Monster

We Create Our Own 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 nd 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 Outsiders by S. E. Hilton the monster is “being alone” because in the book they fear being alone because they could be attacked by the Socs. The Socs were the “cool” and “popular” kids. They always have each other’s backs and protect one another from the Socs and everything they fear.

After Ponnyboy got beat up in the beginning of the book by the Socs you can tell that they are all there for him, “Our gang had chased the Socs to their car and heaved rocks at them. ” In the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon, Christopher doesn’t like anything he can’t use logic to figure out such as metaphors, jokes, sarcasm. That’s why he even says in his book, “This will not be a funny book. I cannot tell jokes because I do not understand them. ”(Haddon, 8) Christopher fears the unknown and chaos because of his autism.

Christopher cannot handle it when there is chaos and people asking too many question, “He was asking me too many questions and he was asking them too quickly…I rolled back onto the lawn and pressed my forehead to the ground again and made the noise that Father calls groaning. ” (Haddon, 7) The unknown and chaos are the monsters in this book. Figurative monsters are in all the books even the well-known monster books.. Even most of the classic monsters have figurative monsters in the stories as well. In the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelly you would think ‘The Monster’ would be the monster.

He still is, it’s obvious, he is a massive, atrocious beast. But ‘The Monster’ actually fears being rejected. He has been rejected by so many people because all they see when they see Woods 3 him is his looks and not any of his personality. Just like when he was learning from his neighbors that he was spying on and decided to go to their house and meet them, and they immediately are frightened and do not accept ‘The Monster’ even though he was not there to harm them. He had very good intensions. When people saw him, they just assumed he was out to cause harm.

In Beowulf-poet everyone fears Grendel because he wants to kill Beowulf. This makes Grendael the monster of this story. But just like any other story there is a figurative monster as well. The people in this story fear Grendel’s power to kill whoever he wants, thus making the figurative monster power. But overall, the people of this town fear themselves or loved ones being killed which makes their biggest fear, death, just like in most books. In every story, movie, poem or T. V. show there is a monster. Whether it’s just the antagonist or a classic monster, a monster is a monster.

You can always find a figurative monster. What most people fear almost always ends up being the figurative monster. Just like in Frankenstein he fears being rejected, in the Outsiders they fear being on their own and in the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Christopher fears the unknown. In all these books they also all fear one thing in common: death. One of the biggest fears to everyone is dying which makes every monster almost have to do with death. As we know, we create our own monster, by having their characteristics come from our fears. Every monster is different and every person has a different view on monsters.

Works Cited

1. Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. New York: Doubleday, 2003. Print.
2. Hinton, S. E. The Outsiders,. New York: Viking, 1967. Print.
3. THe Holt Reader: An Interactive Worktext. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, n. d. Print.
4. 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>.
5. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1831. Print.

The monster rose from the table. He stared at the creature whom he had created, then ran away in terror. He ran away because the monster looked nothing like anything he had ever seen before; it was monstrous and utterly terrifying. He thought it would harm him as monsters are commonly portrayed to do. What would any human do in a situation like that? Prejudice is not an emotion in itself; it is an offshoot of fear. He feared the monster, which is why he acted out of prejudice and judged the monster simply based on its appearance. Prejudice is an opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge based often on physical appearance.

In Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, readers often ask who the real monster is. Is it the monster himself for looking like a monster and killing many innocent people? Or is it Victor for creating such a terrible monster? The answer is neither. When examined closely, it becomes clear that the real monster in Mary Shelley’s novel is prejudice. Because of prejudice, Victor is scared of his own creation and disowns the monster. Because of prejudice, everybody is scared of the monster and never even gives him a chance to get to know them simply because of the way he looks. Because of prejudice, the monster kills his first victim.

The prejudice against the monster is so great that it even convinces the monster himself that he is a monster and is not worthy of life. There are no characters in Frankenstein that are truly monsters; the only real monster is the prejudice instilled in these characters who do bad things. Victor Frankenstein created the monster with good intentions. In fact, he “had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation. . . ” (Shelley 43). When the monster awoke, Victor feared his own creation. Victor prejudges his creation because he fears what it is capable of and runs away.

Victor expresses his fear of his creation when he says, “. . . but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room… ” (Shelley 43). Victor thought that the monster would be beautiful and amazing, but upon seeing that the monster did not turn out the way he had expected it to, Victor becomes scared and acts out of prejudice, leaving the room. After Victor leaves the room and retreats to his bed chamber, he awakes from his sleep and beholds the monster.

Victor automatically becomes frightened and flees the room, thinking that the monster would harm him. Remember, prejudice is an opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge based often on physical appearance. Victor’s prejudice is evident when he says: I beheld the wretch- the miserable monster whom I had created. He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks. He might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out, seeming to detain me, but I escaped and rushed downstairs (Shelley 44).

Simply the words that Victor uses to describe the monster, whom he does not even know, are terrible! Victor calls the monster “wretch” and calls his mouth “jaws” as if the monster is some type of animal. The monster even tries to speak to Victor, but Victor does not listen to what the monster has to say because Victor becomes scared of the monster based only on the way he looks. This is a clear example of prejudice. The monster reaches out an arm and, unknowing of what the monster will even do, Victor assumes that the monster is trying to “detain” him, but he “escaped and rushed downstairs”.

Certainly, Victor’s behaviour is not commendable; however, his actions are a result of his prejudice alone. Not only does Victor prejudge the monster only based on the way he looks, everybody the monster meets prejudges him and is scared of him. In the monsters first encounter with a man, the man “turned on hearing a noise, and perceiving [the monster], he shrieked loudly, and quitting the hut, ran across the fields with a speed of which his debilitated form hardly appeared capable” (Shelley 93).

The man sees the monster and, without saying a word, automatically pre judges the monster to be dangerous based only on the way he looks then “[runs] across the fields with a speed of which his debilitated form hardly appear[s] capable”. The man did not appear to be a bad man. In fact, his breakfast “consisted of bread, cheese, milk. . . ” (Shelley 93) just like any other normal man. This man is not a monster for treating the monster poorly, it is clearly the prejudice instilled in him when he is overcome by fear that makes him run away from the monster.

Upon the monsters second encounter with a human, he enters a house and sees a family who also prejudges him based only on the way he looks. The monster “had hardly placed [his] foot within the door before the children shrieked, and one of the women fainted” (Shelley 94). The people do not even give the monster a chance to speak. They do not even have the slightest clue what his personality is like. But, they prejudge him and automatically assume that he is a harmful person based only on the way he looks.

Some of the villagers even “attacked [the monster], until, grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons, [the monster] escaped to the open country. . . ” (Shelley 94). Certainly, the people of the village do seem like monsters, attacking the monster and hitting him with stones. But, the villagers are not the true monsters. They are simply scared for the lives of their families, so they act out of prejudice and without even giving the monster a chance to present himself, they chase him away unwilling to give him a chance because they do not trust somebody who is so horrific looking.

It is clear here that it is solely the prejudice in them and nothing else that makes them drive the monster out of the village. Upon his third encounter with humans, the monster is living in a hovel that is joined to a cottage. Through a hole the monster sees the inside of the cottage and learns about the family that consisted of: a blind father, an unhappy son, and a sweet innocent daughter. The monster becomes attached to the family and “when they were unhappy, [the monster] felt depressed; when they rejoiced, [the monster] sympathized in their joys” (Shelley 100).

The monster does everything he can to help the family out while remaining hidden. In fact “[the monster] often took [the son’s] tools, the use of which [the monster] quickly discovered, and brought home firing sufficient for the consumption of several days” (Shelley 99). The family was very happy about this, and “when [the daughter] opened the door in the morning, appeared greatly astonished on seeing a great pile of wood on the outside” (Shelley 99). Had the family found out that it had been some ordinary man helping them out, they would have thanked him and greeted him with joy.

But, when the family saw the monster, “Agatha fainted, and Safie, unable to attend to her friend, rushed out of the cottage. Felix darted forward and with supernatural force tore [the monster] from his father. . . ” (Shelley 123). It is clearly evident here that prejudice is the real monster in Frankenstein. The old man is blind, and upon meeting the monster he does not run away, or faint, or attack the monster. The old man greets the monster and treats him just as he would treat anyone else. Remember, prejudice is an opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge based on appearance.

The old man is blind so he could not prejudge based on the monster’s appearance however, Agatha, Safie, and Felix all see the monster and prejudge him based on his appearance alone; thus acting out of prejudice. The old man could not prejudge, which is why he did not treat the monster poorly. Again, it is clearly evident here that the people are not truly monsters; it is the prejudice in them that makes them behave badly. Throughout the novel, the monster is treated poorly because of prejudice.

Ironically, he also kills his first victim: William, because of prejudice. At first sight, the monster says that William was “a beautiful child, who came running into the recess [the monster] had chosen, with all sportiveness of infancy” (Shelley 131). However, upon hearing that the child’s “papa is a syndic- he is M. Frankenstein. . . ” (Shelley 131), the monster “grasped [William’s] throat to silence him, and in a moment he lay dead at [the monster’s] feet” (Shelley 131). This clearly shows the monster’s actions are a result of his prejudice towards his creator.

Because he finds out that the William’s father is M. Frankenstein, he prejudges William to be just like Victor Frankenstein- the monster’s creator, and takes William’s innocent life. The prejudice against the monster is so great, that it convinces even the monster himself, that he is a monster! The monster’s creator, Victor, is prejudice towards him. The family the monster loves and cares for greatly is also prejudice towards him. Every single human other than the blind man who could not be prejudice, is prejudice towards the monster!

Even a pure innocent child like William is prejudice towards the monster! It is absolutely clear through all of these examples, that prejudice is the real monster in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. Prejudice is still evident in today’s world, with major issues such as racism, as well as events in the past such as the Holocaust. In her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley warns readers about prejudice, and it is important that people are not prejudice in their lives today so that all tragedy can be avoided.

Isolation is the separation from others and/or society whether it be physically or emotionally. In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, I believe that a central theme is that the isolation from family and society, especially at a time when one is faced with difficulty, can have a negative effect on a person.

The main characters in the story, Victor Frankenstein and the monster, both experience the same suffering of being alone in different ways. The negative consequences are the death of their loved one and eventually the end of their own. Frankenstein chooses to be isolated from society and his family on his own.He travels away from home for his desire to obtain more knowledge about natural philosophy. He fancied about creating something new, something no one has ever done before. “I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation” (42). So then he created the monster.

As soon as the monster awoke, Frankenstein ran away in fear for he created something so hideous that he couldn’t bare to even look at it. “My heart palpitated in the sickness of fear; and I hurried on with irregular steps, not daring to look about me” (51).Frankenstein emotionally isolated himself and soon fell ill. He couldn’t speak about it to anyone because he was too ashamed of himself for creating the monster. Unlike Frankenstein, the monster was forced to live in a world of isolation physically because of his appearance. He did not look like a human with his yellow eyes and muscles showing through his barely there skin. His face was threatening and he didn’t fit in with society even though he longed for acceptance.

“I possessed no money, no friends, no kind of property.I was, besides, endowed with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome I cannot describe to you the agony that these reflections inflicted upon me” (148). The monster wanted attention and the only way he knew how to get it was to kill anyone he could that was close to his creator, Frankenstein. The monster turns vengeful, but not because he is evil. It’s because the monster is filled up with overwhelming hate and anger because there is no one out there like him. The more he killed Victor’s loved ones, the more attention the creature received from Victor. Eventually he had illed everyone close to Victor and had gained Victor’s full attention, when Victor vowed to do everything within his “power to seize the monster” (190).

Now both Victor and the creature had no one to love, only one person to seek revenge from. Isolation eventually leads to death is another recurring theme within the story. The monster kills everyone around close to Frankenstein because he wants him to know what it feels like to be alone. He started with his younger brother William which also resulted in the death of Justine who was blamed for the tragic incident.Even though Frankenstein knew it was his fault his brother died, he couldn’t speak the truth in fear of what might happen to him. Next was Clerval, his best friend from childhood. Finally it was his beloved wife, Elizabeth.

Isolation has a negative effect on Frankenstein by making him fall ill. “But I was in reality very ill; and surely nothing but the unbounded and unremitting attentions of my friend could have restored me to life. The form of the monster on whom I had bestowed existence was forever before my eyes. By very slow degrees, and with frequent relapses that alarmed and grieved my friend, I recovered” (55).With Clerval by his side, Frankenstein recovered because he needed social interaction with someone he knew. Clerval opened up the pathways of communication to his family which is a way of getting back to the norm of society. Being alone made him feel worse and with his friend near, he gained back his life that he missed when he was tucked away creating the monster.

He returned back home to Geneva shortly after to escape his creation, only to find that it was already there and had already started his revenge. The monster longed for companionship as he hid away by himself longing for social interaction with the humans.He learned their language and observed how they interacted with each other and he desired the acceptance of society as a whole. In chapter 15, the monster decides to reveal himself to the cottagers he’s been observing. He first approaches De Lacy, a blind man, and because De Lacy could not see him, he did not reject him either. He says to De Lacy, “I am an unfortunate and deserted creature; I look around, and I have no relation or friend upon earth. These amiable people whom I go have never seen me, and know little of me.

I am full of fears; for if I fail there, I am an outcast in the world forever” (119). De Lacy befriends him and says that he would try and help the monster. “I am blind, and cannot judge of your countenance, but there is something in your words which persuades me that you are sincere” (120). This shows that without knowing what the monster looked like, he was a good being and De Lacy held no prejudices against him. The monster asks De Lacy to protect him and to introduce him to his family, but they came home right that second. Agatha fainted and Safie rushed out of the cottage.Felix through the monster out and this is when he realized that he will never ever be accepted in society and from this moment on, he swears to revenge himself against all humans, especially his creator.

I believe this proves that the monster was not created evil. He is like a human with the feelings of wanting to be accepted and to have friends. Through isolation from society, the negative consequences results in the vengeance of the monster. Throughout the novel, the feelings of hatred and isolation shared between Victor and the monster, led both of them to their own self-destruction.Frankenstein loss everything and ventured out to find the monster so he could seek revenge. It took too long and the hardships of being alone eventually lead to his death. When Frankenstein passed, Walton found the monster crying by his side.

He never meant to kill his creator and then realizes that what he did was wrong. His only companion was gone and now the monster grieved for the death of his creator. Isolation, both physically and emotionally, brought out the evil side to the characters. It caused them to do things that were not in their nature and then in the end, they both paid for it with their lives.

Today’s society we have a lot of “monsters” such as robbers, rapists, and killers. That poses as the kind of monsters that put us in harms way. Main reasons as to why we have these monsters are greed.

Each generation changes though there can be more or less monsters in every generation. But there are always some crazy, wild, psychotic people. Killers are the biggest threats to humans. Because it could be the most original and boring person ever who turns out to be the killer.The biggest are the killers and greedy people. A lot of people’s lives are at risk everyday. Nobody can trust a random stranger, or even a family, or friend.

Television shows, and movies, show the killer as either a psychotic person in a unique way. When it really could be anybody, they are just more brilliant on how to deceit people. Mind is set differently because of there past experiences or history. Grendel was a wild beast and hated happiness.And when he heard laughing and joy, something set him off on a killing spree. In a way every killer goes through that process of thinking about something and a spot gets triggered. Besides the killers there are greed, there is so much greed in the world.

It’s the biggest monster, and it turns everybody into one too. Nobody can escape from being one, because the sense of not sharing and wanting more money triggers us. As result they either live in a life full of regret and sorrow.Or in their life nothing goes right for the monsters because they are in such madness and chaos. Because no mater how small or big the monster is it’s life will be a sad and tragic. In conclusion being a terrorizing, horrible monster leads to a life of sadness. Overall the two main monsters in our society are the killer, and the greedy people who don’t like to share.

Each monster is different in a way, but at the end of the day our lives are being changed because of what they do.