A monster is, by definition, a creature that causes fear or physical harm. This term is applied to animals that evoke fear, human-animal hybrids, as well as people who do horrific or cruel things. In Monster of God Quammen talks about man-eaters and predators and how people interact with such monsters. In On Monsters, Asma discusses the psychology of humans becoming monsters and the creation of fictional monsters. Both Asma and Quammen agree that the role of monsters in our society is to humble humans, which Quammen shows through his discussion of monsters in religion, and Asma displays in the psychological reactions to monsters.
More often than not, monsters are fantastical and appear in folklore, religion, and other stories. Asma examines
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the role of monsters in horror stories, and why people are so drawn to them. He claims “the fascination produced by categorical mismatches is the solution to the paradox of why we seek out an experience that is at least partly unpleasant,” (Asma, pg 184). Essentially, monsters from the horror genre fascinate us because they’re a mix of disgusting and threatening. This goes against our natural understanding of other beings and creates a mismatch. Quammen discusses this mismatch in the terms of the Leviathan from the bible. Leviathan is described as bigger than life, with other mismatched threatening characteristics taken from known beasts, such as the crocodile and dragon. The role of Leviathan in the bible is to emphasize God’s power, as He was the one who created such a terrifying creature. This also serves to deepen the humility of the characters in the bible by reminding them that the world contains beings that can overpower man. The humbling nature of monsters is repeated by Asma who postulates that the modern monster is a reminder of theological abandonment and the angst that goes along with it. Asma decides to cover how monsters moved from tales to people’s psyche. He delves into the feeling of something not being quite right, and the anxiety it provokes. In his writing he quotes Timothy Beal who defines a monster as “personifications of…what endangers one’s sense of security, stability, integrity, well-being, health and meaning” (Asma, pg. 188). This definition shows the use of monsters to help understand the dissonance produced by the uncanny, which sparks horror. Quammen discusses monsters as beasts and man-eaters, designed to remind humans of their place on the food chain. This reminder of mortality produces the same fear as in fictional monsters. Both Quammen and Asma discuss the Alien film in relation to the horror that monsters bring us. Quammen writes about the fear of being prey, and how these films tap into the horror and fear that being hunted produces. Asma agrees, and claims that the horror produced by Alien is due to the fact that the people seem so helpless in the face of natural selection brought on by these monsters. Asma asserts that monsters are typically unreasonable, and are seen as the opposition.
This creates beings that people can openly hate and use to prove their points. When a monster cannot be beat, it shows the limits of man effectively humbling them. On the flip side when the monster is defeated, it serves to inflate man's ego, and asserts his dominance and power over nature. Quammen discusses the power man asserts over predators through showing the slow extinction of these man-eaters. When writing about the extinction of lions Quammen says “the real problems were on land, and the real sharks were humanity,” (Quammen, pg. 29). His view on humanity's treatment of these predators isn’t minced, and clearly Quammen is disgusted by the power man has asserted over these specific monsters. Asma writes “heroes overcome monsters as a mechanism by which we resolve our anxieties about injustices in the world,” (Asma, pg.198). Man views the conquering of monsters as justice, and restoring balance to the world. Such a view speaks to the mentality of mankind and how people rationalize their actions through the personification of monsters. Asma uses Freud to explain this phenomenon through the logic of projection. According to Freud, “phobias have the character of a projection in that they replace an internal instinctual danger by an external perceptual one,” (Asma, pg. 198). Essentially the internal conflicts man feels is projected onto predators such as the lion, to build them into a
monster they can justify killing. This relationship between man and monster serves to boost the ego of man. The role of monsters in our society is ambiguous, and can be complicated. According to Quammen and Asma, they serve a role in which to humble mankind. The terror and fear monsters evoke provides a reminder of the mortality of humans, while the addition of creatures such as Leviathan provides a testament to the strength of God. These monsters have been toyed with by humans exploring their psyche, and have been pushed to extinction by people.
In society, there have always been different roles in defining the boundaries between right and wrong; Monsters take a big part of that role. In Jeffrey Cohen’s “Monster Culture,” Cohen explains seven theses which provide a clearer explanation of how monsters take a part in establishing these boundaries. The oldest Anglo-Saxon story written- “Beowulf”- provides three different monsters which all connect to Cohen’s seven theses. In the older version, however, the monsters do not relate to humans in any way, except that they are enemies. The modern version of Beowulf portrays Grendel’s mother to still be evil but also have relations with the humans in the story.
Ever thought of where monsters come from? Do they just appear in our world, or are they procreated by fellow monsters, maybe, created by humans and their desires. During the renaissance and romantic era, a belief roamed around consisting of the idea that any child not resembling their original procreators was considered deformed, therefore also considered a “monster.” Many factors were considered to affect a child’s resemblance to their progenitors, such as women imagination, and desires, absolutely crossing of the role of paternity in the creation process. Although she succeeds in providing many good examples of women’s imagination being a primal factor in procreation, Marie-Helene Huet, in her essay, “ Introduction To Monstrous Imagination,”
dictators or people who behave in a bad way. The idea of a monster is
Across different works like Virgil’s Aeneid and Aeschylus’ Eumenides, In these representations of monsters, the initial relationship between gods and monsters is simple: all monsters derived from the gods. However, as soon as distinguishing features set the monsters apart, they prove Clay’s point that monsters are seen as threats who need to be contained and whose powers need to be exploited by the gods. The close reading of both texts reveal the relationship between gods and monsters along with the power structures between
times we have been fascinated with all sorts of tales about monsters and intrigued by myths and
Jeffery Cohen's first thesis states “the monster's body is a cultural body”. Monsters give meaning to culture. A monsters characteristics come from a culture's most deep-seated fears and fantasies. Monsters are metaphors and pure representative allegories. What a society chooses to make monstrous says a lot about that society’s people. Monsters help us express and find our darkest places, deepest fears, or creepiest thoughts. Monsters that scare us,vampires, zombies, witches, help us cope with what we dread most in life. Fear of the monstrous has brought communities and cultures together. Society is made up of different beliefs, ideas, and cultural actions. Within society there are always outcasts, people that do not fit into the norm or do not follow the status quo. Those people that do not fit in become monsters that are feared almost unanimously by the people who stick to the status quo.
Monsters and the Moral Imagination, written by Stephen Asma, presents many possible outcomes as to why monsters are the rise. Mr. Asma discusses why monster portrayals could be on the rise in movies, books, and stories throughout his subsection Monsters are on the Rise. Perhaps the rise is due to traumatic events in recent history such as the holocaust or the terroristic attacks of 9/11 in
Monsters and Men (Unit Paper). For ages, we have wondered what is the difference between monsters and men that make them who they are. What are the characteristics that define a monster? Typically it’s the bad guy, the person or thing that comes into the story just to cause a massacre or stand in the protagonist’s way.
Cohen, Jeffrey J. “Monster Culture (Seven Theses).” Monsters. Ed. Brandy Ball Blake and L. Andrew Cooper. Southlake, TX: Fountainhead Press, 2012. 11-33. Print.
Monsters are disturbing hybrids whose bodies do not want to be included in any systematic structuration. The monster is, therefore, dangerous. It always appears at times of crisis as kind of the third term that creates more problems. The power to avoid and undermine has run through the monsters blood since the classic times. The monster also resists any classification built on hierarchy or just binary opposition and instead demands a system that allows mixed response and resistance to integration. The geography of a monster is wide and always full of cultural debate that can never be
Nowadays, people are still enticed by fear, they have a curiosity for the supernatural, evil and frightening. Although modern day society is supposedly politically correct, we are still an immoral society and many of us would treat a creature like Frankenstein’s creation or a vampire like Dracula like a monster. In this way, the novels still have social significance.
According to Merriam Webster’s dictionary, a monster is a “strange or horrible imaginary creature”. But monsters don’t necessarily need to be fictional; even humans can be monsters. The only thing that distinguishes us from fictional monsters are our appearances, human-monsters are hard to detect. Therefore, it’s easy to treat people based on their appearances since the human mind gets deceived by looks.
Monsters can come in various physical forms, but all monsters share the same evil mentality. A Monster is a being that harms and puts fear within people. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a prime example of how appearance does not determine whether a creature is a monster or not. In the story, Victor Frankenstein tries to change nature by creating a super human being. The being appears to be a monster. Victor becomes so obsessed with his creation and then rejects it. Victor is the real monster because of his desire for power, lack of respect for nature, and his stubbornness.
We live in a world where creatures have abilities that can blow our minds, however we are ignorant of this. We live in a world where a constant power struggle is occurring between these secret species, a struggle that most human beings have no inclination to. We live in a world where people who know the truth are sworn to secrecy, and those who proclaim this truth are considered crazy and locked away; to be sane is to be ignorant. Well, that is what I would love to be true. In actuality, I am fascinated with the topic of monsters; I love them all: lycanthropes, Frankenstein’s monster, witches, fae, necromancers, zombies, demons, mummies, and my favorite: vampires.
A monster is defined as an imaginary creature that is typically large, ugly, and frightening. By this definition, Victor’s creature who is depicted to be eight feet tall and hideous