The second half of Mary Shelley’s novella, Frankenstein, portrayed the lonely creature’s journey and attachment to an estranged family. Victor Frankenstein happened to cross paths with his creation while clearing his mind in the woods. Frankenstein listened to the tale of his creature, which created a shift in narration from Victor to the nameless creation. He began by explaining the sensations that overwhelmed him causing much confusion between touch, sight, and smell. However, his natural instincts allowed him to follow the moon, which in turn introduced him to the warmth of the fire that was left behind by travelers. Warmth becomes a constant motif in the second volume of the novella because it is essentially the feeling that he seeks in life. He soon found a hovel closely situated to a cottage that housed Mr. De Lacey, Felix, Agatha, and Safie. After months of observing the family, the creature was able to understand language, emotions, literature, and social interactions, however; he remained uninformed in mind. His yearn for a family and acceptance grew exponentially, which led him to enter the cottage one day when only blind Mr. De Lacey was home. The incidents that occurred in the house caused the creature to venture off on a tangent, destroying anything in his way. Upon helping a young girl avoid drowning, he was shot by a townsman, which even furthered his rage and self loathing. This drove him to discover the town of Geneva where Victor Frankenstein’s family once resided. While rummaging through the woods, he stumbled upon William Frankenstein and strangled the boy until he was lifeless. He even admitted to placing the evidence that helped convict Justine’s guiltiness on her while she slept in the barn. However, his encounter with Justine furthered his desire to seek companionship from a creature similar to himself. Towards the end of their conversation, the creature begs of Frankenstein to produce an additional life form that would serve as the creature’s companion.

While reading the second volume of Frankenstein, I found a passage on pages 68-69 that was emotionally moving. He creature emotionally confesses to his creator that he will not seek vengeance on Frankenstein because he is the creature’s “lord and king” and that his misfortunes had caused his benevolence to turn rotten. He claimed that he is excluded from all the bliss in life due to his unattractively superior body figure. While reading this passage it is hard not to emphasize with the creature because all he hopes for in life is to feel acceptance and the warmth of kindness from other humans.

Leah Hotaling

Peer Review

• Scope: I’d like to examine the equality of African American education in American society. Although education is normally seen as the best path to success, the American education system is constantly under scrutiny by political leaders, educators, students, and parents. However, there are also underlying factors of racism that still persist in America that are present in schools and affect the foundation of education programs. I’d like to hone in on African American education in rural areas as well as inner city schools where the heaviest racism is present. I will examine the history of Black education in the twentieth-century and compare it to where it stands in the twenty-first century. Especially over the past sixty years there were major changes in education, starting with the Civil Rights Movement. I will also evaluate programs that were designed to encourage minority education and note whether or not they succeed in providing equal opportunities for black students. I also want to examine the correlation between black education and crime rates because education often leads to avoiding dangerous situations.

• Value: Education and success have a strong correlation; however, not all Americans have access to proper resources that aid learning and support for continuing to higher education. W.E.B. Du Bois claimed that education of the black community by black educators would lead to the best success for African Americans. In America today there has been a push for more integrated school systems; however, this is what Du Bois argued against. Does separating students make for deeper race divides or do the benefits of the learning process outweigh other possible consequences? Would African American parents actually agree to sending their children to schools designated for race specific learning? Does that go against all the efforts that were made throughout the past century to conquer racism?

• Originality: The gap in education from whites and blacks has been noted for years and many people blame the gap on differences in social classes. Edward Bell, author of journal article “Educating African American Males,” found that African American students place a heavy focus on their appearance rather than obtaining self discipline. Bell argued that school systems need to help students develop social skills, which can further help them down the road. The argument that it is important to help them develop practical skills relates to the journal article, “60 Years after Brown v. Board of Education: The Impact of the Congressional Black Caucus on the Education of Black People in the United States of America” written by Ivory Toldson. Toldson argued that the most important thing is to make academic resources available to all students in order to aid learning. He also argued that by forcing integration to create a diversity does not ensure educational equality. Another source that I will use in my paper is the book Educating a Diverse Nation by Clifton Conrad because he worked directly with African American students from universities and programs.

• Practicality: I believe that I have enough information to support my claims. I would like to find more books on the subject but there is a good amount of articles that are good resources. I also think that I should try looking into videos or documentaries because having someone explain the complicated topic will help present new ideas and questions. I will use several primary sources and I will also use some secondary sources from the Dickinson online database. Photos can be found through google.

Bell, Edward E. “Educating African American Males.” Online Submission (2010): 1-22.

Conrad, Clifton. Educating a Diverse Nation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2015.

Toldson, Ivory A. “60 Years after Brown v. Board of Education: The Impact of the Congressional Black Caucus on the Education of Black People in the United States of America (Editor’s Commentary).” Journal Of Negro Education 83, no. 3 (2014): 194-198.

The performance of Howard Zinn’s play, Marx in Soho, portrayed the issues of the nineteenth-century in the context of modern day to highlight the underlying problems that still prevent society from advancing. The actor of Karl Marx, Bob Weick, targeted the audience of primarily college students and college professors by focusing on problems that are ordinarily either overlooked or simply ignored by ignorance. In doing so, this motivated the audience to think about social and economic issues while watching the performance, which created an even greater desire to evaluate and promote further change. Marx offered the solution of analyzing the root of the problem instead of blindly acting on fallacies, which was performed through passionate acting by changing the pitch and speed of his voice to adjust the mood of the theater. Bob Weick specifically captivated the audience through comical and relatable acting techniques in order to inspire the radical ideas of Karl Marx, which in turn prompted younger generations to take measures to instigate change in society.

Many of the same problems that Marx addressed still exist and are progressively worsening in America today, which is why the material is still relevant to the current system. Marx critiqued the capitalist society of the nineteenth-century, but Weick also incorporated the current election, confused political leaders, and large companies holding control over the “free markets” to show that the issues have evolved into newer forms. Weick specifically targeted Donald Trump and Walmart in order to single out giants that have influenced America, which would most likely be critiqued by Marx if he were alive today. Although one is not meant to leave the play enraged by these social figures, they are presented in order to get the audience to question these figures legitimate role in the economy. Thus, change is simply sparked by asking questions about modern figures, regardless of whether a revolution arises.