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1. Tess
2. Ginny
3. Monster **STRONGEST

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Consequently as we read, we gain “more empathy and understanding of other lives” through the act of "literally putting [ourselves] into another person's position - [into] lives that could be more difficult, more complex,” enabling us to realize that we cannot fully understand others without knowledge of their past.

By examining the Monster in Frankenstein, Tess in Tess of the d'Urbervilles, and Ginny in A Thousand Acres, one can begin to see how man's childhood experiences - specifically, those of psychological and physical abuse - influence and even somewhat justify his actions later in life

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-Tess's fear of rejection is first seen with her family when she goes to live with Alec in order to please parents and support family
-Tess's fear of rejection by Angel leads her to put off telling him the truth about Alec
-codependent on Angel (but people cannot be our saviors); she glorifies him
-leads her to struggle with her religious beliefs
-considers herself unworthy
-shows that you cannot escape past (pg 149)
-example of codependency (pg 172)
-so desperate, she even offers to kill herself
-never present (pg 219)
-escapes cycle through death

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"She feared the unknown" (Hardy 49).
"She who knew herself to be more impassioned in nature, cleverer, more beautiful than they, was in the eyes of propriety far less worthy of him than the homelier ones whom he ignored" (Hardy 118)
"I am not good enough - not worthy enough" (Hardy 139).
"Joined with nature in revolt against her scrupulousness. Reckless, inconsiderate acceptance of him; to close with him at the altar, revealing nothing and chancing discovery; to snatch ripe pleasure before the iron teeth of pain could have time to shut upon her - that was what love counseled; and in almost a terror of ecstasy Tess divined that despite her many months of lonely self-chastisment, wrestling communing, schemes to lead a future of austere isolation, love's counsel would prevail" (Hardy 142).
"She loved him so passionately, and he was so god-like in her eyes; and being, though untrained, instinctively refined, her nature cried for his tutelary guidance" (Hardy 145)
"She had not told. At the last moment her courage had failed her; she feared his blame for not telling him sooner; and her instinct of self-preservation was stronger than her candour" (Hardy 151)
"Her affection for him was now the breath and life of Tess's being" (Hardy 156)
"I'll always be ugly now because Angel is not here, and I have nobody to take care of me" (Hardy 225)
"And there was revived in her the wretched sentiment which had often come to her before, that in inhabiting the fleshy tabernacle with which Nature endowed her, she was somehow doing wrong" (Hardy 249)
"Angel, I live entirely for you" (Hardy 271)

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Tess's life in Tess of the D'Urbervilles can be characterized by a cycle fear of rejection and codependency, which she is only able to eventually escape through death.

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-Ginny's fear of rejection has turned her into a passive character, easily manipulated and taken advantage of
-this cycle began when she was young and the only time she receive recognition which is why she aims to please
-isn't able to live in the present because she's always concerned about future
-might have had different life
-easily loses sight of her convictions
-father is really cruel
-makes her suppress her memory until at one point it all comes back to her
-codependency
-can't deal with sex (pg 256)
-"Sins lead to other sins" (pg 260)
-physical/emotional trauma (pg 262)
-alienated from body
-symbolic break from codepedendent nature (pg 307)
pg 370!!

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"In spite of that inner clang, I tried to sound agreeable" (Smiley 19)
"If Rose had asked me, not what I had the most trouble with, but what my worst habit was, I would have said it was entertaining thoughts of disaster" (Smiley 65).
"It sounded good, but the fact was that I really didn't believe it myself. There was a way in which I could look at my life as an unending battle to make friends" (Smiley 86)
"She used to say, "Ginny won't stand up to him,' but if you're happy, then it's all worked out. I'll say one thing, and that is that you're a good girl, and unselfish, and you will be rewarded" (Smiley 92).
"That's a girl. Just a ways longer. Good girl. That's a good girl" (Smiley 106).
"This is something I do often, this phrasing and rephrasing of sentences in my mind, scaling back assertions and direct questions so that they do not offend, so that they can slip sideways into someone's consciousness without my having really asked them" (Smiley 115).
"My job remained what it had always been - to give him what he asked of me, and if he showed discontent, to try to find out what would please him" (Smiley 115).
"Maybe if we had conducted our lives differently in the past, had not been so accommodating, nor so malleable - how was it that everyone had left the land and we had stayed behind? How was it that I had not even thought of college, of trying something else, of moving to Des Moines or even Mason City?" (Smiley 147).
-finally uses voice on 148
"I hated to think about how people felt about us. It didn't matter what it was, disapproval, ridicule, even sympathy or fondness. I hated to think of them having any opinion at all" (Smiley 173)
"When my father asserted his point of view, mine vanished. Not even I could remember it" (Smiley 176).
"I curse you! You''ll never have children, Ginny, you haven't got a hope. And your children are going to laugh when you die!" (Smiley 183)
"I was somehow at his mercy, not because he had exerted power or claimed me, but because in spite of my shame I had exposed myself to him in every particular" (Smiley 196)
"My new life, yet another new life, had begun early in the day" (Smiley 229)

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In A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley, Harold’s continued abuse of his daughter Ginny dictates her behavior for much of her life.

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This genre prompts the reader to imagine the characters’ introspective dialogues. This psychological awareness carries over into the real world, which is full of complicated individuals whose inner lives are usually difficult to fathom. Although literary fiction tends to be more realistic than popular fiction, the characters disrupt reader expectations, undermining prejudices and stereotypes. They support and teach us values about social behavior, such as the importance of understanding those who are different from ourselves.

The results suggest that reading fiction is a valuable socializing influence. The study data couldinform debates over how much fiction should be included in educational curricula and whether reading programs should be implemented in prisons, where reading literary fiction might improve inmates’ social functioning and empathy. Castano also hopes the finding will encourage autistic people to engage in more literary fiction, in the hope it could improve their ability to empathize without the side effects of medication.

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How important is reading fiction in socializing school children? Researchers at The New School in New York City have found evidence that literary fiction improves a reader's capacity to understand what others are thinking and feeling.

Emanuele Castano, a social psychologist, along with PhD candidate David Kidd conducted five studies in which they divided a varying number of participants (ranging from 86 to 356) and gave them different reading assignments: excerpts from genre (or popular) fiction, literary fiction, nonfiction or nothing. After they finished the excerpts the participants took a test that measured their ability to infer and understand other people's thoughts and emotions. The researchers found, to their surprise, a significant difference between the literary- and genre-fiction readers.

When study participants read non-fiction or nothing, their results were unimpressive. When they read excerpts of genre fiction, such as Danielle Steel's The Sins of the Mother, their test results were dually insignificant. However, when they read literary fiction, such as The Round House by Louise Erdrich, their test results improved markedly-and, by implication, so did their capacity for empathy. The study was published October 4 in Science.

The results are consistent with what literary criticism has to say about the two genres-and indeed, this may be the first empirical evidence linking literary and psychological theories of fiction. Popular fiction tends to portray situations that are otherworldly and follow a formula to take readers on a roller-coaster ride of emotions and exciting experiences. Although the settings and situations are grand, the characters are internally consistent and predictable, which tends to affirm the reader's expectations of others. It stands to reason that popular fiction does not expand the capacity to empathize.

Literary fiction, by contrast, focuses more on the psychology of characters and their relationships. "Often those characters' minds are depicted vaguely, without many details, and we're forced to fill in the gaps to understand their intentions and motivations," Kidd says. This genre prompts the reader to imagine the characters' introspective dialogues. This psychological awareness carries over into the real world, which is full of complicated individuals whose inner lives are usually difficult to fathom. Although literary fiction tends to be more realistic than popular fiction, the characters disrupt reader expectations, undermining prejudices and stereotypes. They support and teach us values about social behavior, such as the importance of understanding those who are different from ourselves.

The results suggest that reading fiction is a valuable socializing influence. The study data couldinform debates over how much fiction should be included in educational curricula and whether reading programs should be implemented in prisons, where reading literary fiction might improve inmates' social functioning and empathy. Castano also hopes the finding will encourage autistic people to engage in more literary fiction, in the hope it could improve their ability to empathize without the side effects of medication.

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Novel Finding: Reading Literary Fiction Improves Empathy

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How important is reading fiction in socializing school children? Researchers at The New School in New York City have found evidence that literary fiction improves a reader's capacity to understand what others are thinking and feeling.

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-Do I want to do all four or choose between Brave New World and 1000 Acres
-Can I do 1000 Acres and not King Lear
-Should I be more specific in "man's greatest fear" --> change to previous experiences

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-texts:
1. King Lear / A Thousand Acres --> Ginny/Cordelia's actions are influenced by fathers' treatment
2. Frankenstein --> Frankenstein's actions are influenced by Victor's treatment
3. Tess of the d'Urbervilles --> Tess's actions are influenced by rape
4. Brave New World --> Bernard's actions are influenced by his peer's cruel treatment

idea of abuse leading to how characters later behave (even somewhat justifying their actions)
-analyze:
man's greatest fear and how that influences actions
"Reading sensitive and lengthy explorations of people's lives, ... literally putting yourself into another person's position - [into] lives that could be more difficult, more complex... can lead to more empathy and understanding of other lives."

-- fear of rejection and codependency go round in a cycle; passive characters until they somehow escape the cycle

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Chiaet, Julianne. "Novel Finding: Reading Literary Fiction Improves Empathy." Scientific American, Springer Nature America, 4 Oct. 2013.

Hardy, Thomas. Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Dover Thrift ed., Dover Publications, 2001.

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Dover Thrift ed., Dover Publications, 1994.

Smiley, Jane. A Thousand Acres. Anchor, 1991.

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-when he finally realizes he is a "monster," he is filled with anger and embarrassment (understands he has been rejected) --> results in his actions
-Reading makes him feel things; however, because he technically is not human he struggles to understand it since it is describing what it means to be human
-when he says he has it worse than Satan we feel bad for him

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"when I became fully convinced that I was in reality the monster that I am, I was filled with the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification. Alas! I did not yet entirely know the fatal effects of this miserable deformity" (Shelley 80).
"As I read, however, I applied much personally to my own feelings and condition. I found myself similar, yet at the same time strangely unlike to the beings concerning whom I read, and to whose conversation I was a listener. I sympathized with and partly understood them, but I was unformed in mind; I was dependent on none, and related to none" (Shelley 91).
"But I was wretched, helpless, and alone. Many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition, for often, like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter gall of envy rose within me" (Shelley 92).
"Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust? God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow-devels, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and abhorred" (Shelley 93).
"But where was mine? He had abandoned me, and in the bitterness of my heart I cursed him" (Shelley 94).
"I am full of fears, for if I fail there, I am an outcast in the world forever" (Shelley 95).
"From that moment I declared ever-lasting war against the species, and, more than all, against him who had formed me" (Shelley 97).
"Inflamed by pain, I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind" (Shelley 101).
"Am I to be thought the only criminal, when all human kind sinned against me?" (Shelley 165).

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The Monster in Frankenstein represents a quintessential example of how experiencing cruel treatment impacts future behaviors, as he is literally met with spurn the moment his eyes open.

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Through the lengthy exploration of the Monster in Frankenstein, Tess in Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Bernard in Brave New World, and Ginny in A Thousand Acres, one can begin to see how man's greatest fear - rejection, both emotionally and physically - influences his actions, consequently allowing the reader to develop a greater sense of empathy and understanding of other lives.