Blending Art and Humanities to Create a Monster

Students in Mosie Choudhry’s 7th Grade Humanities class are grappling with some very big ideas. What is the purpose of knowledge? Who decides what is beautiful and what is monstrous? How is gender socially constructed? As a springboard for these discussions, Ms. Coudhry is following up on her students’ summer reading assignment–a graphic novel adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

“I think 7th Grade students are at a perfect age for rich discussion,” explained Ms. Choudhry. “They are so eager to grapple with the ideas and questions that occupy the minds of adults. For me it's such a treat. They are ready to face the complexities of the world and be intrigued by them.” 

The novel Frankenstein is a perfect vehicle to explore these big questions, as it takes scientific knowledge to the extreme and asks the reader to question the very nature of being and becoming. In the novel, Victor Frankenstein takes a godlike stance and creates a living being out of body parts. His monster escapes his control and begins a solitary journey of self-discovery causing him to question the motives behind how and why he came into being. Is he Adam in need of an Eve, or is he Satan, the personification of evil?

In keeping with the graphic novel approach, Ms. Choudhry linked arms with Upper School Art Teacher Brian Delacey to design a brand new project for her students. “I wanted the students to explore the monster’s demand for a mate. We talked about what that would look like visually,” explained Ms. Choudhry. Mr. Delacey added, “In presenting this project, we looked at art history references as well as contemporary images of ideals–from Botticelli to Lizzo. We considered the concept before rendering their ideas on paper.”

The students were required to draw a mate for the monster and mine the novel for five quotations supporting their drawing. They were also required to write a paragraph explaining their rationale for the gender, attire, relationship needs of the monster, and ethical implications for what would be, in their opinion, the best fit for the monster,” she explained.

Once the student drawings are complete, they will enter the second phase of transformation. The individual drawings will be chopped into quarters, redistributed, and reassembled into truly surreal creations. The idea is to explore the various ways authors portray partnership, matehood, and friendship not only in Frankenstein, but in other literature covered in the class, and to consider how and why striving for what’s “ideal” can backfire and lead to something monstrous.

As Ms. Choudhry related, “What is the use of education? What is the point of being able to read? In Frankenstein, we are reading about someone gaining self-knowledge and discovering desire through learning to read. Students make immediate connections to contemporary issues like access to early education being an avenue out of poverty. Literacy can be a form of power or a tool of oppression.”

Enjoy some of these students’ proposed monster-mates here. Tune in next week for a follow up album of their creations re-assembled into composites and stitched together into something even more monstrous!