Human Characters In Strange Creaturess By Susan Blackmore

The book I decided to read was Spirit Animals Book 2 – Hunted, because I’ve already read the first book and decided to read the second one for this task.

Throughout history we see monsters taking many different shapes and sizes. Whether it be a ghoul in the midst of a cold nightly stroll or a mass genocide, monsters are lurking everywhere and our perception of what monsters truly are, is enhancing their growth as a force with which to be reckoned. Fear of the unknown is seen throughout time, but as humans progress we are finding that things we once were afraid of we are less frightening than they once were. Monsters can evoke fear in their targeted victims rather than physically harm their victims. For instance, every year a new horror film is released with the next scary beast, but why do we call something a monster even if we know it is not real? Even certain people and creatures are

Monster by Sanyika Shakur yields a firsthand insight on gang warfare, prison, and redemption. “There are no gang experts except participants (xiii)” says Kody Scott aka. Monster. Monster vicariously explains the roots of the epidemic of South Central Los Angeles between the Crips and the Bloods that the world eventually witnessed on April 29, 1992. As readers we learn to not necessarily give gangs grace but do achieve a better understanding of their disposition to their distinct perception in life.

OCD is “a phrase that gets to the existential core of worry, a clenched, demonic doubting that overrides evidence, empiricism, plain common sense” (Slater234). The meme theory states that a meme consists of “everything that is passed from person to person” (Blackmore 37). In “Strange Creatures” by Susan Blackmore and “Who Holds the Clicker?” by Lauren Slater both authors discuss the control humans have over their minds. In “Who Holds the Clicker” Lauren Slater discusses DBS (deep brain simulation), which is a type of psychosurgery in which electrical impulses are sent to certain portions of the brain to control and change the emotions one feels. She discusses both the positive and negatives of deep brain simulation through a specific patient named Mario and also presents the control DBS can have over one’s mind. Similarly, Blackmore in “Strange Creatures” discusses the meme theory, which consists of any idea that is passed down from person to person. Both authors provide information that allows people to draw conclusions relating to why people do not have control over their minds. Even though some people believe that humans do have control over their minds, Blackmore and Slater both successfully portray that in actuality humans do not have any control over their minds because human thoughts and ideas are unoriginal products of external forces, many human thoughts occur at deeper level of consciousness, and

Pieces of literature often show relationships involving the supernatural. In Macbeth (1606), the supernatural plays an extremely important part in the structure of the plot. It provides a substructure for action, a deeper look into Macbeth’s character and it affects the impact of numerous scenes. In contrast, in Susan Hill’s novel, The Woman in Black (1983), Susan shows how the supernatural can be used in an attempt to make the reader frightened, she attempts to do this through the ghost of Jennet Humfryes who is trying to seek revenge and solace for the injustice that was done to her in her past life and to her son. Once again, the supernatural plays an integral part throughout the story with the ghost of Jennet Humfryes and what occurs at Eel Marsh house. While over three hundred and seventy years separate the two pieces of literature, both explore how the supernatural affects the protagonist’s sanity and both pieces of literature feature the supposed involvement of ghosts which are widely used in plays or novels that feature the supernatural. However, whereas Shakespeare illustrates the destructive effects the supernatural can have on a protagonist’s (Macbeth’s) decision making and how an honourable and well respected man can turn into a dishonourable and largely hated man whom people generally despise. Susan Hill demonstrates the effect of when the supernatural affects a lawyer who doesn’t end up resorting to doing anything dishonourable and who doesn’t deserve the

This quarter, I read Monster by Walter Dean Myers for my book report. Monster was published in April 24, 1999. It’s 281 pages long and A very interesting book. Monster takes place in the court for just about the entire story. Monster takes place in the courtroom.

Amongst the ideas exchanged in chapter one the idea that stood out the most was the reality that regardless of what talent you believe to have or actually contain it means nothing if you do not give everything you have to your craft. Anyone can love something but to have those feelings reciprocated changes the objective entirely. Growing up children wish to be firefighters, ballerinas, and everything in between but their wishes do not ultimately determine their futures. It has been said that a wish is an idea, and well, people carry on with many ideas, all of which don’t really amount to much without a follow through. The Creature goes on to talk about how she has been in plays and only wishes to be in plays, ignorant to the

“Two orphaned girls who wander into a forest to encounter a gruesome creature and live to tell the tale come back years later they come back to relive their experience.”

This book is about people who summon spirit animals. Spirit animals are something that people summon when they get this unique tattoo. When they need their animal they can summon it. In this book the main characters use their animals to fight against the opposite side that are trying to take over the world. However, they still use them as friends and treat them as family.

Blackfish is a controversial documentary that tells the story of Tilikum, a performing killer whale that killed several trainers while in captivity. This then led to a court case between Sea World and OSHA, the “Occupational Safety and Health Administrations”. The CNN documentary also shines a light on the negative effects of taking orcas away from their natural habitats and placing them into captivity for extended periods of time. Blackfish is emotionally captivating and caused many individuals to question what they know about nature and the intelligent orca whales. The artifact I chose to analyze is a scholarly article, “Response to Blackfish: A Case for SeaWorld”, by Mahalia Burford.

Everything done, from the time one is born, is acquired from what is seen around

In a nutshell, this article discussed the connection between a woman's behavior and body, and some surgeries performed during the nineteenth century in regards to that. The article begins by mentioning the first gynecologic surgery performed in America and how the results were published leading to further analysis. Benfield then writes about the general idea of these surgeries and describes the kinds of women that were being used as guinea-pigs for an experiment. Women that were non-working and dependent on a man "economically 'well situated in life'" were chosen as test subjects (2). Next Benfield discusses some of the emotional effects of these surgeries on women. At first women were eager to have these surgeries which unfortunately, encouraged

The story named “People of Darkness” was written by one of the famous writer Tony Hillerman. It was published in Navajo Nation in Southwestern United States, in the year 1980. This book contains around 304 pages. It is a detective fiction story. The story is about a male named Jim Chee, who will have lots of mysteries to unfold.

The short story called “Lusus Naturae” or better known in its translated title as is known as Freak of Nature is a work of fiction with the main character is commonly referred to or treated like a monster. The main character that Margaret Atwood creates tries to be an obedient and virtuous daughter even though she has become deformed and sick with hallucinations. The monster tries to do everything she can do to help her family even faking her own death to benefit her sister. The protagonist shows us how women were treated if you were not normal or if you had a disease but I feel like this story relates to how society treats women who are what to be independent.

In Susan Blackmore’s paper, “Strange Creatures”, she claims that humans are nothing but hosts to metaphorical parasites called ‘memes’. A meme is something that is passed from person through person by imitation. Blackmore’s theory of memetics suggests that memes are feeding off of humans in terms of wanting to be continued without any benefit to the individual. This theory is comparable to human nature and to the many aspects of what makes humans human.