Category Archives: Brainstorming Exercise #2
brainstorming exercise #2
Brainstorming Exercise #2
Brainstorm Exercise # 2
Brainstorming Exercise #2
Brainstorming Exercise # 2 – Moral Man
One’s Own Way of Learning
Self-Education Clustering/Mapping/Webbing
Limited Potential
Describe it:
After being created by Victor Frankenstein, the monster is abandoned by him. The latter then makes the journey to become educated enough to be able to communicate his thoughts and have the intended audience understand them. After learning how to read and write, the monster finds three books in a bag in the woods and takes them to read. These readings change him and have allowed him to understand the circumstances that surround his existence. The books make him realize that he is different from humans and has been exiled by them for this reason. The books give him a lot to think about, but they also affect him negatively, causing him to believe that humans will only outcast him and regard him with disgust.
Trace it:
The monster’s body is made up of several stitched together body parts. These parts come from corpses, making the monster’s appearance truly gruesome and disgusting to look at. Even Victor Frankenstein, the very creator of the monster, is revolted by the sight of the latter, and runs away in fear. The monster, after searching for another sign of life, finds an old man in a hut who shrieks and also retreats at the sight of the monster. The monster continues to a village, where more people flee due to his frightening appearance. Even though he wants to talk to these people and understand why no one wants to approach him, he cannot do so due to lacking knowledge of the human language. So he makes a resolve to educate himself, learning how to read and write by watching the family next door. Eventually he finds the books in the woods and reads them, understanding his situation and himself through the text.
Map it:
This negative impact brought upon by books relates to a theory from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “The American Scholar” that argues that books limit the mind. While books are beneficial to one’s education, just as how the monster learns to understand his difference from humans because of the books from the woods, they do place constraints on the mind. Instead of thinking beyond thoughts that have already been thought, books plant preconceived thoughts by others into an individual’s mind. Because the monster relates so much to John Milton’s Paradise Lost and the character of Satan, he fails to think much beyond the thoughts the epic poem has given him. Exiled and looked down upon just like Satan, he sees humans as incapable of seeing him as anything more than a monster. Therefore, he decides to “hate them who abhor [him]” and becomes firm in never seeing humans in a positive light (Shelley 103). The monster could have looked past his newfound hate for humans if he had not been so influenced by the books, and in this way, he is held back from his full potential. He has become so overwhelmed with the ideas the books have presented him that he cannot think for himself and understand that not all humans will be disgusted by him.
Malcolm X and Bach
Describe It | Malcolm X was an African-American activist, but before that his life was a journey full of obstacles. He was a person with ambition who learned and educated himself while in jail through the use of the dictionary and his own unique ways of learning. He ended up in jail due to selling drugs on the streets in New York and he wanted to make a change and help the blacks, but he realized that he wasn’t educated and didn’t have the skills to translate his message and ideas to the crowd because he was illiterate. This is what encouraged him to learn and educate himself. |
Trace It | Malcolm X was a black who didn’t get the opportunity to go to school and learn due to racism. He was discouraged by his white teacher that it wasn’t “realistic” for a black to become a lawyer. This had a huge impact on him that he dropped out of school, but not for long. He didn’t go to school and neither finished it, but he educated himself through the use of the dictionary while in jail. The brutality and unfair treatment of blacks pushed Malcolm to educate himself so that he could help bring a change and that’s what he did. His education brought him respect and he was able to fulfill his goal to a certain extent because he was shot so wasn’t able to finish it. |
Map It | This relates to Frankenstein because even Frankenstein had to learn on his own just like Malcolm X, but Malcolm used the dictionary and Frankenstein used his experiences. They both weren’t taught anything from another person, but by themselves. This is also related to Bach because Bach said school wasn’t for everyone, but he he also said that when you need something you will work for it and that is related to Malcolm X. He really wanted to help the black community, but due to his lack of knowledge he wasn’t able to and since he really was determined to help them he learned on his own to help the society. |