Frankenstein Reading

Please read pages 1 to 18 in Frankenstein.
Wednesday: read to 39.
Thursday: read to 63
Friday and over break: read to 127.

Please be sure to do the reading.  Do not rely on cheating websites such as Sparknotes.  You could be quizzed on your reading at any time.

If you leave your text at home, here are some ebook versions of the novel.  Note that the page numbers will not be the same:

The electronic classics edition

The Pennsylvania Electronic Edition.  This is a spectacular resource for scholars of the novel.

Wise Words from Pound

Please read page 17 and the first paragraph on 18 in Ezra Pound's ABC of Reading.

Pound's later life and career took an unfortunate turn.  However, his early words on literature are still valuable.

List of Traditional Symbols

AT ONE POINT IN TIME, THE FOLLOWING LIST WAS AVAILABLE ONLINE.  I CAN NO LONGER FIND IT, SO I HAVE REPRODUCED IT BELOW.

Osaka International School's

English Department Educational Links

Traditional Symbols

ARCHETYPICAL (TRADITIONAL) SYMBOLS
SEASONS

• spring - birth, newness, youth, innocence, children , beginning of the quest or journey, rebirth, first date, thawing, exuberance, cruelty
• summer - mating, loss of innocence, fertility, vitality, abundance, knowledge, passion, testing (trials), marriage, utopia
• autumn - parenting, fulfillment, harvest, fruition, power, start of aging, evil, blocking figures, yearning for golden age, reality, defeat, ghosts
• winter - old age, wisdom, death, emptiness, sterility, religious mystery, expectations, metamorphosis, end of the quest, defeat, imprisonment, and retribution

TIME OF DAY

• dawn - birth, enlightenment, hope, rebirth, new ideas, opportunities, comprehension
• morning - youth, optimism, energy, hope, success,
• noon - climax, peak of passion, energy or activity, turning point, brief pause
• afternoon maturity, vigor, work, time running out, completion, loss of power,
• sunset - mortal glory
• twilight - death, mystery, departure, aging, ignorance, evil, deception
• night - death, the underworld, unconscious, fear, loss, sleep,
• midnight - last chance, peak of evil or mystery

DIRECTIONS

• up - - intellectual, spirit, male, hopeful, pride, challenge, readiness, purposeful, dominance
• down - physical, chthonic, carnal, female, depression, mystery, loss, humility, subservience
• east - origins, mystery, change, religion
• west - adventure, the journey or quest, death
• north - wildness, purity, sterility, retribution, cold, spirit
• south - freedom, betrayal, heat, passion, sensuality

COLORS

• white - purity, sterility, death, innocence, sickness, awareness
• black - sorrow, death, evil, power, mystery, night, perversion, strength, religion, gray - mediocrity, depression, concealment, change, age, hidden wisdom
• red - - passion, sexuality, anger, maturity, danger, blood, courage
• green - fertility, jealousy, youth, nature, the alien
• yellow - sickness, weakness, fantasyblue - truth, calm, deep thought, quiet, sadness, honor, loyalty
• purple - royalty, wealth, gayness, power, deep passion
• pink - children, girls, health, puberty
• gold - male power, kings, wealth, fathers, the sun, intellect, consciousness
• silver - female power, queens, wealth, witches, the moon, mystery, magic, unconsciousness
• motley - madness, fooling, gaiety, cleverness, slyness, disloyalty

FOOD

• egg - womb, source of life, potential
• broken egg - irrevocable mistake, ruined opportunity
• mushrooms sacred food, god's phallus (Dionysus), mystery of male sex, visions, prophecy
• wine - blood, spirit, life
• bread - body, spiritual nourishment, purity

WEATHER & THE HEAVENS

• sun - summer, reason, light, male power, success, intellect, heat, life, understanding, sterility
• eclipse - evil portent, death & rebirth, loss of power, diminishment
• moon - night, female power, cycles of nature, mystery, imagination, magic, female cycles, madness
• full moon &endash; madness, passion, were-creatures
• crescent moon &endash; Diana, cradle, potentiality, youth
• new moon &endash; virginity, birth, possibilities
• stars - children, idealism, immutable law of universe,
• star of David or six sided star - union of sun & moon or male & female principles
• star and crescent - Greek goddess Diana, purity, Islam, sovereignty, truth, enlightenment
• comets & (meteors) - messengers, portents, omens, lost souls
• wind - inspiration, power, ghosts, messages
• cloud - the sacred, freedom, carelessness, emptiness, mystery, illusions, fate
• storm clouds - hostility, war, approaching doom, conflict
• rain - rebirth, renewal, washing clean, gloom, life, male fertility
• storm - war, discord, pestilence, great emotional conflict
• thunder and lightning - warning, approaching disaster, the gods' anger, insight, bravado
• snow - purity, death, sterility, tranquility, magic
• snow flake - individuality, coldness, fragility, beauty, impermanence
• fog - mystery, uncertainty, concealment, ghosts, confusion, magic
• sky (air) freedom, home of male gods, heaven, goals, sterility, thought, speed, spirit
• water - change, origins, unconscious, emotion, life, mystery, mutability, the flow of life
• salt water - tears, regret, sadness, amniotic fluid, sterility

CREATURES (natural)

• horse - masculinity, tamed (or untamed) male power, god's fertility
• bull - same as horse + violence, desire, and horns
• stag - same as horse and bull + competition for females, sacrifice of male for food and fertility, female infidelity (horns)
• bee - industriousness, citizenship, communism, sudden death, matriarchal social structure
• insects - alien cultures, souls, madness, worthlessness, death, rot
• birds - freedom, nesting, female nurturing, hunting, courage or cowardice
• rat (mouse) secrets, childhood, horror, hair, sex
• cats - litheness, contained strength, femaleness, enigma, occult, mediums, reincarnation, courage, individuality, mockery
• fox - cleverness, wealth, slyness, deception, quickness, fertility
• reptiles - instincts, heartlessness, cruelty, evil, horror, deceit, coldness, primitive beings or ideas, aliens, temptation
• snake - male fertility, mysteries, evil, temptation, regeneration, rebirth, danger, medicine
• salamander - coldness, logic, lost souls
• fire salamander - righteousness, resistance to temptation
• lion - patriarch, kingly power, sun, courage, laziness
• bears - mother, nurturing, protection of home, brute strength, overbearing mother
• spiders - male sacrifice, mothers, creative force, souls, construction, many paths, confusion, mandala
• octopus - spiders + dark mystery, primitive god (creator)
• ram - male sexual aggression, high ideals, distant beauty
• ram's horn sacrifice, call to duty, cuckoldry, phallus
• beetle - new life, protection, fertility
• scarab - above plus agriculture, perseverance

CREATURES (mythical)

• dragon - four elements in harmony, underlying unity of male/female power, wealth, great wisdom, long life, great fortune, the emperor, power of the land, evil, dark power, magic, sorcery
• unicorn - innocence, puberty, female or male power (tamed or untamed), magic, purity, incorruptibility, gentleness, goodwill, wisdom, immortality, self knowledge, wilderness, magic, druids, mythical royalty
• unicorn horn - antidote to poison, protection against evil magic
• centaur - intellect and instinct, male sexual prowess, teaching, beast in man
• hydra (naga) - obstructions, distractions, danger
• Minter - baser instincts, hidden sins, danger from the unconscious
• mermaid - fertility of the sea, temptations, anima
• siren - temptation of the wild life, seduction, loss of purpose
• basilisk - death
• phoenix - rebirth, resurrection, immortality, power of passion, catharsis
• garuda - nobility, sun, life force, protection
• sphinx - wisdom, enigma, fate, testing, paradox
• harpy - sudden death, disaster, female rage or aggression
• griffin - vigilance, vengeance, wisdom, flights of fancy
• Pegasus - speed, bravery, innate power, transformation

FLORA

• trees - organic principle, cycle of life, family history, ancient powers, nature's secret, protection, knowledge of fertility & sex, life force
• bonsai tree - mastery of man over nature, immortality, self discipline
• flowers - female reproduction, love, life cycle, temptation, forgetfulness
• red rose - passion, sexuality, marriage
• white rose - innocence, puberty, courtship
• yellow rose - racial mix,
• sunflower - worship of life source, health
• violet - shyness, delicacy, old love
• marigold - misdirection of life, forgetfulness
• lotus - purity, Buddhahood, creation
• flower buds - puberty (esp. female), innocence, readiness, vulnerability
• roots - sources, origins, stability, history
• blossoms - fertility, romance
• fruit - the womb (esp. pregnant), fulfillment, children, knowledge, life
• falling leaves - human death, war, end of love
• grass - human life, passiveness, domestication, peace
• seed - universal "om", source, womb, potential

HERBS

• bitter herb - slavery, mistreatment, injustice
• bay &endash; heroism, strength of life force
• bay tree - immortality, victory, longevity
• mandrake &endash; magic, poison, aphrodisiac
• rosemary &endash; memories
• sage &endash; white sorcery, healing power

THE BODY

• hair - physical prowess & power, sexuality, identity, maturity
• forehead intelligence, knowledge of god (3rd eye), male creation
• eyes - consciousness, vision, mirrors of soul, life
• lips - enticement, gates of truth, sexuality
• hands and arms - strength, manipulation, ability, expression, emphasis, protection
• open hand - honesty, peaceful intentions, 5 pillars of Islam, lack of concealment
• closed hand (fist) - aggression, dishonesty, concealment, power
• breasts - compassion, nurturing, femaleness, consolation, emotion, mothering, planets
• heart - love, courage, desire, center
• genitals aggression, propagation, potency, identity, fertility, duality, nature
• spleen - humors, bad temper, melancholy
• legs and feet - locomotion, reliability, roots
• footprint - Buddhahood, impermanence of man's life, effect of man on the world
• blood - life, death, passion, maturity, violence, family ties, sacrifice, honor
• obesity - abundance, indulgence, greed

LAND and SEA

• earth - mother, female forces of creation, home, fertility, evil, materialism, stability, sensuality,
• sky - male gods and forces of creation, heaven, male power, freedom, enlightenment
• water - life source
• ocean - origins, eternity, the ungovernable (chaos), deepest instincts, source of life, renewal, impossible quests, separation
• rivers and streams - course of life, cleansing, point of no return, sources of life, history
• river delta - soul, merging with the absolute, spiritual nourishment
• waterfall - the feminine, promise, nourishment, safe haven, magic
• springs and pools - wombs, rebirth, renewal, magic, communion, mysterious energy, unconsciousness, source
• still water - mystery, the soul, source of inner life, prophecy
• swirling water - chaos, illusion
• mountain - obstacle, goal, task, mystical revelation, home of gods, patriarchs, spirit, vision
• volcano - sacred mountain, fury of gods, retribution, place of sacrifice
• desert - sterility, impotence, visions, cleansing by fire, spiritual cleansing, denial, peace, contemplation, abandonment, banishment
• forest - nature, chaos, freedom from rules, fecundity, wilderness, home of the beast, seclusion
• dark woods confusion, loneliness, abandonment, danger, evil, uncontrolled instincts, primitive
• rain forest - danger, enchantment, the unconscious, seclusion, mystery, abundance, home of the mythical beast
• caverns and caves - wombs, female sexuality, secrets, lust, mystery, entrance to underworld, protection, devouring, den of monsters
• cliffs - crucial situations, existentialism, danger
• rocks & stones - the land, bones of earth, solidity, eternal life, strength, magic power of healing
• well - female sexuality, refreshment, abundance, womb, magic, fulfillment of wishes
• garden - home of innocence, paradise, everlasting life, man's control of fertility, illusion, magic, art, enlightenment, place of delights and pleasures

MAN'S EXTENSIONS

• transportation -
• automobiles - ourselves, our families, faith; whatever is moving us through life
• trains & busses - society, the "system", the culture
• boats & ships - spiritual journeys, salvation, the microcosm, life (or death) journey
• airplanes - freedom, spiritual journey, inflated ego
• motorcycles wildness, sexual male power, danger, freedom
• roads & highways - life, our chosen path, society's rules
• bridges - connections, decisions, new beginnings, romances
• computers the mind, alien intelligence, technology, rationality, logic, coldness, sterility
• robots - slaves, man as machine, technology, logic, inhumanity (humanity), rampant propagation, the enemy
• dolls - children, little people, alternate egos, magic, motherhood, aging
• weapons - guns & rifles - penises, death, hatred, objects of magic power
• swords & spears - male power, romance, phallic symbols, magic, duty
• missiles & rockets male power, escape, gods, destruction
• bombs - destruction, eggs, failure, god's punishment
• timepieces - passage of life, approaching fate
• hourglass - time, the inevitable, approaching fate or disaster,
• clock - movement of the universe, rigidity, time's inevitable procession
• stopped clock - death, enlightenment
• compass - moral direction, Islamic qiblah (direction to Mecca), mandala
• tools -
• hammer (or mace) - force of god, breaking of desires, work
• chain - slavery, worldly illusion, interdependence of living things, desires, sins
• buildings -
• government building- authority, societies power
• church - creation, glory, spirit
• house - physical or spiritual body (windows = eyes, door = mouth, etc)
• basement - self, past or unconscious
• ground floor - present or consciousness
• attic - future or conscience
• hospital - death, sterility, mothering
• tower - male power, wizardry, phallic symbols
• skyscraper great ego, finance, danger
• school - society, rebellion, knowledge
• dome on a building - arc of heaven, protection
• inner room (chamber) - womb, inner life, secret, tomb
• jewelry - rings - female power objects, cycles of nature, inheritance, royalty, marriage
• necklaces - slavery, wealth, subservience
• bracelets - see rings, also slavery, strength
• brooches - ancestors, inheritance
• clasps - bonds, secrets shared, secret relationships
• Utensils -
• cups & goblets - the mother or wife, female fertility, sharing,
• the grail - holiness, the duty of the king, forgiveness, Christian sacrifice and values, a promise, spirituality, Christ's love
• silverware - treasures, culture, manners, ancestors
• fork - duplicity, danger
• spoon - measurement, caution, the moments of life
•  
• ICONS
• mandala (wheels) - archetypal symbol of the universal, cycle of life, dharma, chakras
• swastika - sun, wheel of birth & rebirth, cosmos, Vishnu, Nazism
• totem pole - ancestral tree, clan history or identity
• gateway (Torii)- entrance to spiritual path, marks a place of spirits (kami), irrevocable decision, beginning of enlightenment

ELEMENTS & MINERALS

• fire - power, spirit, passion, love, purification, heat, maleness, consuming, elemental energy, light, heat, sex, destruction
• earth - mother, warmth, nourishing, femaleness, womb, substance, materialism, fertility, stubbornness
• smoke - communication with gods, sacrifice, truth, sharing, prayer, promises, deception, mystery, the occult, warning
• coral - curative for problems associated with blood, protection from elements, especially water or fire
• gold - high value, perfection, wealth, the sun, the king, Apollo, Ra, light, fire, radiance, enlightenment, excellence, judgement, male power, yang
• silver - corruptibility, female power, the moon, the Queen, Diana, yin, chastity, eloquence
• copper - connection, warmth, femininity, status
• lead - weight, heaviness, material desire, cheapness, burdens, sin
• iron - power, durability, inflexibility, evil, strength, warfare
• rock - strength, solidity, a great sin, stubbornness, immovability
• crystal - purity, clarity, foresight, mystical power, health, magic, light of god
• amber - preservation, entrapment, the sun, Apollo, tears
• ivory - purity, male sexual prowess, moral strength, detachment, arrogance
• pearl - beauty, perfection, the feminine, the moon, seed, patience, chastity, wisdom, immortality, poison
• mother of pearl - fertility, birth, heaven
• jet - protection, antidote, death, mourning, lost love, soul
• lodestone - magnetism, sexual attraction, faithfulness, aphrodisiac
• gems & jewels - great value, supernatural power, luck and fate
• ruby - royalty, dignity, passion, power, invulnerability, protection
• diamond - invulnerability, coldness, wealth, incorruptibility, invincibility, purity, sincerity, hard truths, perfection, great value
• emerald - mental power, prophecy, antidote, protection, fertility, spring, rain, water, ocean, magic places
• sapphire - heaven, truth, chastity, meditation, faith, fate
• amethyst - humility, peace, faith, resignation, sobriety, wine, indulgence, cats
• topaz - curative power, good vision, the exotic
• opal - inconstancy, prayer, fidelity, zeal, bad luck, fragility
• agate - protection, courage, preservation, prosperity, constancy
• jade - purity, perfection, immortality, eternal love (see associations with colors)
• moonstone - good luck, prophecy, tenderness, female love, mystery
• bloodstone - magic, weather, peace, vows
• turquoise - protection, visions, courage, happiness
• lapis lazuli - heaven, curative power, vision, exotic power

Critical Approaches to Literature

I am adding a new link to the sidebar.  It will direct you to a page about different critical approaches to literature.  It is definitely worth a look.