Butler´s Characterization Shori

The idea of what a monster is and how it pertains to modern day society has fascinated readers and writers for decades. Before taking this class, I was aware of what a monster is and the function it served in today’s society. Furthermore, after taking this class, I am now aware of what a monster truly is, and what really separates a monster from a regular person. The piece of text that I mainly chose to focus on and elaborate closely to demonstrate the aspects of a monster is appropriately named, Monster, by Walter Dean Myers. The reason I chose this piece of literature is because, Monster thoroughly elaborates what a monster is in todays society and how it functions in the modern day world. In this essay I will elaborate on

In Susan Stryker’s “My Words to Victor Frankenstein Above the Village of Chamounix: Performing Transgender Rage”, Stryker creates an intimate linkage between Frankenstein’s monster and the transsexual body. Like Frankenstein, a transsexual person owns an “unnatural” body and an identity defined completely by medical practice. And like Frankenstein, a transsexual person encounters countless challenges, discrimination, and hatred from normal people. Normal people deem transsexual existence as the embodiment of a monster which possesses “an unassimilable, antagonistic, queer relationship to a Nature” (Stryker 5). However, instead of running away, Stryker chooses to embrace co’s transsexual identity and lives in darkness with an identity of a seemingly cruel and despise-able monster. Stryker starts to pose a question that demands an answer: “Is monster really inferior than a human being, and does a natural body actually exist?”.

Historically, men dominated over women through superior tendencies and institutionalized oppression. Women, denied explicit rights that men were granted, lived under patriarchal control and were subject to suppressing positions in society. However, this institution of patriarchy has not been the prominent power establishment throughout the entirety of historical accounts. Women have been displayed in a reversed position of power, unconventionally obtaining supreme authority over men. One eminent instance of this matriarchal jurisdiction is mental institutions of the 1950s. The majority of decisionmaking staff members on these wards were female nurses, while the majority of mental patients under their authority were male. Many used this unorthodox subordination of men to exercise their reversed gender power and and establish a matriarchy in which they had complete dictation over the men’s actions and decisions. This system is evidently illustrated through female domination in the lives of male mental patients in Ken Kesey’s, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. The patients on the ward are constantly subjected to supreme female control both by women within the ward and by females in other areas of their lives. Through this, women retain their matriarchal control through an evolutionary reversal of conventional gender roles, induced by authoritative emasculation.

There is a division between males and females from puberty and into life. This division is most highly expressed in labor. As is typical for many societies, men hunted, fished, went to war, while females collected plants and took care of children. The subarctic people are a hunter-gatherer society. Women in this society are inferior to men. They were not treated well and often beaten by their husbands (Sutton, 87).

Traveling from England to Transylvania, and from spectacular castles to ominous graveyards, sacrifices are made in attempt to rid the world of an age-old-monster. In Dracula, by Bram Stoker, elements of supernatural events and issues of the modern world are brought to life. Stoker depicts numerous accounts of male dominance over female counterparts indicative of visible gender roles and divides. In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, by Thomas C. Foster, symbols of male and female disparities are illuminated and conveyed through physical markings, sexual interactions, and political policies. The expressed gender-specific pretexts permits the atrabilious guises women undertake for the approval of their society.

“How could it feel so good when it should be disgusting and painful?” (Butler 75) These words spoken by Theodora, an elderly white woman, about her symbiotic and sometimes sexual relationship with Shori, a black “elfin little girl” (Butler 75), express the societal fear that Octavia Butler exposes in her characterization of Shori as a monster. Shori is a monster because her very existence is a testament to the blurring of historically concrete lines. She is androgynous, vampire and human, black and white, a child with adult strength and urges. Shori’s relationship with her human symbionts and other Ina usually defies normal standards of behavior and acceptance by using pleasure instead of pain as a mechanism of control and abandoning

In “Monster Culture”, Jeffery Cohen develops an idea that “monsters” are essential to society. In fact, they construct what is “normal”, “rational”, and “civilized”. Specifically, “monsters” are foundational to how we view ourselves. “Monsters” contain all the traits deemed unacceptable and odd. It can be concluded that every outlier is a “monster”. In St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, Karen Russell tells the story of a pack of wolf girls who are transitioning into young ladies. Russell delves into society’s need for conformity, gender roles, and change. The story is told from the point of view of the middle wolf girl, Claudette, and follows her on her journey from wolf to woman. In relation to Jeffery Cohen’s idea of monster culture, Claudette’s journey applies to Thesis IV “The Monster Dwells at the Gates of Difference” and part of Thesis I “The Monster’s Body is a Cultural Body”. Claudette is torn between two worlds and she has to learn how to successfully “move between the two cultures”. Through Cohen’s theses, Karen Russell uses character development and dialogue to depict the inner and outer battle of societal femininity and individualized femininity and the decision of accepting either side. The presence of “monsters” are essential for this acceptance.

Over the years, the monster in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has become universally portrayed in one way: a tall, green-skinned, dumb brute with no language or reasoning abilities. Society has turned the story of Frankenstein into a mere horror story, dehumanizing the monster more than was intended in Shelley’s novel. However, the message of Frankenstein is a far cry from the freak show displayed by the media. While many people may only see Frankenstein as a grotesque story meant to thrill its audience, its purpose goes much deeper as it advocates for the equal rights of women in society.

In contrast, there is a fear of becoming the “Other.” In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the charismatic figure seems benevolent; however, his deceiving appearance turns out to be a creature that corrupts mankind – his attractiveness acts as a lure to display vice in people. Dracula targets virgins to become his lamias – so that innocent women

We have all heard of strange and gory stories that are supposedly true, experienced by a friend of a friend. Whether true or not these so called "urban legends" tend to circulate throughout society thriving on each individual's fears and curiosity. What most people don't realize is, within these tales lies the attitudes and values of a community. These tales do not survive throughout the years solely on the basis of their entertainment level, but due to the fact that they reflect society's fears and anxieties. In dissecting these tales one can indefinitely find the social fallacy against females that has existed for decades, as well as the fears women have against men. However, more importantly, the values that society hold are

In Margaret Atwood’s “Lusus Naturae”, a young girl/ monster is hidden away from the world because her family will not accept her appearance. While her parents thought keeping her locked up in the house was a beneficial decision, she became isolated and lacked the knowledge and understanding of the world outside her four walls. Even though “Lusus Naturae” is a dark, twisted, and frightening tale there is more to the story than just a “freak of nature” being hidden from the world. One must read the story more in depth and closer to illustrate the themes of women’s roles in society in relation to the monster. Margaret Atwood uses symbolic parallels and narrative tones to exemplify her views of women’s historical roles in society.

In John Patrick Shanley’s play, “Doubt: A Parable”, and Paula Vogel’s play, “How I Learned to Drive”, both have strong themes of sexuality in the forms of sexual predation and pedophilia. Although these two stories are considerably different, the message is the same. “Doubt” is a play that concerns a mystery over whether or not a boy (Donald) has been raped by a priest, and “How I learned to Drive” is a play about a woman (Li’l Bit) who reminisces about the sexual molestation and the emotional manipulation she had to endure at the hands of her uncle. Although these plays both have main theme of sexuality, they each have vastly different settings, desires, and outcomes. In this essay, I will compare and contrast the theme of sexuality in both of these plays.

Gloria Jean Watkins, known by her pen name Bell Hooks (the name of her great grandmother), was born September 25, 1952. She grew up to be the author of more than three dozen books, the topics of which range from gender, race, and class, to spirituality, and contemporary media. Hooks attended Stanford University, The University of Wisconsin, and The University of California, Santa Cruz, eventually earning her P.h.D. In her article, “Understanding Patriarchy,” Hooks argues that patriarchy isn’t only harmful to women, it’s harmful to men as well, in different ways. Patriarchy sets rigid gender roles that say women are to be docile, obedient, and nurturing, while men should be violent, dominating, and aggressive. This ideal greatly emotionally stunts men, and makes it so that they cannot express themselves in any way other than aggression. In this article, Hooks was very effective in explaining and giving examples as to why the patriarchy negatively affects both men and women, and that it is up to both to break free from these constraints and work together to end the patriarchy.

Mary Shelley creates an allegory between the community’s reaction to the monster and human nature. The monster physically appeared different from humans; therefore he was rejected by society to the point where he was the target for objects being thrown at him and scared the villagers to the point where they fainted. The monster acknowledges his difference when he said “its unearthly ugliness rendered it almost too horrible for human eyes” (104). The community’s reaction is an allegory to human nature to reject the one’s who are different. Ordinary people are raised to accept those who are like them and avoid the outcasts, therefore the monster is unable to find acceptance among the community.

Biologically speaking, De Beauvoir notes that the sexes are defined in opposition to each other; for example, man is not woman and woman is not man. Their differences are, however, unidentifiable at the most basic of cellular levels. Therefore, the main differentiation of the two genders is demonstrated through sexuality. De Beauvoir goes on to argue that woman’s passive role in procreation reflects her passive role in society, and that society trains women to become subjugated from the very day of their birth. Further, despite the two sexes’ cooperative role in creating new members of the species, men are regarded as those who provide “the stimuli needed for evoking new life” (13) and women who simply enable the new life “to become lodged in a stable organism.” (13) This reinforces stereotypical notions of the virile male and the passive female, notions that are reflected in society as woman takes a