We Create Our Own Monsters
Woods 1
Taylor Woods
Mrs. Eryes
Language Arts 3-4 H
16 October 2012
We Create Our Own Monsters
Monsters are different for everyone. Some may think monsters are purple, hairy, one-eyed freaks. Others may think they are atrocious beasts with chain-saws and bloody faces out to kill you! But monsters don’t just have to be a literal thing that we can see and feel. Many monsters are figurative, meaning that it’s not an actual real life monster but are features and characteristics made up of our own fears. Many times the things that make a monster scary are because of the traits we give to them from our own fears. Monsters are creatures of our own imagination that help us deal with and reflect our fears and taboos..
The University of Michigan attempts to define monsters. The way they explain monsters is that they are creatures of our own imagination. James Mitchell describes monsters and says that, “Cultures create and ascribe meaning to monsters, endowing them with their characteristics derived from their most deep-seeded fears and taboos”. What Mitchell is trying to say is that monsters are made up of our own fears. We create the characteristics of the monster based on our fears and taboos. So, for example, when we are younger we are scared of a monster in our closet and under our beds. So, a monster to a young child would be a hairy, colorful creature like a monster from the movie “Monsters, Inc.”. But as we grow up we don’t fear that type of monster anymore. We overcome those worries. We are then faced with new problems and fears. For example, many teens fear not being socially accepted and people making fun of them
Woods 2 and bullying them – much like Frankenstein, not because the way he looked, but how he wasn’t accepted by anyone because peopled feared him.
Monsters don’t just have to be big and scary creatures. They are also figurative just like in the books The Outsiders and Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. In the book The
Taylor Woods
Mrs. Eryes
Language Arts 3-4 H
16 October 2012
We Create Our Own Monsters
Monsters are different for everyone. Some may think monsters are purple, hairy, one-eyed freaks. Others may think they are atrocious beasts with chain-saws and bloody faces out to kill you! But monsters don’t just have to be a literal thing that we can see and feel. Many monsters are figurative, meaning that it’s not an actual real life monster but are features and characteristics made up of our own fears. Many times the things that make a monster scary are because of the traits we give to them from our own fears. Monsters are creatures of our own imagination that help us deal with and reflect our fears and taboos..
The University of Michigan attempts to define monsters. The way they explain monsters is that they are creatures of our own imagination. James Mitchell describes monsters and says that, “Cultures create and ascribe meaning to monsters, endowing them with their characteristics derived from their most deep-seeded fears and taboos”. What Mitchell is trying to say is that monsters are made up of our own fears. We create the characteristics of the monster based on our fears and taboos. So, for example, when we are younger we are scared of a monster in our closet and under our beds. So, a monster to a young child would be a hairy, colorful creature like a monster from the movie “Monsters, Inc.”. But as we grow up we don’t fear that type of monster anymore. We overcome those worries. We are then faced with new problems and fears. For example, many teens fear not being socially accepted and people making fun of them
Woods 2 and bullying them – much like Frankenstein, not because the way he looked, but how he wasn’t accepted by anyone because peopled feared him.
Monsters don’t just have to be big and scary creatures. They are also figurative just like in the books The Outsiders and Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. In the book The
Cited: Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. New York: Doubleday, 2003. Print. Hinton, S. E. The Outsiders,. New York: Viking, 1967. Print. THe Holt Reader: An Interactive Worktext. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, n.d. Print. Sixth Course. Mitchell, James. "Introductory Essay to Our Exploration of Monstrosity." University of Michigan. N.p., n.d. Web. Aug. 2012. <http://www.umich.edu/~engl415/info/monintro.htm>. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1831. Print.