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a lesson in using
quotations
and paraphrases
Quotations are word-for-word
excerpts from a source. Smith 1
Sally Smith
Dr. Andrea Jones
ENGL 230-81
11 December 2009
Cattle and the Creature:
Frankenstein and the Livestock Breeding Experiments of the Eighteenth Century
In the sixty years leading up to the initial publication of Mary Shelley’s
Frankenstein in 1818, Britain was caught in a whirlwind of change. And though much
critical consideration has been given to the socio-political contexts of the novel’s inception
—including the nearby French Revolution and Romantic literature and political
philosophies—there is surprisingly little discussion on the effects of Britain’s Agricultural
Revolution on the thematic formation of the text. Though Britain was fast approaching
industrialization by 1818, recent changes in farming and animal husbandry had radically
altered the way Western Europeans ate and thought about eating. New discoveries in crop
and livestock propagation and management were quickly filling the bellies of hungry
urbanites. In the era of the primary events of Frankenstein—the end of the eighteenth
century—the new and unfamiliar ways of cultivating food were not going unquestioned,
but a rising cattle culture, visible in everything from popular art to the dinner table, was
taking hold and coming to define Britons as “barons of beef” (Ritvo).
Mary Shelley was not immune to the sweeping changes in Britain’s food supplies
and desires resulting from this revolution. Learning of Robert Bakewell, the famed
agriculturalist whose obsessively perfected breeds “would fatten the most readily, and be
the most valuable when fat” (Knight 12), Shelley and her husband Percy lamented the state
“would fatten the most readily and be the most valuable when fat” (Knight 12).
Paraphrases are ideas and concepts that you have summarized from
another’s work. Smith 1
Sally Smith
Dr. Andrea Jones
ENGL 230-81
11 December 2009
Cattle and the Creature:
Frankenstein and the Livestock Breeding Experiments of the Eighteenth Century
In the sixty years leading up to the initial publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in
1818, Britain was caught in a whirlwind of change. And though much critical consideration has
been given to the socio-political contexts of the novel’s inception—including the nearby French
Revolution and Romantic literature and political philosophies—there is surprisingly little
discussion on the effects of Britain’s Agricultural Revolution on the thematic formation of the
text. Though Britain was fast approaching industrialization by 1818, recent changes in farming
and animal husbandry had radically altered the way Western Europeans ate and thought about
eating. New discoveries in crop and livestock propagation and management were quickly filling
the bellies of hungry urbanites. In the era of the primary events of Frankenstein—the end of the
eighteenth century—the new and unfamiliar ways of cultivating food were not going
unquestioned, but a rising cattle culture, visible in everything from popular art to the dinner
table, was taking hold and coming to define Britons as “barons of beef” (Ritvo).
Mary Shelley was not immune to the sweeping changes in Britain’s food supplies and
desires resulting from this revolution. Learning of Robert Bakewell, the famed agriculturalist
whose obsessively perfected breeds grew quickly and were expensive (Knight 12), Shelley and
her husband Percy lamented the state of Britons’ diets, which were primarily meat protein-
whose obsessively perfected breeds grew quickly and were expensive (Knight 12).
Changing one word is not paraphrasing.
Quote and paraphrase discussions by people who are
experts in the field that you’re writing about or who offer an interesting insight into the
topic at hand.
-writer/critic/publisher-historian-agriculture enthusiast
Quoting and paraphrasing
sources that agree with you shows your reader
that your opinion is supported.
Quoting and paraphrasing
sources that disagree with
you shows your reader that you’re fair-minded.
While Edgar Lane finds this move in Shelley’s work to be “unlike the beliefs she espouses elsewhere” (93), this moment appears to fit perfectly with her interest in the ways that animals are used and abused in the Western world.
As Anne Helton makes clear in her work on the Shelleys and nineteenth-century vegetarian circles, one way to understand Frankenstein is by “situating it in the canon of literature concerned with animal welfare” (7).
While Edgar Lane finds this move in Shelley’s work to be “unlike the beliefs she espouses elsewhere” (93), this moment appears to fit perfectly with her interest in the ways that animals were used at that time in the Western world.
S K I L L S♦C H E C K Paraphrase the following quotation:
“The novel is successful in the way that it consistently allows for multiple
interpretations and viewpoints, but it fails to truly work with any single political system.”
Quotes and paraphrases can provide evidence.
Elsewhere, Shelley discusses her desire for Britons to understand animals as something more than food. Historian
Eleanor Kraft points to a series of letters in which Shelley “explains the intense need for the nation to openly
discuss its food politics” (384).
I.) Shelley expresses a desire for change.
a.) This can be seen in a series
of letters (Kraft).
While many critics believe that Shelley was simply riding the political coattails of her husband Percy, James Alistair writes
of “an increasing amount of female activists in the early 1800s” and reads Frankenstein as a feminist text (102).
Quotes and paraphrases can also move your argument along.
I.) Many critics believe that Shelley was copying her husband.
a.) But we can see that there
were many female activists in her era (Alistair).
Quotations cannot stand alone. To use them effectively, you must provide a frame.
“Quote.”
Introduce the author and/or the context for the quote.
Explain the quote’s significance.
1.
2.
3. Or you can call this a quote sandwich!
“the best machine for converting herbage into money” (38).
As Bakewell famously asserted, livestock were seen as
This outlook quickly expanded the notion of “farmer” to include the wealthy patrons of farms.
1.
2.
3.
For example:
Signal verbs can make your writing more interesting.
Lane says Meenach’s argument, citing an “impassioned though terse” diary entry from May 1817 (229).
argueassertbelieve
emphasizeinsist
observeremind us
reportsuggest
EXPRESSING AGREEMENT
acknowledgeadmireagree
endorsepraise
corroboratereaffirmsupportverify
EXPRESSING DISAGREEME
NT
complaincomplicatecontradict
denyqualify
questionrefutereject
renounce
MAKING A CLAIM
refutes
“the novel is vegetarian, to say the least, an enticing journey through animal politics” (47).
S K I L L S♦C H E C K Using the information provided, frame the following quotation:
argueassertbelieve
emphasizeinsist
observereport
suggests
acknowledgeadmireagree
endorsepraise
reaffirmsupportverify
complaincomplicatecontradict
denyqualify
questionrefutereject
“[The novel] fails to truly work with any single political system.”
Author: Sarah MullinsPosition: Literary criticPage: 831
You should find a balance between your own writing and your use of paraphrases and quotations.