TODAY IN CLASS
Reason/path/effects of nature on VF as he undertakes the journey that will take him to the Orkneys and the creation/destruction of the Creature's prospective mate.  We did not trace through the details of the rest in class; it has been assumed all along that you've read, you've used the guiding questions as support, and you gave serious attention to the closing letters.

We turned to some in-class time to start on the homework, which is outlined below if you were absent.

Utilize the review you should be doing to come up with rich, insightful theme statements to review the kinds of detail the book contains that should be held in mind as much as possible in preparation for the in-class timed write on Monday.

Beyond that, as you prepare for the timed write on Monday, be sure to consider both VF and the Creature as potential "monsters"--who most deserves that term?  and of course why?? Conversely, consider each one as "victims"; again, for what reasons, and who most richly deserves that term?

FOR MONDAY
Continue work on the theme statements.  You will turn them in on Monday.
Basics:

• a complete sentence that makes a claim 
• "universal" (no explicit reference to a given work, characters, or plot)
• sufficiently insightful to capture a significant idea that IS in fact relevant to the work at hand (though again, not illustrated by explicit reference to a particular text).

Thin, superficial statements will not be valued highly, and though you won't be providing the development or "proof," someone who has read the work thoughtfully should be able to grasp what would have prompted your claim.  Certainly the theme statements you propose must reflect meanings and ideas found within the work, not something contradicted by the text itself.  (I saw/heard a couple of theme statements today that simply could not be supported by what Shelley wrote.)

If you were absent, you need to do the following on your own paper.  The categories are as follows: 

Nature, Knowledge, Education, Destiny, Justice, Friendship/Companionship (or its absence), Parents/Children (or surrogates), Science/Technology, plus an optional category labeled "Other."

Number/Distribution of Theme Statements

You must write at  least one well-developed and thoughtful thesis statement for every category; 2 theme statements for 4 categories; and 3 theme statements for one category.

You choose which categories get multiple theme statements.