A fair go, that’s novel!
Representation in different novels
This activity looks at representation in excerpts from the novels Frankenstein,
Hard Times and Animal Farm.
1.
Match the readings in the right hand column with the quotations in the left
hand column.
Quotation
Reading
…and here were men who had
penetrated deeper and knew more.
I took their word for all that they
averred, and I became their
disciple…My father was not
scientific, and I was left to struggle
with a child’s blindness, added to a
student’s thirst for knowledge…
but what glory would attend the
discovery, if I could banish disease
from the human frame, and render
man invulnerable to any but a
violent death.
This representation completely
excludes women. It sees them as
insignificant, having no status
whatsoever. It assumes that men
are the only people who make
decisions or statements, that they
are the only group in this community
who have power.
Mary Shelley
‘Ay, ay, ay! But you mustn’t fancy,’
cried the gentleman, quite elated
by coming so happily to his point.
‘That’s it! You are never to fancy…
‘You are to be in all things
regulated and governed,’ said the
gentleman, ‘by fact. We hope to
have, before long, a board of fact,
composed of commissioners of
fact, who will force the people to
be a people of fact, and of nothing
but fact. You must discard the
word Fancy altogether. You have
nothing to do with it.’
The version of science that is
presented in this excerpt is one in
which men have all of the power.
Scientific thinking is something that
is done by men, not women. The
benefits of science are also to be
conferred upon men as well.
Charles Dickens
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Quotation
Reading
Never listen when they tell you that
Man and the animals have a
common interest, that the
prosperity of the one is the
prosperity of the others. It is all
lies. Man serves the interests of no
creature except himself. And
among us animals let there be
perfect unity, perfect comradeship
in the struggle. All men are
enemies. All animals are
comrades.
This passage represents a
community in which logic and
reasoning has much more status
than the imagination. The version of
thinking that is presented is one
where it is more valuable to think of
things that are real and all else is to
be excluded.
George Orwell
2.
Complete the table below, describing how these groups of people, places
and ideas have been represented in each of the novel extracts. Include a
quote in your explanation.
Representation
of
Frankenstein
Hard Times
Animal Farm
Females
Males
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Representation
of
Frankenstein
Hard Times
Animal Farm
Science and
reasoning, the
idea that fact and
logical thinking
has a high status
in the community
Europe (the
setting for each
of these novels)
3.
Write a paragraph on each of the following questions:
a)
How is gender represented across these three novels?
b)
How was Europe represented in these three novels?
c)
Describe the representation of science and logical thinking in each of
these novels.
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© WestOne Services 2009 – ENGLISH1162