a lesson in using

quotations

and paraphrases

Quotations are word-for-word

excerpts from a source. Smith 1

Sally Smith

Dr. Andrea Jones

ENGL 230-81

11 December 2009

Cattle and the Creature:

Frankenstein and the Livestock Breeding Experiments of the Eighteenth Century

In the sixty years leading up to the initial publication of Mary Shelley’s

Frankenstein in 1818, Britain was caught in a whirlwind of change. And though much

critical consideration has been given to the socio-political contexts of the novel’s inception

—including the nearby French Revolution and Romantic literature and political

philosophies—there is surprisingly little discussion on the effects of Britain’s Agricultural

Revolution on the thematic formation of the text. Though Britain was fast approaching

industrialization by 1818, recent changes in farming and animal husbandry had radically

altered the way Western Europeans ate and thought about eating. New discoveries in crop

and livestock propagation and management were quickly filling the bellies of hungry

urbanites. In the era of the primary events of Frankenstein—the end of the eighteenth

century—the new and unfamiliar ways of cultivating food were not going unquestioned,

but a rising cattle culture, visible in everything from popular art to the dinner table, was

taking hold and coming to define Britons as “barons of beef” (Ritvo).

Mary Shelley was not immune to the sweeping changes in Britain’s food supplies

and desires resulting from this revolution. Learning of Robert Bakewell, the famed

agriculturalist whose obsessively perfected breeds “would fatten the most readily, and be

the most valuable when fat” (Knight 12), Shelley and her husband Percy lamented the state

“would fatten the most readily and be the most valuable when fat” (Knight 12).

Paraphrases are ideas and concepts that you have summarized from

another’s work. Smith 1

Sally Smith

Dr. Andrea Jones

ENGL 230-81

11 December 2009

Cattle and the Creature:

Frankenstein and the Livestock Breeding Experiments of the Eighteenth Century

In the sixty years leading up to the initial publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in

1818, Britain was caught in a whirlwind of change. And though much critical consideration has

been given to the socio-political contexts of the novel’s inception—including the nearby French

Revolution and Romantic literature and political philosophies—there is surprisingly little

discussion on the effects of Britain’s Agricultural Revolution on the thematic formation of the

text. Though Britain was fast approaching industrialization by 1818, recent changes in farming

and animal husbandry had radically altered the way Western Europeans ate and thought about

eating. New discoveries in crop and livestock propagation and management were quickly filling

the bellies of hungry urbanites. In the era of the primary events of Frankenstein—the end of the

eighteenth century—the new and unfamiliar ways of cultivating food were not going

unquestioned, but a rising cattle culture, visible in everything from popular art to the dinner

table, was taking hold and coming to define Britons as “barons of beef” (Ritvo).

Mary Shelley was not immune to the sweeping changes in Britain’s food supplies and

desires resulting from this revolution. Learning of Robert Bakewell, the famed agriculturalist

whose obsessively perfected breeds grew quickly and were expensive (Knight 12), Shelley and

her husband Percy lamented the state of Britons’ diets, which were primarily meat protein-

whose obsessively perfected breeds grew quickly and were expensive (Knight 12).

Changing one word is not paraphrasing.

Quote and paraphrase discussions by people who are

experts in the field that you’re writing about or who offer an interesting insight into the

topic at hand.

-writer/critic/publisher-historian-agriculture enthusiast

Quoting and paraphrasing

sources that agree with you shows your reader

that your opinion is supported.

Quoting and paraphrasing

sources that disagree with

you shows your reader that you’re fair-minded.

While Edgar Lane finds this move in Shelley’s work to be “unlike the beliefs she espouses elsewhere” (93), this moment appears to fit perfectly with her interest in the ways that animals are used and abused in the Western world.

As Anne Helton makes clear in her work on the Shelleys and nineteenth-century vegetarian circles, one way to understand Frankenstein is by “situating it in the canon of literature concerned with animal welfare” (7).

While Edgar Lane finds this move in Shelley’s work to be “unlike the beliefs she espouses elsewhere” (93), this moment appears to fit perfectly with her interest in the ways that animals were used at that time in the Western world.

S K I L L S♦C H E C K Paraphrase the following quotation:

“The novel is successful in the way that it consistently allows for multiple

interpretations and viewpoints, but it fails to truly work with any single political system.”

Quotes and paraphrases can provide evidence.

Elsewhere, Shelley discusses her desire for Britons to understand animals as something more than food. Historian

Eleanor Kraft points to a series of letters in which Shelley “explains the intense need for the nation to openly

discuss its food politics” (384).

I.) Shelley expresses a desire for change.

a.) This can be seen in a series

of letters (Kraft).

While many critics believe that Shelley was simply riding the political coattails of her husband Percy, James Alistair writes

of “an increasing amount of female activists in the early 1800s” and reads Frankenstein as a feminist text (102).

Quotes and paraphrases can also move your argument along.

I.) Many critics believe that Shelley was copying her husband.

a.) But we can see that there

were many female activists in her era (Alistair).

Quotations cannot stand alone. To use them effectively, you must provide a frame.

“Quote.”

Introduce the author and/or the context for the quote.

Explain the quote’s significance.

1.

2.

3. Or you can call this a quote sandwich!

“the best machine for converting herbage into money” (38).

As Bakewell famously asserted, livestock were seen as

This outlook quickly expanded the notion of “farmer” to include the wealthy patrons of farms.

1.

2.

3.

For example:

Signal verbs can make your writing more interesting.

Lane says Meenach’s argument, citing an “impassioned though terse” diary entry from May 1817 (229).

argueassertbelieve

emphasizeinsist

observeremind us

reportsuggest

EXPRESSING AGREEMENT

acknowledgeadmireagree

endorsepraise

corroboratereaffirmsupportverify

EXPRESSING DISAGREEME

NT

complaincomplicatecontradict

denyqualify

questionrefutereject

renounce

MAKING A CLAIM

refutes

“the novel is vegetarian, to say the least, an enticing journey through animal politics” (47).

S K I L L S♦C H E C K Using the information provided, frame the following quotation:

argueassertbelieve

emphasizeinsist

observereport

suggests

acknowledgeadmireagree

endorsepraise

reaffirmsupportverify

complaincomplicatecontradict

denyqualify

questionrefutereject

“[The novel] fails to truly work with any single political system.”

Author: Sarah MullinsPosition: Literary criticPage: 831

You should find a balance between your own writing and your use of paraphrases and quotations.