Frankenstein: Chapters 3-4

Summary

Storytime for Grownups
Host: Faith Moore
Episode: Frankenstein: Chapters 3-4
Date: September 15, 2025

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Main Theme and Purpose

This episode of "Storytime for Grownups" continues Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, covering chapters 3 and 4. Faith Moore reads and annotates the text, providing context and commentary to help listeners engage with classic literature. The main focus is Victor Frankenstein’s formative years, his descent into obsessive scientific inquiry, and the initial steps in creating his infamous creature—as well as the philosophical questions these raise about ambition, knowledge, and the importance of human connection.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Opening and Atmosphere (00:40–04:00)

• Faith welcomes listeners and paints a vivid, cozy scene: “I wish that we were all together in real life in one place...with the comfiest armchairs...afternoon tea, little sandwiches, scones, jam and clotted cream” (00:42).
• Purpose of the Podcast: To make classic literature accessible and enjoyable, providing listeners with the warmth of a book club experience even if they are alone.

2. Recap of Previous Episodes (04:03–06:59)

• Summary: The narrative has shifted to Victor Frankenstein, who recounts his happy childhood, adoption of Elizabeth, and early fascination with science and alchemy.
• Relevant Themes: Victor’s early exposure to love and family, the beginnings of his academic curiosity, and ominous foreshadowing of his fate.

3. Listener Comments: Hubris, Ambition, and Human Connection (05:12–22:20)

On Hubris and Ambition

• Listener "Havoc Jack" challenges Faith’s prior reading of Walton (the expedition captain) as hubristic.

• Faith clarifies:

  “Seeking glory simply for glory's sake is a problem because in doing that, you can often leave your morals behind...you might not stop to ask yourself whether the thing that you're doing ought to be done.” (08:09)

• Modern Relevance: Faith connects this to issues like artificial intelligence:

  “AI is a perfect example of something that can be used in a variety of ways. But should it, right?...There are things that can be done that shouldn't be done or that should be thought about first, at least.” (11:01)

On the Importance of Family and Backstory

• Listener "John" wonders why Shelley spends so much time on Victor’s family history.

• Faith’s Response:

  • Shelley’s detailed backstories are purposeful, contrasting “the idea of seeking fame and glory for the sake of fame and glory, right next to the idea of love and connection and human interaction.” (18:28)
  • Key quotation from Victor’s childhood:

    “With this deep consciousness of what they owed towards the being to which they had given life...I received a lesson of patience, of charity, and of self control.” (15:42)

• Shelley’s Motive: She values family connections, friendship, love, and the interdependence of human beings as a counterpoint to dangerous, isolated ambition.

4. Transition to the Text & Questions for Listeners (22:20–22:52)

• Faith actively encourages listeners to submit their interpretations and questions, fostering an interactive, communal experience.

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Detailed Annotations and Reading Highlights

Chapter 3: The First Tragedy and Heading to University (23:08–33:07)

• Death of Victor’s Mother:

  • On her deathbed, she expresses her hope that Victor and Elizabeth will marry:

    “My children...my firmest hopes of future happiness were placed on the prospect of your union.” (24:06)

• Victor’s Grief:

  • Shelley explores universal sorrow:

    “[Victor] I need not describe the feelings of those whose dearest ties are rent by that most irreparable evil, the void that presents itself to the soul and the despair...” (25:01)

• Victor Leaves for Ingolstadt:

  • The tension between desire for knowledge and duty to family:

    “I loved my brothers Elizabeth and Clerval...but I believed myself totally unfitted for the company of strangers.” (27:26)

• First Encounter with Professors Krempe and Waldman:

  • Krempe dismisses Victor’s earlier studies as “such nonsense” and “a thousand years old and as musty as they are ancient” (31:30).
  • Waldman inspires Victor, respecting the efforts of past alchemists:

    “The labors of men of genius, however erroneously directed, scarcely ever fail in ultimately turning to the solid advantage of mankind.” (33:13)

Chapter 4: Obsession and Isolation (36:00–~60:00)

• Victor’s Devotion:

  • The thrill and danger of scientific pursuit:

    “None but those who have experienced them can conceive of the enticements of science...there is continual food for discovery and wonder.” (36:42)

  • Victor’s ardor isolates him from loved ones and life’s pleasures:

    “My cheek had grown pale with study, and my person had become emaciated with confinement.” (52:12) “The summer months passed...But my eyes were insensible to the charms of nature.” (54:31)

• Key Discovery:

  • Victor finds the secret of life:

    “I succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life; nay, more, I became myself capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter.” (48:44)

  • He refuses to reveal the secret:

    “Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge...” (49:53)

  • On the project’s magnitude:

    “It was with these feelings that I began the creation of a human being...to make the being of gigantic stature, that is to say, about 8 feet in height...” (51:21)

• Foreshadowing and Warnings:

  • Victor’s father’s warning about neglect:

    “‘Any interruption in your correspondence...as a proof that your other duties are equally neglected.’ I knew well...what would be my father's feelings. But I could not tear my thoughts from my employment...” (56:35)

  • Victor’s retrospective moralization:

    “A human being in perfection ought always to preserve a calm and peaceful mind...If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections...that study is certainly unlawful, that is to say, not befitting the human mind.” (58:10)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Ambition and Restraint

• “Seeking glory simply for glory's sake is a problem... you might not stop to ask yourself whether the thing that you're doing ought to be done.” — Faith Moore (08:09)
• “Learn from me…how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow.” — Victor Frankenstein (49:53)

On Human Connection

• “The people he loves...are specifically not interested in science. They are interested in art, nature... these things that connect us to one another.” — Faith Moore (20:22)

On Science and Progress

• “The modern masters promise very little... but these philosophers…have indeed performed miracles. They penetrate into the recesses of nature and show how she works in her hiding places.” — Mr. Waldman (33:13)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Introduction & Cozy Atmosphere: 00:40–04:00
• Recap: 04:03–06:59
• Listener Comments & Themes of Ambition and Connection: 06:59–22:20
• Setup for Reading & Call for Listener Participation: 22:20–22:52
• Death of Victor’s Mother: 23:08–25:01
• Discussion of Victor’s Academic Encounters: 31:30–33:13
• Victor’s Discovery and Warning: 48:44–49:53
• Victor’s Isolation and Warning about Knowledge: 52:12–58:10

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Conclusion and Next Steps

Faith closes by encouraging listener participation and reflection:

“I'd love to know what you thought of the chapters...is there anything you'd like me to clarify?” (59:50)

The episode leaves listeners poised for the next installment—Victor is on the brink of animating his creation, and Faith has laid deep thematic groundwork about the dangers of unchecked ambition versus the warmth and necessity of human connection.

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Tone and Style

Warm, encouraging, and insightful, with a strong focus on cultivating a sense of community—emphasizing the importance not only of classic literature, but of experiencing it together. Faith’s commentary is gentle yet thought-provoking, designed to help listeners deepen their understanding and personal connection to Frankenstein and its timeless questions.

Transcript

[A]

Hello and welcome to Storytime for Grown Ups. I'm Faith Moore and this season we're reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Each episode I'll read a few chapters from the book, pausing from time to time to give brief explanations so it's easier to follow along. It's like an audiobook with built in notes. So brew a pot of tea, find a cozy chair and settle in. It's story time.

[B]

Hi, everyone. Welcome back to Storytime for Grown Ups. How are you doing? I hope that you're doing okay. I'm really, really glad to be here with you. I. I wish that we were all together in real life in one place. It would be a place with a roaring fire. It would be a place with the comfiest armchairs that you could ever imagine. There would be tea, not just tea, but afternoon tea, with little sandwiches and scones, jam and clotted cream and little tarts and pastries and things, tiny ones, though, on beautiful tea trays. And the tea would be in a giant teapot, big enough for all of us, but delicate and made of china and floral with floral designs on it. And I would pour you each your own cup of tea in a real teacup and saucer, but the teacup wouldn't match the saucer. They'd all be mismatched. And outside it would be dark. And inside the fire would be lighting up the room with a kind of rosy glow. And maybe there are gas lamps instead of electric lights. And we're just ensconced together in the glow of the light and we're sipping tea together and. And we're reading and we're talking about what we read. And that is just the most beautiful thing. I wish it was real, but this is the closest that we can get to all being together right now. And I hope that there are people that you are together with who also can talk to you about books and maybe who can drink tea with you. And maybe there's even a fire in a fireplace somewhere for you. But if that's not true, if none of those things are possible, then imagine that you are in that room with me right now. I hope that we can all imagine that we are together in that room with the fireplace and the tea things, getting ready to discuss this book, Frankenstein. And so whatever is going on for you, wherever you are, whatever is happening, I hope that this place can be a place that feels welcoming, that feels cozy, that feels good. And I really do believe that that reading the books of the past together is a powerful and a beautiful thing. So thank you for being here to do this powerful, beautiful thing with me. And thank you for being a part of this. So we're reading Frankenstein. Last time we read chapters one and two, and today we're going to be reading chapters three and four. So I'm going to do a recap so that we can remember what we read. Then I have two questions or comments that I'd like to read so that we can sit around in our lovely drawing room for a little while and chat. And then we will get out our book and we will read together. So join me now in our cozy fire lit room, have a cup of tea. Here's the recap.

[A]

So where we left off, the strange man that Walton has taken onto his ship is now our narrator.

[B]

So his name is Victor and he.

[A]

Explains that he's from Geneva, Switzerland, and his parents married because his mother was the daughter of his father's friend who had fallen on hard times. They were very good parents and they loved Victor very much. When he was 5, they happened on a family who was caring for the daughter of a nobleman whose parents had died.

[B]

They adopted the girl, whose name was.

[A]

Elizabeth, and took her to live with them. She became Victor's closest friend and playmate. They called each other cousin, and Victor felt that she was more than a sister to him. Victor also had a friend named Henry Clerval. As Victor grows up, he becomes fascinated.

[B]

With Renaissance and medieval natural philosophy, which includes things like alchemy and magic. One day, though, he sees lightning strike.

[A]

A tree and destroy it, and he.

[B]

Realizes that the laws of nature are beyond human understanding. He devotes himself instead to mathematics, which he feels is based in fact.

[A]

But he tells us that eventually he.

[B]

Came back to his first love of.

[A]

Natural philosophy, and it was this that became his downfall.

[B]

So, as I say, I have two comments today. The first one I actually pulled from our online community, the drawing room. The poster over there goes by the name of Havoc Jack. And this is what he writes. He says about hubris, I didn't read it that way. So he's talking about what I was talking about last time, about Walton and hubris and his desire to go forth and discover and all that. So he says about hubris, I didn't read it that way.

[A]

Or rather, I think I got a much more positive view of the guy.

[B]

Guy being Walton, you seldom find greatness.

[A]

As the world measures it mixed with humility.

[B]

It takes a certain ambition to think you'll penetrate the mysteries of nature in a way that the generations before you didn't. And the Second one comes from John. He writes these chapters kind of surprised me. I thought we were going to get the story of how this stranger from the boat ruined his life because of his search for knowledge.

[A]

And then suddenly he's telling us about.

[B]

His idyllic childhood and the kind of elaborate backstories of his mother and his adopted sister, cousin, wondering if there's a reason all of that is in there. Okay, so I actually think these questions are kind of related, even though they don't seem like they are. So I definitely want to first address Jack's comment, because I did get a few comments that were very similar to that one. And I want to clarify what I was saying about Walton last time, but also to kind of make my case a little bit more. But I also think that John's question about what all this backstory about the mother and Elizabeth and everybody else is even doing there, I think it's really important, too, because I think it is. It is there for a reason. And I think the reason that it's there and what I'd like to touch on about Walton are, like I just said, in a way, kind of related.

[A]

So let's just go back for a.

[B]

Moment to Walton, because I was talking last time about how Walton's desire to strike out on this journey of exploration and win glory for himself and have his name go down in the history books or whatever it is. I was saying that this is a kind of hubris, meaning it's kind of prideful. He's saying he deserves be known and remembered and acknowledged as this great man. And essentially we get the sense, at least I get the sense, that it doesn't really matter to Walton what he's remembered for doing, as long as it's something great. Like he tried to be a poet, he tells us, right, but that didn't work out. So now he's trying to be an explorer. And I kind of think that if that doesn't work out and he makes it back alive, then maybe he'll try to be a politician or a painter or something. It's not about the thing itself itself. It's about the fact that he be remembered for doing it.

[A]

So to Jack's point, I agree that.

[B]

Striving for great things is great, that we should be looking to discover and to create and to speak up for what is right and good and true. If a fire is burning in you to do something wonderful, then you shouldn't put it out right?

[A]

You should let it burn.

[B]

And you should do what it takes to achieve the thing that you want.

[A]

To achieve, learn the thing you want to learn, or speak up about, the.

[B]

Thing you want to speak up about, or whatever it is, even unto death, if death is somehow part of the potential equation. So if you believe, for example, that like, the Earth orbits the sun instead of the other way around, and that knowing this will make all kinds of other scientific discoveries possible, and you feel that via the study of the heavens and mathematical principles and things, you can prove that this is so, then standing up for that truth and those scientific principles, even in the face of maybe imprisonment and death, and is a good and worthwhile and laudable thing, right? So I am not in any way saying, nor do I think that Mary Shelley is in any way saying that striving for new discoveries or following your passions or anything like that is bad. What I am saying is that seeking glory simply for glory's sake is a problem because in doing that, you can often leave your morals behind. You can often sell out and do things that you wouldn't ordinarily do because they promise some sort of fame or notoriety. And, and, and this is the important one for our purposes, I think you might not stop to ask yourself whether the thing that you're doing ought to be done. I mean, that's what the stranger on the boat, right? Victor, who's now our narrator. That's what Victor is saying to Walton. He's saying that if only he, Victor.

[A]

Had stopped to think, if only he hadn't been consumed with whatever his own.

[B]

Version of glory seeking was, we don't know yet, right? But whatever it was, then maybe he wouldn't be at death's door in the middle of a frozen oce. We don't know yet what it was that caused Victor to have this happen.

[A]

To him, but we understand that it.

[B]

Was something like what Walton is doing. And I think the difference between what Walton is doing and what someone truly great might be doing is that Walton.

[A]

Is simply after the glory. There's no principle to it.

[B]

He just wants to be known and recognized. And it's that kind of glory seeking that can lead you to do things that maybe you shouldn't. And Victor is telling Walton and telling us that it's that that sort of unexamined thirst for power and glory, that's what will lead you to ruin. So ambition, drive a fire for truth or justice or knowledge, that's good.

[A]

But doing all of that simply for.

[B]

Your own glorification or simply because you can without asking if you should, that's probably not so good. You know, A lot of you who have maybe read this book before or know what it's about have written to me over the last few weeks to say that this book seems particularly relev today because of what's going on with AI And I won't say now why that might be, because that would be a spoiler. But AI is a perfect example of something that can be used in a variety of ways.

[A]

But should it, right?

[B]

Should it write novels and paint paintings and act like a friend to us so that we don't actually need to go and make real human friends? I don't think it will come as a surprise to anyone here to learn that my personal answer to that is.

[A]

No, it shouldn't do that. We shouldn't do it.

[B]

So there are things that can be done that shouldn't be done or that.

[A]

Should be thought about first, at least. And when we don't stop and think.

[B]

Because we're consumed with a thirst for knowledge above all things, or consumed with a thirst for glory above all things.

[A]

Then we can go astray, as Victor.

[B]

Seems to have gone astray, as Victor is worried that Walton might go astray. So I did want to make that clarification to what I said earlier. And I also want to say that. That I also kind of like Walton, right? He seems sort of starry eyed and idealistic and we wish him well. But I think the warning of Victor is important, and it's Mary Shelley's way of asking us to look a little closer at what Walton is doing and to question whether he's doing it for the right reasons. And I think when we do that, we have to acknowledge that actually maybe he's not. And then I think we, like Walton, would do well to listen to Victor's narrative, whatever it's going to turn out to be. And so that Walton, and also we don't make the same mistakes that Victor did, whatever they turn out to be. Which brings me to John's question and the beginning of this narrative that we're supposed to be listening to. So John is right. These first two chapters have quite a bit of backstory in them. We get the backstory of Victor's parents and how they came to be married, and also the backstory of Elizabeth and how she came to be adopted by Victor's family. And. And the first thing I want to say about this is Mary Shelley loves a good backstory. You're going to see this more as we go along. She loves to tell us these very detailed histories of the characters that she introduces us to. Even when the characters aren't actually that important. Like, remember in Walton's letters, she told us this whole story about the master of Walton's ship and how he gave his fortune to a guy so that the girl he was gonna marry could marry him instead, because she loved that guy. And then he went off to see, so the girl's father couldn't object. Like, that's a lot about a very, very minor character. I mean, I. I guess this is kind of a spoiler. But that guy, the master, he's not an important character in the story, but we get this kind of detailed backstory on him. So I think the question to ask ourselves is why? Why is Shelley doing this? Is it just bad writing? Like, should an editor have said, you might want to cut this out. We don't need all of this? And if that had happened and she had cut it out, would that have made the story better? Or is there a reason? And I would like to argue that at least in the case of the backstories that we get in chapter one, there's a reason. So remember what we began with.

[A]

We began with this idea of wanting.

[B]

To win fame and glory and maybe even power. And the notion that this somehow can lead to ruin. That it did lead to ruin in Victor's case, and we hope it won't lead to ruin in Walton's. So we begin with this very kind.

[A]

Of self defense centered idea.

[B]

I, and I alone should be granted notoriety and fame and accolades and all of this. And then at the very beginning of this story that is meant to show us why that way of thinking is wrong.

[A]

We get this extended sequence about family.

[B]

First we get Victor's mother, who we're.

[A]

Told was a devoted daughter to her dying father, even as the father brought.

[B]

Them down into poverty and despair. And it was her kind of beautiful spirit that attracted the father to her. Here is what Victor says about that. He says his daughter attended him. So the daughter is the mother of Victor and attending her own father. Right. So his daughter attended him with the greatest tenderness. But she saw with despair that their little fund was rapidly decreasing and that.

[A]

There was no other prospect of support. But Caroline Beaufort possessed a mind of an uncommon mold. And her courage rose to support her in her adversity.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And this goodness of the mother and.

[B]

The deep love that the father felt for her created this intensely strong marriage that was the bedrock and the foundation of Victor's childhood. So he's going out of his way here to really prove to us that.

[A]

His parents were deeply devoted to Each.

[B]

Other deeply devoted to him, and that it was their love for each other.

[A]

And for him that made up the world of his childhood.

[B]

Here's what he tells us. He says, with this deep consciousness of what they owed towards the being to which they had given life, added to.

[A]

The active spirit of tenderness that animated both. It may be imagined that while during.

[B]

Every hour of my infant life, I received a lesson of patience, of charity, and of self control, I was so.

[A]

Guided by a silken cord that all seemed but one train of enjoyment to me. Okay, so we have this picture of this beautiful little family completely grounded in.

[B]

Love for one another. And then added to that is this additional child, right? This sort of angelic, beautiful little girl that they find in the hovel of a poor family. And again, here is this idea of connection and love reaching out to their fellow beings and connecting with them. Because Victor's mother had once been poor, she feels it's her duty to connect with the poor and visit them and provide for them.

[A]

So here's another instance of human connection.

[B]

That we're getting in this chapter. And. And then we get this little angel, this Elizabeth, who comes into their lives and is the daughter the parents never had. And also the more than sister to Victor. She's also his intended, right? They're betrothed, basically. The parents intend for them to marry when they're older. And Victor takes this very seriously.

[A]

He feels that she is somehow already his.

[B]

Here's what he says. He says, she's mine to protect, love and cherish, and we might add, till death do us part. It's like he's already folded her into his life, into his own life.

[A]

So again, we get this sense of.

[B]

Love, of connection, of family, and of all the key players within that idea.

[A]

Husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sisters, siblings, right?

[B]

Victor's parents have another child later, so he gets a biological sibling as well.

[A]

So all the elements of a family are represented here. And then also there's friendship. Victor tells us about his friend Henry.

[B]

Clerval, who is creative and good and kind and all of this. And this is clearly another important piece of this kind of tapestry that Mary Shelley is weaving for us in these early chapters. This picture she's painting for us of connection and love and human fellow feeling. This quote that I'm about to read is actually from Walton's letters. So it's from the first episode, but I think it's really relevant here, so I'm going to read it. It's Victor talking to Walton on the ship, and he says, well, we Are unfashioned creatures but half made up. If one wiser, better dearer than ourselves.

[A]

Such a friend ought to be.

[B]

Do not lend his aid to perfectionate our weak and faulty natures. Meaning we need friendship.

[A]

Friends make us whole.

[B]

They connect us to the human race. And tether us to life and to reality. And I think he would probably say that of parents and siblings and wives. And as well, the people around us and our connection to them and the.

[A]

Love that we feel for them.

[B]

Are what make life worth living.

[A]

So it's an interesting contrast, I think.

[B]

Between these two ideas. The idea of seeking fame and glory for the sake of fame and glory. Right next to the idea of love and connection and human interaction. And I think it's interesting, too, to look at what happens right after all of these elaborate backstories. That illustrate the love and the connection and everything. Because what happens right after that is that Victor tells us about his deep passion for science. And not just science, but a kind of sort of, like, debunked, almost mystical, magical sort of science, right? The search for the elixir of life. Meaning something that would make you be able to live forever. So not science as we would think of it. What he's talking about is almost more in the realm of, like, wizardry or something. It's a kind of supernatural idea that he's after. A quest to kind of unpick the very threads of the world and see.

[A]

How it was all put together. And maybe even change it so that.

[B]

It can do what he wants it to do, right? We're not meant to live forever, we're meant to die. So he wants to try to change that. And Victor's very clear that it was this interest in natural philosophy, this science of how the world works, what makes things tick.

[A]

It was this interest that led to.

[B]

Whatever disaster happened to him.

[A]

That has brought him to this point.

[B]

Of near death in the middle of the ocean.

[A]

The end of the last chapter we.

[B]

Read last time is full of foreshadowing, right? Here's a bunch. So he tells us about that passion which afterwards ruled my destiny. And the fatal impulse that led to my ruin. And the storm that was even then hanging in the stars and ready to envelop me. And. And all of this seems in some way tied to this fascination with natural philosophy. That he describes at the end of chapter two. And what's interesting, and this is the last thing that I will say before we get to today's chapters. But what's interesting is that the people.

[A]

He loves, the people who he goes.

[B]

Out of his way to tell us about. Like Elizabeth and Henry Clerval, these people are specifically not interested in science. They are interested in art, nature. Here's what he says about Elizabeth.

[A]

He says she busied herself with following the aerial creations of the poets. And in the majestic and wondrous scenes which surrounded our Swiss home, the sublime shapes of the mountains, the changes of the seasons, tempest and calm, the silence of winter, and the life and turbulence of our alpine summers, she found ample scope for admiration and delight.

[B]

Okay, and here's what he says about Henry.

[A]

He says he loved enterprise, hardship, and even danger for its own sake. He was deeply read in books of chivalry and romance.

[B]

He composed heroic songs and began to.

[A]

Write many a tale of enchantment and knightly adventure.

[B]

He tried to make us act plays and to enter into masquerades in which.

[A]

The characters were drawn from the heroes of Roncesvalles, of the Round Table, of.

[B]

King Arthur and the chivalrous train who shed their blood to redeem the Holy.

[A]

Sepulchre from the hands of the infidels.

[B]

Okay, these good, important people that Victor.

[A]

Loves and that love Victor, don't have.

[B]

This violent passion for figuring out what.

[A]

Makes the world tick and potentially shaping the world to their own will.

[B]

What they have is an appreciation for the world as it is for nature.

[A]

And a sense that art and history.

[B]

These things that connect us to one another, that these are the things that are important. So as we go into this story of how Victor caused his own downfall.

[A]

Through science in some way, we begin.

[B]

With these descriptions of love, connection and human kind of interdependence.

[A]

And I think we're meant to feel.

[B]

That these are the things that really.

[A]

Matter, as indeed they are.

[B]

Right. So I'm going to stop there. I would love for you to write to me and respond to either what I just said today or what you hear in the chapters that we're about to read. I cannot do this show without you. I cannot make this show what it is without your questions and comments. They are the entirety of what makes this show what it is. So please do Write in it's faithkmoore.com and click on contact. Or you can scroll into the show notes and find the link that is there.

[A]

All right, let us top up our.

[B]

Tea as we get started with. With chapters three and four of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. It's story time.

[A]

Chapter three. When I had attained the age of 17, my parents resolved that I should become a student at the University of Ingolstadt. Ingolstadt is in Germany. I had hitherto attended the schools of Geneva, but my father thought it necessary for the completion of my education that I should be made acquainted with other customs than those of my native country. My departure was therefore fixed at an early date. But before the day resolved upon could arrive, the first misfortune of my life occurred. An omen, as it were, of my future misery. Elizabeth had caught the scarlet fever. Her illness was severe and she was in the greatest danger. During her illness many arguments have been urged to persuade my mother to refrain from attending upon her. She had at first yielded to our entreaties, but when she heard that the life of her favorite was menaced, she could no longer control her anxiety. She attended her sick bed. Her watchful attentions triumphed over the malignity of the distemper. Elizabeth was saved, but the consequences of this imprudence were fatal to her preserver. On the third day, my mother sickened. Her fever was accompanied by the most alarming symptoms, and the looks of her medical attendants prognosticated the worst event. On her deathbed, the fortitude and benignity of this best of women did not desert her. She joined the hands of Elizabeth and myself. My children, she said, my firmest hopes of future happiness were placed on the prospect of your union. So she's saying that she has always hoped that they would get married. This expectation will now be the consolation of your father. Elizabeth, my love, you must supply my place to my younger children. Alas, I regret that I am taken away from you and happy and beloved as I have been. Is it not hard to quit you all? But these are not thoughts befitting me. I will endeavour to resign myself cheerfully to death and will indulge a hope of meeting you in another world. She died calmly and her countenance expressed affection. Even in death. I need not describe the feelings of those whose dearest ties are rent by that most irreparable evil, the void that presents itself to the soul and the despair that is exhibited on the countenance. So he's saying he doesn't need to describe how it feels when someone you love dies. You know it, if you've experienced is so long before the mind can persuade itself that she whom we saw every day and whose very existence appeared a part of our own, can have departed forever. That the brightness of a beloved eye can have been extinguished and the sound of a voice so familiar and dear to the ear can be hushed, never more to be heard. These are the reflections of the first days. But when the lapse of time proves the reality of the evil, then the actual bitterness of grief commences. Yet from whom has not that rude hand rent away some dear connection? Meaning who hasn't had to deal with the death of a loved one? And why should I describe a sorrow which all have felt and must feel? The time at length arrives when grief is rather an indulgence than a necessity. And the smile that plays upon the lips, although it may be deemed a sacrilege, is not banished, meaning eventually you have to continue on with your life even after a loved one is dead. My mother was dead, but we had still duties which we ought to perform. We must continue our course with the rest and learn to think ourselves fortunate, whilst one remains whom the spoiler has not seized. My departure for Ingolstadt, which had been deferred by these events, was now again determined upon. I obtained from my father a respite of some weeks. It appeared to me sacrilege so soon to leave the repose akin to death of the house of mourning and to rush into the thick of life. I was new to sorrow, but it did not the less alarm me. I was unwilling to quit the sight of those that remained to me. And above all I desired to see my sweet Elizabeth in some degree consoled. She indeed veiled her grief and strove to act the comforter to us all. She looked steadily on life and assumed its duties with courage and zeal. She devoted herself to those whom she had been taught to call her uncle and cousins, meaning Victor's father and his younger siblings. Things never was she so enchanting as at this time when she recalled the sunshine of her smiles and spent them upon us. She forgot even her own regret in her endeavours to make us forget. The day of my departure at length arrived. Clerval spent the last evening with us. He had endeavoured to persuade his father to permit him to accompany me and to become my fellow student, but in vain. His father was a narrow minded traitor and saw idleness and ruin in the aspirations and ambition of his son. Henry deeply felt the misfortune of being debarred from a liberal education. He said little, but when he spoke, I read in his kindling eye and in his animated glance a restrained but firm resolve not to be chained to the miserable details of commerce. So Henry has bigger ambitions than to just follow his father into trade. We sat late. We could not tear ourselves away from each other nor persuade ourselves to say the word. Farewell, it was said, and we retired under the pretence of seeking repose. Each fancying that the other was deceived. But when at morning's dawn, I descended to the carriage which was to convey me away, there they were, all there. My father again to bless me, Clerval to press my hand once more, my Elizabeth to renew her entreaties that I would write often, and to bestow the last feminine attentions on her playmate and friend. I threw myself into the chaise that was to convey me away and indulged in the most melancholy reflections. I, who had ever been surrounded by amiable companions, continually engaged in endeavoring to bestow mutual pleasure. I was now alone in the university whither I was going. I must form my own friends and be my own protector. My life had hitherto been remarkably secluded and domestic, and this had given me invincible repugnance to new countenances. I loved my brothers Elizabeth and Clerval. These were old, familiar faces, but I believed myself totally unfitted for the company of strangers. Such were my reflections as I commenced my journey. But as I proceeded, my spirits and hopes rose. I ardently desired the acquisition of knowledge. I had often, when at home, thought it hard to remain during my youth, cooped up in one place, and had longed to enter the world and take my station among other human beings. Now my desires were complied with, and it would indeed have been folly to repent. I had sufficient leisure for these and many other reflections during my journeys to Ingolstadt, which was long and fatiguing. At length the high white steeple of the town met my eyes. I alighted and was conducted to my solitary apartment to spend the evening as I pleased. The next morning I delivered my letters of introduction and paid a visit to some of the principal professors. Chance, or rather the evil influence, the angel of destruction, which asserted omnipotent sway over me from the moment I turned. My reluctant steps from my father's door led me first to Mr. Krempe, professor of natural philosophy. He was an uncouth man, but deeply imbued in the secrets of his science. He asked me several questions concerning my progress in the different branches of science appertaining to natural philosophy. I replied carelessly and partly in contempt, mentioned the names of my alchemists as the principal authors I had studied. The professor stared.

[B]

Have you, he said, really spent your.

[A]

Time in studying such nonsense? I replied in the affirmative. Every minute, continued Mr. Crumpy with warmth. Every instant that you have wasted on those books is utterly and entirely lost. You have burdened your memory with exploded systems and useless names. Good God, in what desert land have you lived where no one was kind enough to inform you that these fancies which you have so greedily imbibed are a thousand years old and as musty as they are ancient? I little expected in this enlightened and scientific age to find a disciple of Albertus Magnus and Paracelsus. My dear sir, you must begin your studies entirely anew. So the Renaissance and medieval natural philosophers that Victor read in his childhood have been totally debunked. And this teacher says he has to start all over again. So saying, he stepped aside and wrote down a list of several books treating of natural philosophy which he desired me to procure and dismissed me after mentioning that in the beginning of the following week he intended to commence a course of lectures upon natural philosophy in its general relations and that Mr. Waldman, a fellow professor, would lecture upon chemistry the alternate days that he omitted. I returned home not disappointed, for I have said that I had long considered those authors useless whom the professor reprobated. But I returned not at all the more inclined to recur to these studies in any shape. So he's okay with the fact that the professor didn't like those natural philosophers because Victor had already given them up.

[B]

And he's kind of not interested in.

[A]

Learning who these new natural philosophers philosophers.

[B]

Are or what they have to say.

[A]

Mr. Crumpy was a little squat man with a gruff voice and a repulsive countenance. The teacher therefore did not prepossess me in favor of his pursuits in rather a too philosophical and connected a strain. Perhaps I have given an account of the conclusions I had come to concerning them. In my early years as a child I had not been content with the results promised by the modern professors of natural science with a confusion of ideas only to be accounted for by my extreme youth and my want of a guide on such matters. I had retrod the steps of knowledge along the paths of time and exchanged the discoveries of recent inquirers for the dreams of forgotten alchemists. Besides, I had a contempt for the uses of modern natural philosophy. It was very different when the masters of the science sought immortality and power. Such views, although futile, were grand. But now the scene was changed. The ambition of the inquirer seemed to limit itself to the annihilation of those visions on which my interest in science was chiefly founded. I was required to exchange chimeras of boundless grandeur for realities of little worth. So he's reiterating that he was drawn to the old natural philosophers because they had grand goals like immortality. And power. The new natural philosophers don't have those grand ambitions, so he's not interested in interest in them. Such were my reflections during the first two or three days of my residence at Ingolstadt, which were chiefly spent in becoming acquainted with the localities and the principal residence in my new abode. But as the ensuing week commenced, I thought of the information which Mr. Crumpy had given me concerning the lectures. And although I could not consent to go and hear that little conceited fellow deliver sentences out of a pulpit, I recollected what he had said of Mr. Waldman, whom I had never seen, as he had hitherto been out of town. Partly from curiosity and partly from idleness, I went into the lecturing room, which Mr. Waldman entered shortly after. This professor was very unlike his colleague. He appeared about 50 years of age, but with an aspect expressive of the greatest benevolence. A few gray hairs covered his temples, but those at the back of his head were nearly black. His person was short but remarkably erect, and his voice was the sweetest I had ever heard. He began his lecture by a recapitulation of the history of chemistry and the various improvements made by different men of learning. Pronouncing with fervor the names of the most distinguished discoverers, he then took a cursory view of the present state of the science and explained many of its elementary terms. After having made a few preparatory experiments, he concluded with a pangiric upon modern chemistry. So pangiric is a speech in praise of something, the terms of which I shall never forget. The ancient teachers of this science said. He promised impossibilities and performed nothing. The modern masters promise very little. They know that metals cannot be transmuted and that the elixir of life is a chimera. But these philosophers, whose hands seem only made to dabble in dirt and their eyes to pore over the microscope or crucible, have indeed performed miracles. They penetrate into the recesses of nature and show how she works in her hiding places. They ascend into the heavens. They have discovered how the blood circulates and the nature of the air we breathe. They have acquired new and almost unlimited powers. They can command the thunders of heaven, mimic the earthquake, and even mock the invisible world with its own shadows. Meaning modern scientists aren't trying to find the elixir of life, but they are almost more powerful because they are figuring out the very fiber of the world and seeing how everything works. Such were the professor's words. Rather, let me say such the words of the fate announced to destroy me. As he went on, I felt as if my soul were grappling with a palpable enemy. One by one, the various keys were touched which formed the mechanism of my being. Chord after chord was sounded, and soon my mind was filled with one thought, one conception, one purpose. So much had been done. Exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein, meaning his soul because he is Victor Frankenstein. More, far more, will I achieve. Treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation. I closed not my eyes that night. My internal being was in a state of insurrection and turmoil. I felt that order would thence arise, but I had no power to produce it by degrees. After the morning's dawn came sleep. I awoke, and my yesternight's thoughts were as a dream. There only remained a resolution to return to my ancient studies and to devote myself to a science for which I believed myself to possess a natural talent. So he's going to go back to the study of natural philosophy, but with a new angle. On the same day, I paid Mr. Waldman a visit. His manners in private were even more mild and attractive than in public, for there was a certain dignity in his mien is like his way of carrying himself during his lecture, which in his own house was replaced by the greatest affability and kindness. I gave him pretty nearly the same account of my former pursuits as I had given to his fellow professor. He heard with attention the little narration concerning my studies and smiled at the names of Cornelius, Agrippa, and Paracelsus, but without the contempt that Mr. Crimpy had exhibited. He said that these were men to whose indefatigable zeal modern philosophers were indebted for most of the foundations of their knowledge. They had left to us, as an easier task to give new names and arrange in connected classifications the facts which they in a great degree had been the instruments of bringing to light. The labors of men of genius, however erroneously directed, scarcely ever fail in ultimately turning to the solid advantage of mankind. So he's saying that the old philosophers were wrong, but they paved the way for the new philosophers and scientists and were therefore necessary. I listened to his statement, which was delivered without any presumption or affectation, and then added that his lecture had removed my prejudices against modern chemists. I express myself in measured terms with the modesty and deference due from a youth to his instructor, without letting escape. Inexperience in life would have made me ashamed. Any of the enthusiasm which stimulated my intended labours, I requested his advice concerning the books I ought to procure. I am happy, said Mr. Waldman, to have gained a disciple. And if your application equals your ability, I have no doubt of your success. Chemistry is that branch of natural philosophy in which the greatest improvements have been made and may be made. It is on that account that I have made it. My peculiar study particular not strange, but at the same time I have not neglected the other branches of science. A man would make but a very sorry chemist if he attended to that department of Human knowledge alone. If your wish is to become really a man of science and not merely a petty experimentalist, I should advise you to apply to every branch of natural philosophy, including mathematics. He then took me into his laboratory and explained to me the uses of his various machines, instructing me as to what I ought to procure, and promising me the use of his own, when I should have advanced far enough in the science not to derange their mechanism. He also gave me the list of books which I had requested, and I took my leave. Thus ended a day memorable to me. It decided my future destiny. Chapter four. From this day, natural philosophy, and particularly chemistry in the most comprehensive sense of the term, became nearly my sole occupation. I read with ardor those works, so full of genius and discrimination which modern inquirers have written on these subjects. Subjects. I attended the lectures and cultivated the acquaintance of the men of science of the university. And I found even in Mr. Crimpy, a great deal of sound sense and real information combined, it is true, with repulsive physiognomy and manners, but not on that account, the less valuable. In Mr. Waldman I found a true friend. His gentleness was never tinged by dogmatism, and his instructions were given with an air of frankness and good nature that banished every idea of pedantry in a thousand ways. He smoothed for me the path of knowledge and made the most abstruse inquiries clear and facile to my apprehension, meaning he made even the most confusing concepts easy to understand. My application was at first fluctuating and uncertain. It gained strength as I proceeded, and soon became so ardent and eager that the stars often disappeared in the light of morning, whilst I was yet engaged in my laboratory. As I applied so closely, it may be easily conceived that my progress was rapid. My ardor was indeed the astonishment of the students and my proficiency that of the masters. So the students are shocked by how hard Victor works, and the professors are shocked at how quickly he's learning. Professor Crumpe often asked me with A sly smile. How Cornelius Agrippa went on, whilst Mr. Waldman expressed the most heartfelt exultation in my progress. Two years passed in this manner, during which I paid no visit to Geneva, but was engaged heart and soul in the pursuit of some discoveries which I hoped to make. None but those who have experienced them can conceive of the enticements of science. In other studies you go as far as others have gone before you, and there is nothing more to know. But in a scientific pursuit there is continual food for discovery. And wonderful. A mind of moderate capacity which closely pursues one study must infallibly arrive at great proficiency in that study. And I, who continually sought the attainment of one object of pursuit and was solely wrapped up in this, improved so rapidly that at the end of two years I made some discoveries in the improvement of some chemical instruments which procured me great esteem and admiration at the university. So he's doing so well in his studies that he's now actually contributing to the field and gaining accolades. When I had arrived at this point and had become as well acquainted with the theory and practice of natural philosophy as depended on the lessons of any of the professors at Ingolstadt, my residence there being no longer conducive to my improvements, I thought of returning to my friends and my native town when an incident happened that protracted my stay. So he was gonna go home, since he's learned all that he could. But then something happened that kept him there. One of the phenomena which had particularly attracted my attention was the structure of the human frame. And indeed, any animal endued with life. Whence I often asked myself, did the principle of life proceed? It was a bold question, and one which has ever been considered as a mystery. Yet with how many things are we upon the brink of becoming acquainted if cowardice or carelessness did not restrain our inquiries? I resolved these circumstances in my mind and determined thenceforth to apply myself more particularly to those branches of natural philosophy which relate to physiology. So physiology is the study of how living organisms function. Unless I had been animated by an almost supernatural enthusiasm, my application to this study would have been irksome and almost intolerable. To examine the causes of life, we must first have recourse to death, meaning, in order to study life, he has to know about death. I became acquainted with the science of anatomy, but this was not sufficient. I must also observe the natural decay and corruption of the human body. In my education, my father had taken the greatest precautions that my mind should be impressed with no supernatural horrors. I do not ever remember to have trembled at a tale of superstition. Or to have feared the apparition of a spirit. Darkness had no effect upon my fancy. And a churchyard was to me merely the receptacle of bodies deprived of life. Which, from being the seat of beauty and strength, had become food for the worm. Now I was led to examine the cause and progress of this decay. And forced to spend days and nights in vaults and charnel houses. So he's going to places where he can examine dead bodies and learn about their decomposition. My attention was fixed upon every object. The most insupportable to the delicacy of the human feelings. Meaning he's thinking about things that most people find horrifying. I saw how the fine form of man was degraded and wasted. I beheld the corruption of death succeed to the blooming cheek of life. I saw how the worm inherited the wonders of the eye and brain. I paused, examining and analyzing all the minutiae of causation. As exemplified in the change from life to death and death to life. Until, from the midst of this darkness, a sudden light broke in upon me. A light so brilliant and wondrous, yet so simple. That while I became dizzy with the immensity of the prospect which it illustrated. I was surprised that among so many men of genius who had directed their inquiries towards the same science. That I alone should be reserved to discover so astonishing a secret. Remember, I am not recording the vision of a madman. The sun does not more certainly shine in the heavens. Than that which I now affirm is true. Some miracle might have produced it. Yet the stages of the discovery were distinct and probable. After days and nights of incredible labor and fatigue. I succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life. Nay, more. I became myself capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter. Okay, so he's figured out how to bring not alive things to life. The astonishment which I had at first experienced on this discovery. Soon gave place to delight and rapture. After so much time spent in painful labor. To arrive at once at the summit of my desires. Was the most gratifying consummation of my toils. But this discovery was so great and overwhelming. That all the steps by which I had been progressively led to it were obliterated. And I beheld only the result. What had been the study and desire of the wisest men. Since the creation of the world was now within my grasp. Not that like a magic scene, it all opened upon me at once. The information I had obtained was of a nature rather to direct my endeavours. So soon as I should point them towards the object of my search Than to exhibit that object already accomplished. I was like the Arabian who had been buried with the dead and found a passage to life. Aided only by one glimmering and seemingly ineffectual light. I see by your eagerness and the wonder and hope which your eyes express, my friend. So remember he's talking to Walton here. That you expect to be informed of.

[B]

The secret with which I am acquainted.

[A]

That cannot be. Listen patiently until the end of my story. And you will easily perceive why I am reserved upon that subject. I will not lead you on unguarded and ardent as I then was. To your destruction and infallible misery. Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge. And how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world. Than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow. When I found so astonishing a power placed within my hands, I hesitated a long time concerning the manner in which I should employ it. Although I possessed the capacity of bestowing animation, yet to prepare a frame for the reception of it, with all its intricacies and fibres, muscles and veins, still remained a work of inconceivable difficulty and labor. So he can bring something to life. But creating the thing that he's going to animate Is a difficult task all on its own. I doubted at first whether I should attempt the creation of a being like myself or one of simpler organization. But my imagination was too much exalted by my first success to permit me to doubt of my ability to give life to an animal as complex and wonderful as man. Meaning he thought about what sort of creature to bring to life.

[B]

And he felt like the best kind of creature.

[A]

The most exalted is a man. The materials at present within my command hardly appeared adequate to so arduous an undertaking. But I doubted not that I should ultimately succeed. I prepared myself for a multitude of reverses. Meaning he got ready for a bunch.

[B]

Of failures and setbacks.

[A]

My operations might be incessantly baffled and at last my work be imperfect. Yet when I considered the improvement which every day takes place in science and mechanics, I was encouraged to hope my present attempts would at least lay the foundations of future success. Nor could I consider the magnitude and complexity of my plan as any argument of its impracticability. So he's saying that the huge goal he set himself of creating a human and bringing it to life won't stop him from trying. It was with These feelings that I began the creation of a human being. As the minuteness of the parts formed a great hindrance to my speed, I resolved, contrary to my first intention, to make the being of gigantic stature, that is to say, about 8ft in height and proportionably large. After having formed this determination, and having spent some months in successfully collecting and arranging my materials, I began. No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards like a hurricane. In the first enthusiasm of success, life and death appeared to me ideal bounds which I should first break through and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source. Many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs. Pursuing these reflections, I thought that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless matter, I might, in process of time, although I now found it impossible, renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption. So maybe he can bring dead people back to life eventually, although at the moment he doesn't have that power. These thoughts supported my spirits while I pursued my undertaking with unremitting ardor. My cheek had grown pale with study, and my person had become emaciated with confinement. Sometimes on the very brink of certainty, I failed. Yet still I clung to the hope which the next day or the next hour might realize. One secret which I alune possessed was the hope to which I had dedicated myself. And the moon gazed on my midnight labors while with unrelaxed and breathless eagerness I pursued nature to her hiding places. Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil? As I dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the grave. Or tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless clay, My limbs now tremble and my eyes swim with the remembrance. But then a resistless and almost frantic impulse urged me forward. I seem to have lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit. It was indeed but a passing trance that only made me feel with renewed acuteness. So soon as the unnatural stimulus ceasing to operate, I had returned to my old habits. I collected bones from charnel houses and disturbed with profane fingers the tremendous secrets of the human frame. Meaning he's gathering body parts from corpses to create this person that he wants to bring to life. In a solitary chamber, or rather cell at the top of the house and separated from all the other apartments by a gallery and staircase, I kept my workshop of filthy creation. My eyeballs were starting from their sockets in Attending to the details of employment. The dissecting room and the slaughter house Furnished many of my materials. And often did my human nature turn with loathing from my occupation. While still urged on by an eagerness which perpetually increased. I brought my work near to a conclusion. The summer months passed while I was thus engaged heart and soul in one pursuit. It was a most beautiful season. Never did the fields bestow a more plentiful harvest. Or the vines yield a more luxuriant vintage. But my eyes were insensible to the charms of nature. And the same feelings which made me neglect the scenes around me. Caused me also to forget those friends who were so many miles absent. And whom I had not seen for so long a time. I knew my silence disquieted them. And I well remembered the words of my father. I know that while you are pleased with yourself. You will think of us with affection. And we shall hear regularly from you. You must pardon me if I regard any interruption in your correspondence. As a proof that your other duties are equally neglected. I knew well, therefore, what would be my father's feelings. But I could not tear my thoughts from my employment, loathsome in itself, but which had taken an irresistible hold of my imagination. I wished, as it were, to procrastinate all that related to my feelings of affection. Until the great object which swallowed up every habit of my nature should be completed. I then thought that my father would be unjust. If he ascribed my neglect to vice or faultiness on my part. But I am now convinced that he was justified in conceiving that I should not be altogether free from blame. A human being in perfection ought always to preserve a calm and peaceful mind. And never to allow passion or a transitory desire to disturb his tranquillity. I do not think that the pursuit of knowledge is an exception to this rule. If the study to which you apply yourself Has a tendency to weaken your affections. And to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful, that is to say, not befitting the human mind. If this rule were always observed, if no man allowed any pursuit whatsoever. To interfere with the tranquillity of his domestic affections. Greece had not been enslaved. Caesar would have spared his country. America would have been discovered more gradually. And the empires of Mexico and Peru had not been destroyed. But I forget that I am moralizing in the most interesting part of my tale. And your looks remind me to proceed. My father made no reproach in his letters. And only took notice of my silence by inquiring into my occupations, more particularly than before. Winter, spring, and summer passed away during my labors, but I did not watch the blossom or the expanding leaves, sights which before always yielded me supreme delight, so deeply was I engrossed in my occupation. The leaves of the year had withered before my work drew near to a close, and now every day showed me more plainly how well I had succeeded. But my enthusiasm was checked by my anxiety, and I appeared rather like one, doomed by slavery to toil in the mines or any other unwholesome trade, than an artist occupied by his favorite employment. Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful degree. The fall of a leaf startled me, and I shunned my fellow creatures as if I had been guilty of a crime. Sometimes I grew alarmed at the wreck I perceived that I had become. The energy of my purpose alone sustained me. My labors would soon end, and I believed that exercise and amusement would then drive away incipient disease, and I promised myself both of these when my creation should be complete. Thank you so much for listening. I'd love to know what you thought of the chapters. Is there anything you'd like me to clarify? Did something particularly interest you? Please go to my website, faithkmoore.com, click on Contact and send me your questions and thoughts. Or you can click on the link in the Show Notes to contact me. I'll feature one or two of your entries at the start of the next episode. Speaking of links, don't forget to take a look at the other links in the Show Notes. You can learn more about me, check out our Merch store, or become a member of the Storytime for Grown Ups online community. Before I go, I'd like to ask a quick favor. This is an independent podcast. It's produced, recorded and marketed by me, so I need your help. Spread the word about the show by posting about it on social media or texting a link to your friends. Subscribe tap those five stars and leave a positive review wherever you're listening. If you are able to support the show financially, there's a link in the.

[B]

Show Notes to make a donation.

[A]

I would really, really appreciate it. Alright everyone, story time is over to be continue.