The Spark of Curiosity: Victor Frankenstein's Fascination with Electricity and Galvanism

You've been assigned a narrative writing project about Victor's interest in science. Which of the following would be a good topic to explore based on information in the excerpt?

By Mary Shelley

Victor Frankenstein continues recounting the influences that lead to his great experiment:

An accident again changed the current of my ideas. When I was about fifteen years old we had retired to our house near Belrive, when we witnessed a most violent and terrible thunderstorm. It advanced from behind the mountains of Jura, and the thunder burst at once with frightful loudness from various quarters of the heavens. I remained, while the storm lasted, watching its progress with curiosity and delight. As I stood at the door, on a sudden I beheld a stream of fire issue from an old and beautiful oak which stood about twenty yards from our house; and so soon as the dazzling light vanished, the oak had disappeared, and nothing remained but a blasted stump. When we visited it the next morning, we found the tree shattered in a singular manner. It was not splintered by the shock, but entirely reduced to thin ribbons of wood. I never beheld anything so utterly destroyed.

Before this I was not unacquainted with the more obvious laws of electricity. On this occasion a man of great research in natural philosophy was with us, and excited by this catastrophe, he entered on the explanation of a theory which he had formed on the subject of electricity and galvanism, which was at once new and astonishing to me. All that he said threw greatly into the shade Cornelius Agrippa, Albertus Magnus, and Paracelsus, the lords of my imagination; but by some fatality the overthrow of these men disinclined me to pursue my accustomed studies. It seemed to me as if nothing would or could ever be known. All that had so long engaged my attention suddenly grew despicable. By one of those caprices of the mind which we are perhaps most subject to in early youth, I at once gave up my former occupations, set down natural history and all its progeny as a deformed and abortive creation, and entertained the greatest disdain for a would-be science which could never even step within the threshold of real knowledge. In this mood of mind I betook myself to the mathematics and the branches of study appertaining to that science as being built upon secure foundations, and so worthy of my consideration.

Parenting practices Family vacations Academic options Texts mentioned, Final answer:

The good topic to explore based on the information in the excerpt is the subject of Electricity and Galvanism.

Explanation:

The good topic to explore based on the information in the excerpt is the subject of Electricity and Galvanism. In the excerpt, Victor Frankenstein witnesses a violent thunderstorm and a subsequent mysterious electric phenomenon involving an old oak tree. This event leads to his interest and exploration of electricity, which ultimately leads to his experiments in creating life. This topic would provide a rich and intriguing narrative for the writing project. You could review his initial fascination with natural history, how the storm and the man's explanation of his theory drastically changed his pursuits, and the long-term implications of this newfound interest.