Exploring Promethean Traits in Frankenstein Common Core Standards Extended Response WRITING WORKSHOP © 2012 Wendy O’Sullivan dba High Yield Lessons These

Exploring Promethean Traits in Frankenstein

Common Core StandardsExtended Response

WRITING WORKSHOP

© 2012 Wendy O’Sullivan dba High Yield Lessons

These materials are protected by copyright law. For each purchased copy of this work,a limited license is granted allowing use to one teacher for use with that teacher’s class(es).

Before today, we have reviewed what makes

a person a promethean, read the Letters in Frankenstein, and discussed Robert Walton and his exhibition of promethean traits; you should be prepared to write a literary analysis response on this topic.

This workshop will guide you through the first steps necessary in writing a response, and then you will practice writing part of the extended response on your own.

FRANKENSTEINANALYZING PROMETHEAN TRAITS IN ROBERT WALTON

As we begin writing, keep in mindthese mandatory writing rules for

literary analysis writing:

It must be written inPRESENT TENSE!

It must be written inTHIRD PERSON!

DO NOT USE:I, ME, WE, YOU, YOUR, ETC.

UNIVERSAL RULES OF LITERARY ANALYSIS WRITING

THE WRITING PROMPT

In a well-developed extended response (3 – 4 paragraphs),

using specific textual evidence, explain and analyze why Robert Walton reveals his promethean ambitions to

Victor Frankenstein.

THE PROMPT

WRITING THE INTRODUCTION

Examine the prompt:Why does Robert Walton reveal his promethean ambitions to Victor Frankenstein?

Note: This is an “extended response” assignment, which means you will only be writing 3 – 4 paragraphs; you are not writing a lengthy essay.

So, the introduction information should be brief and to the point. It should respond directly to the prompt and move quickly to your claim.


Why does Robert Walton reveal his promethean ambitions to Victor Frankenstein?

On a scratch piece of paper, BRAINSTORM! How can you introduce this topic? What is it asking you to talk

about? What details could you begin with in your response? The prompt asks you to talk about promethean ambitions,

so perhaps you could jot down notes about promethean traits. Follows the “thief of fire”: Prometheus Impatient with limitations Universe is withholding Elitist Lonely, difficult journey Suffers punishment for their actions


Why does Robert Walton reveal his promethean ambitions to Victor Frankenstein?

Now that you have some notes on promethean ambitions, BRAINSTORM how this topic applies to the prompt. Then, turn the brainstorm into an introduction of the topic.

Example Introduction (please record on your handout): Just as Prometheus suffered isolation and punishment

for his actions, any follower of the “thief of fire” is also destined for a life of solitary despair.


Introduction Continued: Now that you have introduced the topic, we need to begin to

connect it to the prompt and the claim statement. Just as Prometheus suffered isolation and punishment for

his actions, any follower of the “thief of fire” is also destined for a life of solitary despair. BRAINSTORM: How can we connect this information and

relate it to Robert Walton? Walton is on a “promethean quest” He feels isolated and lonely He is trapped physically (by the ice) He is trapped mentally/spiritually (doesn’t have a friend)

Turn that brainstorm into a transition sentence from the introduction to the claim statement: (Record the following on your handout) After pursuing his own promethean quest for years, Robert

Walton struggles with the solitary confinement of his mind, body, and soul. His promethean ambitions have isolated him.


WRITING THE CLAIM STATEMENT

Now that you have introduced the topic, you need to write your claim statement. What will you prove is true?Why does Robert Walton reveal his promethean ambitions to Victor Frankenstein?BRAINSTORM answers to the prompt.

He wants a friend who will understand his quest.Many men on the ship with him but he feels alone.

After he meets Frankenstein he begins to love him like a brother.

He thinks Frankenstein is an amazing man. He thinks that Frankenstein will understand him.

WRITING THE CLAIM

Next, take the brainstorming and turn it into a claim statement.

If you had to completely and thoroughly answer the prompt in only one sentence, what would your “answer” be?

Remember: Your claim statement must respond to the prompt and be the anchor that controls the entire argument.

The following is a claim statement that I have created as an example for you. (Please Remember: Writing is unique to the writer. So, do not think of this as the “correct” or “right” answer to the prompt. There can be many ways to respond to this prompt. This is just one of those ways.)

Please record the claim statement on your paper.

WRITING THE CLAIM

Why does Robert Walton reveal his promethean ambitions: Answer: He is lonely and desperately desires a friend who will understand and appreciate his ambitions.

Why does he choose Victor Frankenstein?Answer: He is fascinated by Victor and believes that he is the one best suited to understand him and be his friend.

CLAIM STATEMENT: (Record on your handout)

He is lonely and desperately desires a friend who will understand and appreciate his journey, and he believes he has found that friend in Victor Frankenstein.

CLAIM STATEMENT

Just as Prometheus suffered isolation and punishment for his actions, any follower of the “thief of fire” is also destined for a life of solitary despair. After pursuing his own promethean quest for years, Robert Walton struggles with the solitary confinement of his mind, body, and soul. His promethean ambitions have isolated him. He is lonely and desperately desires a friend who will understand and appreciate his journey, and he believes he has found that friend in Victor Frankenstein.

EXTENDED RESPONSE: PARAGRAPH 1

SELECTING & ABRIDGING

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE

Textual evidence must be used to support your claim, but you must be careful not to let the evidence make the argument for you.

The evidence helps you to prove that your claim is true, and it gives credibility to your argument.

You must carefully select evidence which will support your response to the prompt.Review your text and notes to locate the best passages.

Highlight, mark, or record the best passages.For this practice, we will use the passages already selected. Use your handout as a guide.

STEP ONE: FINDING EVIDENCE

After you have located and selected your supporting passages, you should abridge them.

Try to avoid using long passages as much as possible.When you use lengthy passages, you are letting the

author make the argument for you.You want to use evidence to help support your writing

and your ideas, not to let it “speak for itself.”When you abridge the passages, you will narrow them

down to the most necessary, relevant, and accurate parts to support your claim.

The final selected and abridged evidence should be the BEST evidence you can find to support your claim.

STEP TWO: ABRIDGING EVIDENCE

“But I have one want which I have never yet been able to satisfy; and the absence of the object of which I now feel as a most severe evil. I have no friend, Margaret: when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate my joy; if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavour to sustain me in dejection. I shall commit my thoughts to paper, it is true; but that is a poor medium for the communication of feeling. I desire the company of a man who could sympathise with me; whose eyes would reply to mine” (19).

PASSAGE #1

Using your handout, take a moment now to look at the chosen passage again carefully.

What portions stand out to you as the most important in supporting the claim?

Because you cannot include the entire quote in your evidence, select only the best parts of it.

Please highlight or underline the portions of the evidence that you believe can BEST be used to support the claim statement.

TASK #1

Samples of abridged evidence is given on the following slide. Note, your selections may be different from these. That does not mean yours are wrong; they are just different.

Note: The abridged evidence should go to the “heart” of supporting the claim. Do you believe it does? Why or why not?

PASSAGE #1

“But I have one want which I have never yet been able to satisfy; and the absence of the object of which I now feel as a most severe evil. I have no friend, Margaret: when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate my joy; if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavour to sustain me in dejection. I shall commit my thoughts to paper, it is true; but that is a poor medium for the communication of feeling. I desire the company of a man who could sympathise with me; whose eyes would reply to mine” (19).

PASSAGE #1

“My affection for my guest increases every day. He excites at once my admiration and my pity to an astonishing degree. How can I see so noble a creature destroyed by misery, without feeling the most poignant grief? He is so gentle, yet so wise; his mind is so cultivated, and when he speaks, although his words are culled with the choicest art, yet they flow with rapidity and unparalleled eloquence” (28 – 29).

PASSAGE #2

TASK #2Using your handout, take a moment now to

look at the chosen passage again carefully.What portions stand out to you as the most

important in supporting the claim?Because you cannot include the entire quote

in your evidence, select only the best parts of it.




PASSAGE #2

“My affection for my guest increases every day. He excites at once my admiration and my pity to an astonishing degree. How can I see so noble a creature destroyed by misery, without feeling the most poignant grief? He is so gentle, yet so wise; his mind is so cultivated, and when he speaks, although his words are culled with the choicest art, yet they flow with rapidity and unparalleled eloquence” (28 – 29).

PASSAGE #2

“I was easily led by the sympathy which he evinced, to use the language of my heart, to give utterance to the burning ardour of my soul; and to say, with all the fevour that warmed me, how gladly I would sacrifice my fortune, my existence, my every hope, to the furtherance of my enterprise. One man’s life or death were but a small price to pay for the acquirement of the knowledge which I sought for the dominion I should acquire and transmit over the elemental foes of our race” (29).

PASSAGE #3








PASSAGE #3

“I was easily led by the sympathy which he evinced, to use the language of my heart,to give utterance to the burning ardour of my soul; and to say, with all the fevour that warmed me, how gladly I would sacrifice my fortune, my existence, my every hope, to the furtherance of my enterprise. One man’s life or death were but a small price to pay for the acquirement of the knowledge which I sought for the dominion I should acquire and transmit over the elemental foes of our race” (29).

PASSAGE #3

“Sometimes I have endeavored to discover what quality it is which he possesses, that elevates him so immeasurably above any other person I ever knew. I believe it to be an intuitive discernment; a quick but never-failing power of judgment; a penetration into the causes of things, unequalled for clearness and precision; add to this a facility of expression, and a voice whose varied intonations are soul-subduing music” (30).

PASSAGE #4








PASSAGE #4

“Sometimes I have endeavored to discover what quality it is which he possesses, that elevates him so immeasurably above any other person I ever knew. I believe it to be an intuitive discernment; a quick but never-failing power of judgment; a penetration into the causes of things, unequalled for clearness and precision; add to this a facility of expression, and a voice whose varied intonations are soul-subduing music” (30).

PASSAGE #4

WRITING THE SUPPORTING PARAGRAPHS

CLAIM: He is lonely and desperately desires a friend who will understand and appreciate his journey, and he believes he has found that friend in Victor Frankenstein.

Your topic sentence must respond to and support your claim statement. It also must control your paragraph.

Because this claim has two parts, I will break up each part into its own paragraph. Topic Sentence (please record on your handout):

Although Robert Walton is completely committed to his ambitions, he has come to feel that the quest alone is not enough, and he longs for a friend and companion.

PARAGRAPH #2: TOPIC SENTENCE

What is Plot Context?Plot context is used to locate the reader in the story to the evidence that you will use to support your topic sentence.

Plot Context is NOT BOOK SUMMARY.Plot Context should be brief and relevant to the topic sentence and the argument you are making.

Plot Context should let your reader know what is happening in the story, and it should lead into the evidence you will be using.

PARAGRAPH #2: PLOT CONTEXT

First, look back at the evidence you have abridged, and select the best evidence to support the topic sentence.

Then, you need to give brief background information to help “locate” the reader in the story.

For this example, I will begin with evidence from Passage #1.

As such, I need to “set up” the evidence with the plot context.


PLOT CONTEXT (FOR DIRECT QUOTE INTEGRATION):

In a letter written to his sister, Walton states,

PLOT CONTEXT (FOR NATURAL QUOTE INTEGRATION):

Walton confesses in a letter written to his sister that

Note: Both of these styles of plot context helps to “set up” the evidence. They simply let the reader know where we are in the story and what is happening. It gives a foundation for the evidence.


By integrating your evidence, you make it a part of your writing.

You should never let a quote “stand alone.” The evidence must support your argument by becoming a part of it.

Integrating your evidence makes your argument stronger.

INTEGRATING EVIDENCE

There are two basic techniques to use when integrating your evidence. They are:Direct Quote IntegrationNatural Quote Integration

HOW DO YOU INTEGRATE EVIDENCE?

When integrating quotes, you have the option of using either direct or natural quote integration.

However you choose to integrate your quotes, you must make sure that you do it correctly.

Although there is nothing wrong with using direct quote integration, when you are writing a literary analysis, you should use this type of quote integration sparingly.

DIRECT QUOTE INTEGRATION

INCORRECT QUOTE INTEGRATION:Please do not ever do the following:

Walton writes a letter to his sister. “I have no friend.” The above is an example of a “dropped in” quote.

It is not integrated in any way. Do not do this!

CORRECT DIRECT QUOTE INTEGRATION:When you use direct quote integration, you will introduce who is speaking and then state what he or she said.

In a letter written to his sister, Walton states, “I have no friend” (Shelley 19).

DIRECT QUOTE INTEGRATION

Because literary analysis is written in the third person and in present tense, you may need to make changes to the evidence so that it fits these criteria and works grammatically with your writing.

You will use [brackets] to indicate any changes you make.

Textual Evidence Example: “I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with

me; whose eyes would reply to mine.”

Natural Quote Integration Example: Walden is a promethean who “desire[s] the company of a

man who [can] sympathize with [him]” (19).

NATURAL QUOTE INTEGRATION

Natural quote integration is the best choice for a literary analysis because it truly “integrates” the evidence into your own writing.

It becomes a part of your argument. When you do this correctly, if you did not have

quotation marks surrounding the evidence, you should not be able to tell the difference between your own words and those from the text.

Please continue your paragraph by writing the integrated evidence on your paper.Walton confesses in a letter written to his sister that his “one want” is to “have [a] friend” who will “sympathize” with him (19).

NATURAL QUOTE INTEGRATION

Analysis is the most important part of your paragraph!

This is where you show your thinking.This is where you analyze, discuss, and

explain HOW and WHY the chosen evidence proves your topic sentence (or thesis statement) is true!

Analysis should be the bulk of your paragraph.

HOW & WHY? ANALYZING EVIDENCE

Look at your topic sentence.Look at your evidence.Now, ask yourself “how” and “why”

questions.How does “x” relate to “y”?Why does “a” prove “b”?Continue asking and answering “how” and

“why” questions to form the analysis.

HOW DO YOU WRITE ANALYSIS?

CLAIM: Although Robert Walton is completely committed to his ambitions, he has come to feel that the quest alone is not enough, and he longs for a friend and companion.

Why does Walton want a friend? Walton wants a friend because he is a solitary man on

a lonely journey.

How does wanting a friend relate to being a promethean? Only someone like himself can truly understand what

he is doing. He can not be friends with just “anybody.” He is an elitist, and he needs a friend who will appreciate his quest and praise him for it.

FORMING THE ANALYSIS

Now that we have asked and answered “how” and “why” questions about the chosen evidence, we need to take those answers and turn them into a well written analysis.

DO NOT begin analysis with phrases like: “This quote shows . . .” or something similar. I know it is a quote, and I know it is showing something. Stating the obvious is just “filler” and is not needed!

Also, DO NOT simply repeat what the quote says.

Please continue your paragraph by recording the following analysis on your paper.

WRITING THE ANALYSIS

As a Promethean, Walton believes that the only friend who can ever fully understand his heart is one who shares his passions and thirst for knowledge of the secrets of the universe. The journey he is on is a solitary one, and he is desperate to be understood by a friend who can see into his heart and share the journey, the joys, and the sorrows with him.

PARAGRAPH #2: ANALYSIS

At a minimum, you must include at least one piece of textual evidence with supporting analysis in your body paragraph.

However, in order to provide an even more thorough response, try to use at least one or two more quotes to fully support your topic sentence.

Remember, for each additional piece of evidence that you use, you must include an analysis explaining how and why that evidence proves your argument is true.

CONTINUING THE ANALYSIS

First, make sure you transition from the analysis of the first evidence to the integration of the next evidence.

Each sentence must clearly lead to the next.Transition/Context/Evidence: Please record on your

handout.As Walton continues his letter, he indicates that although he is surrounded by shipmates, he does not believe that he will ever find such a friend “among merchants and seamen” (20).

PARAGRAPH #2: EVIDENCE & ANALYSIS

CONTINUED

As Walton continues his letter, he indicates although he is surrounded by shipmates, he does not believe that he will ever find such a friend “among merchants and seamen” (20).

Why does Walton not believe the merchants and seamen could be his friend? He is an elitist. He believes he is “above” the men.

FORMING THE ANALYSIS

Record the analysis on your handout:The sailors on board his ship simply do not meet his intellectual or cultural standards. They are not fellow prometheans, and he does not believe any of them possess the appropriate mind or ambitions to understand his quest.

PARAGRAPH #2: ANALYSIS

Although Robert Walton is completely committed to his ambitions, he has come to feel that the quest alone is not enough, and he longs for a friend and companion. Walton confesses in a letter written to his sister that his “one want” is to “have [a] friend” who will “sympathize” with him (19). As a Promethean, Walton believes that the only friend who can ever fully understand his heart is one who shares his passions and thirst for knowledge of the secrets of the universe. The journey he is on is a solitary one, and he is desperate to be understood by a friend who can see into his heart and share the journey, the joys, and the sorrows with him. As Walton continues his letter, he indicates that although he is surrounded by shipmates, he does not believe that he will ever find such a friend “among merchants and seamen” (20). The sailors on board his ship simply do not meet his intellectual or cultural standards. They are not fellow prometheans, and he does not believe any of them possess the appropriate mind or ambitions to understand his quest.

COMPLETED PARAGRAPH #2

Complete the extended writing response.Write a second body paragraph.

Topic Sentence that supports the claim and controls the paragraph Plot Context and Integrated Evidence Analysis of how and why the evidence proves the argument is true Plot Context and Integrated Evidence Analysis of how and why the evidence proves the argument is true

Write a conclusion paragraph. Re-word / re-visit the claim statement Provide a final “so what” or “why it all matters” thought or

statement. 2-3 Sentences.

YOUR ASSIGNMENT

Documents

Exploring Promethean Traits in Frankenstein Common Core Standards Extended Response WRITING WORKSHOP © 2012 Wendy O’Sullivan dba High Yield Lessons These