F1- Paper
In this first assignment I ask you to think about how the literary can help us think through the real. Ultimately the assignment requires that you identify in (or infer from) Frankenstein some theory about youth, adolescence, growth, development, monstrosity, or a related theme. I then ask you to use (apply) this theory to help us think through a contemporary depiction of the monstrous adolescence. This assignment has two parts:
In this first part you will use specific parts of the novel in order to pose a theory about adolescence and monstrosity.
In order to pose a theory, you need specific textual evidence to show us how you are deducing this theory from the novel. If you do not show where in the text your ideas are coming from, you cannot receive full credit. The best papers will be very specific in their claims and in their use of textual evidence. This means that a good paper won’t just say that the novel purports that ambition in the young becomes monstrous (with general references to when Frankenstein is ambitious). A good paper will look specifically at how the scenes in which Frankenstein’s ambitiousness seems monstrous and take note of how the narrative always includes some description of how Frankenstein has become disconnected with nature. The good paper will walk its readers through this pattern (with specific examples), and then the good paper will posit what it is that makes connection to nature so important (in the narrative—not just to the author of the paper). You might notice that the most important part of nature is the changing of the seasons (maybe someone else might think it’s the presence of sublime beauty). The good paper will then argue that ambitions that isolate the developing youth from nature and it’s important shifts in seasons puts the developing youth at becoming monstrous. And the best paper will do all of this, but it will also offer some specific definition of what it means to be “monstrous.”
The second part of this paper requires that you use this theory to think through a contemporary (within your parents’ life time) depiction of a monstrous youth. For instance you might find an article about the Littleton shootings, which describes the youths as mostly into computers and video games and disconnected with exercise, the outdoors, or what was going on around them. You might highlight the way the same article connects this isolation from nature to the youth’s desire to pain their faces white and their nails black and to look monstrous. Your Frankenstein theory can help us take note of the fact that even though there is no solid causal connection between playing video games and painting one’s face white, the author of this article makes such a connection relying on the unspoken assumption about relationship between nature and healthy development that we can see interrogated in Frankenstein.
Important: For this part of the assignment you must choose a specific text, depicting a juvenile monster. You are not describing the event or applying the theory to prove anything about the event. What you are doing is using the theory to think about the way we think about and the way we imagine monstrous growth. Your text may be a news article, photograph, song, poem, video, etc. The only thing to keep in mind is that in the same way you had to use specific examples to derive the theory from Frankenstein, you must also use specific examples in this text to show how we can see that theory at work in this contemporary text.
Formatting: This paper should be double spaced, 1-inch margins and 12 point Times New Roman font with page numbers and your whole name listed in the footer. While there is no set rule, I imagine that you might spend 2-3 pages on establishing the theory in Frankenstein and 2-1 pages applying that theory to your reading of another contemporary text.
F1-Paper Grading Rubrics:
Argument Articulation
Do you clearly state what the theory is that you are deducing from the novel? Are you clear about how this theory helps us think through the contemporary text?
Engaging Texts
Did you use specific examples to articulate the theory you see emerging in the novel? Do you explain how those examples put together get us to the theory you see in the text? Did you use specific examples to show us how the theory applies in the contemporary text? Do you explain how we should read the quotes in a way that shows the theory at work in this contemporary text? Do you use proper citations?
Language
Do you use clear, complete, and active sentences? Do you adhere to rules of capitalization and correct punctuation? Do you spell words correctly?
Structure
Are your introduction and conclusion focused and doing more than warming up and cooling down. Do you present your points clearly and in a strong, productive order?