ABSTRACT

Suddenly you remember why you decided to become an English teacher. You remind yourself that it doesn’t matter whether or not 16-year-olds say they “like” a book. What matters is that they read Frankenstein and consider what can happen when pride and ambition cloud a scientist’s judgment. The complex novel invites students to consider the life of someone other than themselves in circumstances very different from their own. Shelley allows readers to stand with Victor Frankenstein in his laboratory and shudder at the being he created. As they read, students experience what S.I. Hayakawa described as living “more than one life.” It is important for teachers to help future bioengineers and geneticists ponder the products of their research. The students before us are likely to be faced with moral dilemmas no science text alone can prepare them for. Literature can be a vehicle for such thinking, and that is why being an English teacher is one of the most important jobs on earth. I don’t believe there is much chance of preserving a civilized society without the kind of human understanding that rich literature offers.