Chapter 24
22. Consider both Victor and the creature’s final words and deeds. What does it mean for each of their
humanity? What kind of man is each?23. A foil character is a minor character who has similar traits
or situations to a main character in order to make you think about that trait/situation in a new way.
Consider Walton in this final chapter and again from the letters as a foil character to Victor. Explain
what makes them similar and what makes them different and what you, as the reader learn.
Vocabulary:Complete with a definition from the dictionary or from context
Ch 2.
Predilection
Chimera
Cursory
Progeny
Ch. 3
Prognosticated
Benignity
Alchemist
Reprobated
Palpable
Ch.4
Physiognomy
Ch. 6
Vacillating
Encomiums
Perambulations
Verdant
Ch 9:
Augment
Ch 11
Purloin
Incommode
Ch 16
Wantonly
Ch. 20
Inexorable
Ch. 21
Paroxysm
Laudanum
15 POINTS
Essay options
Directions: Select one of the below options and write a 5 paragraph essay consisting of 2-3 pages, typed,
double spaced, Times New Roman size 12 or Calibri size 11 font. The essay must completely answer the
question & connect & support your ideas. See attached rubric for grading details. Remember your essay
must quote from the text for support for your resp0nse. Use the Rules for Writers book or this web
resource for MLA help in citing your quotationshttp://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
A. Detail Victor Frankenstein’s humanity. Explain what makes him good and what his vices are. Explain how
he shows the image of God, his creator, and the influence of his father and teachers. Show how he
becomes a creation of his own choices and create a thesis statement that details what kind of a man he is.
B. Detail the creature as a character. Does he show humanity, though he may be inhuman? Is he human?
Explain what makes him good and what his vices are. Explain how he shows the image of Victor as his
creator and “father”, as well as the influence of his protectors and teachers. Does God have a hand in his
creation? Why or why not? Show how he becomes a creation of his own choices and create a thesis
statement that details what kind of a “man” he is.
C. Someone is notably missing from this book. None of the characters mention God, with the exception of the
creature, when referencing Paradise Lost. If God and faith had entered into either Victor or the creature’s
life what would have been different? Select one of these characters and a place for God and faith to have
become part of his development, and explain how faith can change and support humanity through struggles
such as these. Cite all sources.
D.
In Greek mythology, Prometheus is credited with being the creator of mankind. He fools the gods at a
feast to save the best meat from a sacrifice for the humans. Zeus angrily forbids mankind to have fire.
Prometheus disobeys Zeus’ orders and steals fire from Olympus for mankind, but as a result of this
trickery is forced to suffer punishment for years, though he suffers on, never “bending his inflexible
mind” (Titan Prometheus). Mary Shelley’s full title for this work is Frankenstein; or the Modern
Prometheus. Keeping in mind that at one time fire was a technology, and it has been one we have used
in many ways for our own destruction, what similarities do you see between the two stories? What
greater meaning can be gained from connecting the novel to the mythological story?
E.
Satan, at the punishment of his newly fallen state and exile to hell in Paradise Lost by John Milton,
(quoted, alluded to, and directly related in Frankenstein) scoffs “Yet not for those, / nor what the potent
victor in his rage / can else inflict, do I repent or change, / though changed in outward luster, that fixed
mind / And high disdain, from sense of injured merit,/ that with the mightiest raised me to contend”(1.9499). This shows the danger of pride. Relate this quote to the characters of Frankenstein and their
downfalls. What point about humanity is the author likely making?
Summer Reading Essay Rubric
worth 35 points
Converted
Percentage
Description
100-102
These are well-written papers which respond fully to the question asked.
The best papers show a full understanding of the issues and support their
points with appropriate textual evidence and examples. Writers of these
essays demonstrate stylistic maturity by an effective command of
sentence structure, diction, and organization. The writing need not be
without flaws, but it should reveal the writer’s ability to choose from and
control a wide range of elements of effective writing.
90-99
These essays also respond correctly to the questions asked but do so
less fully or less effectively than the essays in the top range. Their discussion may be less
thorough and less specific. These essays are well-written in an appropriate style but reveal
less maturity than the top papers.
They do make use of textual evidence to support their points. Some lapses in diction or syntax
may appear, but the writing demonstrates sufficient control over the elements of composition
to present the writer’s ideas clearly.
80-89
These essays respond to the question, but the comments may be simplistic or imprecise; they
may be overly generalized, vague, or inadequately supported. These essays are adequately
written, but may demonstrate inconsistent control over the elements of composition.
Organization is attempted, but it may not be fully realized or particularly effective.
65-79
These essays attempt to deal with the question, but do so either inaccurately or without
support or specific evidence. They may show some misunderstanding or omit pertinent
analysis. The writing can convey the writer’s ideas, but it reveals weak control over diction,
syntax, organization. These essays may contain excessive and distracting spelling and
grammatical errors. Statements are seldom supported with specific or persuasive evidence, or
inappropriately lengthy quotations may replace discussion and analysis. Essays may rely on
plot summary.
50-65
These essays fail to respond adequately to the question. They may reveal misunderstanding
or may distort the interpretation. They compound the problems of the Lower Score papers.
Generally these essays are unacceptably brief or poorly written. Although some attempts to
answer the question may be indicated, the writer’s view has little clarity and only slight, if
any, evidence in its support. Essays rely on generalizations and do not quote from the text.
Resources:
For an interactive map of the locations referenced in Frankenstein go to
http://www.bookdrum.com/books/frankenstein/9780192833662/map.html