Monster Culture By Steve Cohen

In this reading, Cohen proposes a sketch of a new modus legendi, meaning, “a method of reading cultures from the monsters they engender.”(Monsters page 11) He also says that he’s going to break some rules from recent cultural studies. Now, Cohen offers seven theses towards understanding cultures through monsters by their character, appearance and representation, such as: Vampires, the Alien, Frankenstein, Werewolves, Grendel, the Boogey man, and etc.

In “Possessing Nature: The Female Frankenstein”, Anne K. Mellor argues that Victor Frankenstein, an anti-feminist, competes with nature when he attempts to make females obsolete by creating a creature outside of natural birth, thus dooming him to endure nature’s vengeance. To exemplify that Frankenstein intends to strip women of their “cultural power”, Mellor establishes the social division between sexes, then goes on to analyze Frankenstein's fear of women, which leads her to note his favor for male relationships, and lastly cover nature’s revenge (1).

You cant steal a culture was written by John McWorter. He is writing this paper to a general audience, or anyone interested about culture appropriation. Jon McWorter is an american studies teacher at Columbia University. McWorter connected with the topic because he sees the problem everyday. His arguments strongly written, and he is trying to explain that everyone thinks culture appropriations wrong, but its just a normal thing. His opinion is clearly stated that culture appropriation is fine. People are jus taking it the wrong way. It should be flattery not offending. McWorter states his thesis statement in the first sentence. He uses logos to explain his essay. He gives a lot of examples of where culture appropriation is used in the wrong way, or taken the wrong way. Like when he references Harlem and Miley Cyrus. The main one was when White gay men imitate black women. I thought the essay was very convincing, not just because I agree that culture appropriation isn 't a bad thing but,because of the great references.

The story of St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell, demonstrates several types of individuals which a society holds. For instance, there is the independent type of character, they are the ones who do not like to go with the flow. In the story, it was portrayed by one of the main characters named Mirabella, the youngest among fifteen girls. Another, are those types that go along with the norms, they are the individuals who generally do what the society approves of, and no qualms associating with others. It was exemplified by another main character, Jeanette, the girl who easily adopted the human ways. Lastly, those who lies in the middle, these are the types of people whose eyes are open and could understand how to “read the map and navigate the ship”, which was put into character by the girl named Claudette, who’s the narrator as well. The portrayal of social classes propelled me to choose this story, which led me to analyze and restate for better understanding of the underlying messages which the author wants to relay to its readers. Though it has a bit of fantasy incorporated in the story by adapting the characters of werewolves, it even highlighted its purpose to explain the author’s ideas. For that, I inferred that the main argument which the author wants to share is that even a maverick in an extreme condition can be subject to conformity, given the chance for rehabilitation or training to become adapted to the norms behaviors.

For centauries, women have been forced to live life in the outskirts of a male dominated society. During the 1800’s, the opportunities for women were extremely limited and Mary Shelly does an excellent job in portraying this in her gothic novel, Frankenstein. Furthermore, in this novel, Mary Shelly shows how society considers women to be possessions rather than independent human beings. In addition, the female characters rely heavily on men for support and survival, thus proving their inability to do it on their own. Lastly, the female characters in this novel are in many ways victimized by the male characters. In conclusion, in Mary Shelly’s novel Frankenstein, the female characters always fulfill the limited and archetypical roles that

The book I chose is called Monster by Walter Dean Myers. This novel won the Coretta Scott King award , the Printz award , and was also a National Book Award Finalist. Monster is the name and thing that Steve considers himself as he has gotten in a bit of trouble. This novel took place in Harlem New York in mid year of 1997. Steve harmon was in a drug store while some of the people he has been seen around the neighborhood with stuck the place up and murdered the owner of the store in cold blood now he is on trial for Felony 1 murder and this is the story of his trail. Our lives compare to each others in many ways. There are thousands of inferences that could be made

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?”.

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.

In the story “The Monster Calls “ written by Patrick Ness inspired by Siobhan Dowd, the most interesting character that I thought was interesting was the monster . The monster was a mysterious and unusual character but always had a space in his heart to do good for the world behind.. He helped the people but in a real weird way. For example when he told Conor them first story when the Monster said that it chose to save Witch/Queen , Conor was thrown into a loop and did not not know what to think. When he asks the monster how it could save a murderer, the monster says, "I never said she killed the farmer's daughter.

“Stories are wild creatures, the monster said. When you let them loose, who knows what havoc they might wreak?”

Her place as an outcast to society affords her new insight to the rationale of the common folk. Consequently, after her quarrel with the man in the woods she reflected, “When demons are required someone will always be found to supply the part, and whether you step forward or are pushed is all the same in the end” (Atwood 5). This observation illustrates the impact that societal prejudices have had on her way of thinking, and emphasizes how she grew to fit the role that had been prescribed to her. In other words, people find comfort in the belief that monsters are the stuff of legends when in reality they are bred out of one’s own

In this article, Deborah Lindsay Williams, a professor of literature at NYU, offers her researched and credible insight on how Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein can be considered a feminist novel. She starts by explaining how many of her students question how Shelley’s novel can be considered a feminist novel when there are no inspirational or imperative women characters. However, Williams asserts this was a purposeful decision on Shelley’s part, making one part of her novel a commentary on how the lack of women affect the way the the narrative unfolds. To demonstrate her point, Williams considers Victor’s refusal to create a female monster. Ultimately, Williams comes to the conclusion that Victor’s refusal to create the woman creature stems from

Throughout time, beauty is seen differently through individual’s personal lenses. Most individuals admire beauty depending on their standards of what they think beauty is and how they interpret it. Beauty is relative and varies within different societies and cultures. The problem lies within those individuals who are constantly rejected from society and seen as “monsters” in the eyes of many. The reading by Stryker proves how transsexuals and Frankenstein’s monster are rejected from society due to their lack of “beauty”. Both suffer personal gender acceptances because of their human embodiments.

In “Man Has No Nature,” Jose Ortega argues that man must earn his life metaphysically. Ortega’s strongest argument towards this belief can be seen as the process that one must go through to earn their life. Ortega has the ability to, through only four pages of writing, describe man’s nature and how that seems to effect his choices. In this paper, I will make evident all of Ortega’s evidence that, man must determine what he is and then make him that belief in order to earn his life metaphysically.

All throughout history, cultures and societies across the globe have utilized monsters and creature to illustrate anxieties and fears that they possess. The same can be said for works of literature and art. These authors use these anxieties, personify them, and use them to exaggerate the fears of the readers. In short, the monsters/creatures that are developed in each literary era render and personify the biggest anxieties and viewpoints of the society that shaped the monster/creature In the case of the Victorian/Romantic era in British Literature; many authors discussed the many conflicting feelings about science and the social position women at the time.