Frankenstein pages vii-16 (42 pages)

In this reading I read: the introduction, the author's introduction, and the preface. This was a lot of information to take in at once, throughout these pages there was a lot of background information. I'm guessing this information will be important to know through the rest of my reading or else the author probably wouldn't have put this in the book.

The author, Mary Shelley, starts off saying that this novel was started during a vacation in the Swiss Alps. This just gives a little background on the writting of the novel and the setting of what the author was going through during the creation of this book. The actual book starts off with four letters sent from Robert Walton who is on a ship travelling to the north pole. The letters are written to his sister, Margaret Saville. The first letter states that Robert is on a mission to travel to the Pacific Ocean. In the second letter Robert shares his loneliness he feels on his ship. He reveals his "love for the marvellous" as he puts it, which shows his romantic side. The shortest of the four letters is the third letter; in this letter Walton tells his sister that he loves her genuinely and that he has full confidence in his trip ahead of him. In the last of the four letters the ship encounters large sheets of ice as they make their way through the ocean. They spotted a sledge guided by a large creature only a mile and a half away. The next day the men find out that the sledge was being pulled by dogs and led by a man. All but one of the dogs were dead, but the man was barely alive. The ship took care of the man and nursed him back to health, and eventually Robert and the man become friends. The man begins to tell Robert an interesting story.

Robert Walton seems like a very perplexing character to me. The fact that he wasn't as interested in the man at first as the other crew mates were makes me wonder about him. He seems like a layed back person yet at the same time seems very adventurous. Anyone who is willing to travel across the Pacific Ocean is pretty courageous and adenturous to me.