READING MARY SHELLEY'S FRANKENSTEIN

Last summer we all in 5scB read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and then we discussed it with our English teacher once we were back from our summer holidays. It was an interesting and thought-provoking read. Here are some of our reflections. 

ANGELICA'S BOOKS: THE TIME OF INDIFFERENCE

 

 

The Time of Indifference is a novel written by Alberto Moravia and published for the first time in 1929.

This book talks about the bourgeois Ardengo family. Mariagrazia Ardengo, a widow, has two children: Carla and Michele. Moreover, she has had a lover, Leo Merumeci, for 15 years.

ANGELICA'S BOOKS: THE DEATH OF IVAN ILYICH BY LEV TOLSTOY

 

The Death of Ivan Ilyich is a novel written by Lev Tolstoy and published in 1886.

This book starts with the death of Ivan Ilyich, a member of the appeals court. His colleagues, hearing of his death, do not show displeasure. Actually, everyone hopes to take his place.

Pëtr Ivanovich, one of the protagonist’s friends, proves to be insensitive to his death. Indeed, while he is taking part in Ivan’s funeral, he thinks about the card game he is missing.

ANGELICA'S BOOKS: TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

 

To Kill a Mockingbird is a bildungsroman and crime novel written by Harper Lee and published in 1960, which in the same year the Pulitzer Prize.

The protagonist and the narrator of this book is Jean Louise Finch, a child nicknamed Scout. She and her brother Jem, orphans of their mother, live in Maycomb (in Alabama) with a dark-skinned governess, Calpurnia, and their father, the lawyer Atticus Finch.  

ANGELICA'S BOOKS: THE LITTLE PRINCE

 

The Little Prince is a fable written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and published in 1943. The book starts with the meeting between an aviator, fallen onto the Sahara desert, and a child, the little prince of an asteroid called B-612.

ANGELICA'S BOOKS: FRANZ KAFKA, THE METAMORPHOSIS

 

 The Novel

The Metamorphosis is an allegorical novel by Franz Kafka, published in 1915.

The protagonist of this book, Gregor Samsa, is a travelling salesman. He lives with his sister Grete, his mother and his father, a very strict man (probably inspired by Kafka’s father).  

ANGELICA'S BOOKS: THE SORROWS OF YOUNG WERTHER

 

The Sorrows of Young Werther is an epistolary novel written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and published in 1774.

The protagonist is Werther, a bourgeois young man. He decides to move to Walheim to restore the inner balance he feels lost; here he feels connected to nature. Meanwhile, he sends letters to his friend Wilhelm.

ANGELICA'S BOOKS: AGNES GREY BY ANNE BRONTE

 

 

Agnes Grey is a novel published in 1847 and written by Anne Brontë, the younger sister of Charlotte and Emily Brontë.

Agnes Grey, the protagonist of Anne’s novel,  is a girl who has grown in a happy family, in contrast to the protagonists of Jane Eyre (by Charlotte Brontë)  and Wuthering Heights (by Emily Brontë), her sisters’ masterpieces. Her dad is a minister, while her mum is woman who has given up her prosperity for love.

ANGELICA'S BOOKS: WHITE NIGHTS BY FEDOR DOSTOEVSKIJ

 

 White nights is a short novel written by Fëdor Dostoevskij and published for the first time in 1848. This novel is set in Saint Petersburg during those summer days, when the sun sets after 22:00.

The story is told in first person. In this way, the reader lives the same turmoil and the same fears as the protagonist. In addition, the fact that the author does not describe physically the protagonist and does not say his name, ensure the reader can relate and identify with him better.

ANGELICA'S BOOKS: JANE EYRE BY CHARLOTTE BRONTE

Mia Wasikowska as Jane Eyre (2011)

 Jane Eyre is a book published in 1847 by Charlotte Brontë aka Currer Bell (she chose a male pseudonym to publish her books since it was considered improper for women). It is a Bildungsroman novel with Gothic elements. The original title was Jane Eyre: an autobiography. Actually, in the novel, there are many autobiographical elements and Jane Eyre’s life has some features in common with the author’s life.

ETHICAL ASPECTS OF THE SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS FROM THE CLASSICS TO PRESENT-DAY ISSUES

Nature is clearly rebelling. Natural disasters and cataclysms have been more and more frequent and their brutality has increased in recent years. We ourselves have certainly had a taste of frightening scenarios  noticing either too hot weather or rather stormy winds which inevitably have been haunting our lives.

The only certainty we have is that this impressive upheaval is due to an enormous industrial activity on the planet. Our world is characterised by a frenzy to make more and more money: at the same time, mankind has been increasingly producing rubbish, which has the worrying feature of being indestructible. 

Therefore, everyone can draw a precise conclusion and recognize capitalism as the reason of today’s issues: the majority of well-to-do people owns more than what they really need.

Most of us have bumped into Greta Thunberg's protest surfing the Net or watching the news. She's  a 16-year-old environmental activist who, despite her tender age, decided to commit herself to this massive issue. As she said in a recent speech, "On climate change, we have to acknowledge that we have failed”, since we have never treated the climate crisis as a real crisis. Unfortunately, these troubles exist  and are endangering our lives. 

If the economic system is responsible for our dangerous reality, we ought to start using our wealth and our advancemments in science and technology in order to find strategies to preserve life on Earth.