Mary Shelley’s parents were both writers and a. scientists b. politicians c. philosophers
Shelley got the idea for Frankenstein a. while visiting her mother’s grave b. while on vacation in Geneva c. while eloping with Percy Shelley
She began writing Frankenstein when she was a. sixteen b. eighteen c. twenty
Discussion/essay questions
In the past 200 years, Frankenstein has inspired plays, movies, and TV shows. Frankenstein’s monster has become an iconic character. Why do you think Frankenstein is such a long-lasting story?
Transcript
Mary Shelley was an English novelist. She is best known for her novel Frankenstein, which she began writing when she was eighteen years old. Shelley was born Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin in London in 1797. Her parents were both famous writers and radical philosophers during the French Revolution. Shelley’s mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, died less than two weeks after giving birth to her. Shelley had a chaotic childhood. She grew up with five step-siblings and half-siblings. When she was only sixteen, she eloped with the poet Percy Shelley. She had and lost her first child the next year. Shelley got the idea for Frankenstein on vacation in Geneva, when she was challenged to write a “ghost story.” She published it in 1818. Four years later, Percy drowned in a storm. She saved his heart and kept it in her desk drawer until her death in 1851. Shelley wrote seven novels in her life. Her work contains some of the earliest examples of science fiction.
Angelou was born in a. Arkansas b. Missouri c. Georgia
In 1969, Angelou a. took her first acting role b. published her first memoir c. wrote her first poems
In Egypt and Ghana, Angelou worked as a. a teacher b. a bookseller c. a journalist
Discussion/essay questions
I Know Where the Caged Bird Sings has been praised for its honesty about racism and sexual violence, but it has also been challenged and censored. Why do you think this is? What are the effects of censorship?
Transcript
Maya Angelou was an American writer and activist. She was born in Missouri in 1928, with the name Marguerite Johnson. When she was 3 years old, Angelou moved to Arkansas to live with her grandmother. During her childhood, trauma from a sexual assault caused her to stop speaking for several years. She would later describe her difficult childhood in her 1969 memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Angelou had many occupations throughout her life. Before she became famous as a writer, she acted in plays and performed songs at nightclubs. Angelou also contributed to the American civil rights movement, working with activists like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. She even worked as a journalist in Egypt and Ghana. Throughout her life, Angelou published seven memoirs and fourteen poetry collections. She died in 2014, at age 86.
Toni Morrison’s books are often banned even today. Why do you think people ban books?
Why is it so important to talk about censorship?
Transcript
Toni Morrison was an American author. She was born in 1931 in Lorain, Ohio, originally named Chloe Anthony Wofford. Morrison spent a lot of time around books throughout her life. She studied literature in university and later worked as a fiction editor at a publishing company. In 1970, Morrison published her first novel, The Bluest Eye. One of her later novels, Beloved, won multiple literary awards. Her stories often explored the traumatic experiences of Black Americans in an uncensored way. This made her writing very controversial. However, in 1993, Morrison won the Nobel Prize in Literature. She also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. Morrison died in 2019, at age 88.
People with disabilities still face many disadvantages in society. What are some of these disadvantages? What can people and governments do about them?
Transcript
Helen Keller was an American author and activist. She was born in 1880 in Tuscumbia, Alabama. When she was very young, Keller developed an illness that caused her to become deaf and blind. A teacher named Anne Sullivan taught her to communicate by signing on people’s hands. Keller later learned to read Braille at a school for blind children. As she got older, Keller started to write about her experiences. She also gave lectures to advocate for the rights of people with disabilities. Keller even helped found the American Civil Liberties Union, an organization meant to protect human rights in the United States. Throughout her life, Keller received many awards for her work. She died in 1968, at the age of 87.
Although Pride and Prejudice was published in 1813, the story contains themes that are still important today. Some people see the novel as one of the earliest examples of feminism in literature. What makes Elizabeth Bennet an empowering character for women?
Why do you think Jane Austen decided to publish this novel anonymously?
Transcript
Pride and Prejudice is a romantic novel written by English author Jane Austen. The novel was originally published anonymously in 1813. At the time, women were often expected to marry into wealthy families. The story’s protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet, is a young woman who feels pressured by her family to marry for money. When her sisters and friends are all starting to find husbands, Elizabeth meets a wealthy man named Mr. Darcy. Darcy is interested in Elizabeth, and asks her to marry him. At first, Elizabeth has no interest in his proposal. She believes Darcy is arrogant and selfish, and she refuses to marry someone she doesn’t love. Throughout the book, however, Darcy grows into a person that Elizabeth can respect, and Elizabeth realizes that she judged him too harshly when they first met. The story ends with the two of them happily married.