Timing of the Unit
This unit will be delivered to a 12 th Grade World Literature class. Preceding this unit, students will have covered the traits of Romantic literature, the structure of epistolary narration, as well as the various points of view a writer, such as Mary Shelley, employs in order to offer the reader a glimpse through the eyes of different characters. By using various narrators, the students are able to get a more genuine, reliable story. The recurring question that will begin with this unit and will continue through the rest of the semester—with such works as Dante's Inferno and Shakespeare's Macbeth—is: How do ethics play a role in an individual's actions? This question will of course be applied to the likes of Victor, the Creature, the sinful religious figures of Dante's time, and the infamous Macbeth. More importantly, students will pose this question to themselves in order to consider the bigger picture of what these pieces of literature, these characters, these authors aim to show us about ourselves as human beings.
While the assigned readings can be overwhelming and dense for my students, I supplement the unit with audio readings of the novel, and with film clips to aid students in their understanding of characterization and the differences between a Hollywood rendition of literature and the integrity of the original novel. More importantly, the film adaptions allow the students to be aware of the same short sightedness that Victor (like countless other characters) has when only using his sight as a means to view the creature.
Students will also cover specific segments in order to make their reading smoother and easier to digest: namely-chapter vocabulary, sentence structure, diction, architectonic chapter outline, metaphors /analogies, family tree, conceptual handouts, geographical map, and the structure of the novel (epistolary narration, first[-]person retrospective point of view, aporia as literary device.)
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