What is the Story?

By Richard Carson, PhD, Senior Editor

It was my delight for many years to teach introductory literature courses to first-year college students. An essential (and favorite) component of the curriculum was short and long fiction, and, for every selection we read, I basically asked one question: What is the story? Initial responses were quizzical looks at so basic a question followed by plot summaries. In time however, we discovered together that there were many stories because stories have many levels, and the challenge if not the joy was connecting with those levels.

I saw my job in those days as two-fold: to bring the text to the students and the students to the text. To do that was to bring about connections not only with plot, setting, and theme, but with cultures, history, other texts, authors' lives and, most importantly, students' lives. In a sense, I returned to that challenge recently when I was assigned the task of preparing a series of lesson plans on Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's classic novel Frankenstein: or, the New Prometheus. I had taught that novel several times, and I was excited to return to it because it had been one of those magical books that brought forth good work from even mediocre students, perhaps because it is a book that tells many stories.

To return to it now was to help teachers to help students connect with those stories. To that end, I developed objectives on basic structure, noting the three connected narratives of Walton, Victor, and the Creature. I created lessons that connected the novel to the life of the author, particularly noting her marriage to the radical Romantic poet and the role he played in the writing of the novel. I suggested ways for teachers to show how the novel connected to its culture in terms of the questions that it asked about the intersection between science, possibility, and responsibility. I proposed projects that connected the novel to our culture by exploring examples of film and theatre. And I outlined writing activities that connected the novel to students' own lives and questions, questions about discovery and category, looks and perception, innocence and guilt.

Both as editor and as English teacher, I have had one basic philosophy: We teach our specialized subjects to human beings. Teaching specialized subjects now involves addressing state and core standards, preparing students for college entrance and AP exams, and, fundamentally, providing background and training in a variety of disciplines and skills. But, the recipients of our efforts are, ultimately, human beings, young people with ideas, questions, needs and goals. We have much to give each other. We have so many stories to tell.