The Diagnostic Monster: A Narrative Fiction

The novel Monster by Walter Dean Myers is the book I chose to read and do my essay on. The genre Walter chose for the book Monster is realistic fiction. The novel was published in 1999 which is a year after I was borning. The reason why I chose this Novel is because a teacher recommended the book to me a couple year ago but, I never got a chance to read it. I always assumed the book was good because it won three awards. The first award the book won was the National Book Award for young people’s literature. The second award the book won was the Michael L. Printz Awards. The third award the book won was called the Coretta Scott King Award Honor all in which the book won in the same year 2000. The book is told from the perspective of a young african american teenager named steve harmon. Steve lives in harlem where the story takes place. One night steve chose to hang with a bad group of friends and was in a robbery. During the robbery one of Steve’s friend kills the cashier. Now Steve is in jail and going back and forth to court hoping to be proven not guilty of felony murder. Steve and I lives are alike in many different ways although we come from different backgrounds.

In the short story “Interpreter of Maladies” the narrator is inside Mr. Kapasi’s head, so we see the story from his point of view; moreover he is one of the protagonists in this short story. However, in this story we can see another protagonist – this is Mrs. Das. Mr. Kapasi observes the Das family, their habits and manners, their relationships within their family and comes to some conclusions about Mrs. Das after their tet-a-tet conversation. In this conversation, Mrs. Das has partially opened up her soul for Mr. Kapasi; however, Mr. Kapasi will not help Mrs. Das because his sympathy for her diminishes when he hears her confession about her son Bobby. Even though Mr. Kapasi does not truly understand Mrs. Das, this trip through India is

Parasites can manipulate hosts in many different ways. In the article “Suicide Grasshoppers Brainwashed by Parasite Worms,” James Owen describes the relationship between parasite hairworms and grasshoppers. These parasitic worms find a host, such as a grasshopper, and enter the body. After entering the host, the worms cause the grasshoppers to commit suicide by jumping into the water. This article explains how parasites cause grasshoppers to commit suicide, how the parasites enter and exit the host, and how scientists use this information to create a better understanding in research about parasitical behaviors.

1. Monster is a novel written in a screenplay format with Steve’s journal entries mixed in throughout. Do you think this is an effective format for the book? Why or why not?

Parasites are plants or animals that derive benefit from the metabolism of other plants or animals at the expense of the host and without providing some benefit to the host in return.

Imagine the punches, the kicks, the smashing on the table, just to realize the character traits can change everything. Monster by Walter Dean Myers evolves on the fact that being tough is key within life. Steve Harmon, 16 year old boy, black male, is being accused of felony murder. A court case involving James King and Steve Harmon is taking place to see who is not guilty. Steve writes in his journal of the experiences in jail. Through Steve’s writing it is clear that one must be strong and avoid showing weakness.

In the movie Back from Madness, you were introduced to four individuals diagnosed with serious forms of mental illness—Todd, a homeless man with Bipolar I disorder, Naomi, a college student with Schizophrenia, Eric, a young musician with Major depression, and Glen, a middle-aged photographer with severe Obsessive compulsive disorder.

One of the most controversial questions in the novel, Frankenstein is if the monster is really a monster. Osama Bin Laden once said, “ We treat them in the same way. Those who kill our women and innocent, we kill their women and innocent”. This quote is very similar to when the Monster states, “I will revenge my injuries …. I will work at your destruction" (Shelley 104-105). Both, Osama Bin Laden and the monster commit very similar crimes and murders; yet, one was killed by a navy SEAL and the other was let free. Osama Bin Laden was the most hated man in America for years. When the monster commits very similar crimes, most audiences pity him and question whether he, the monster, is a real monster or not. Why is this? In the book, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley demonstrates the manipulative acts of the monster and unjust punishments in order to prove that sympathy is almost as powerful as innocence.

The patient that I have chosen for my diagnostic reasoning paper is a 47-year-ol-Hispanic female. The presenting problem that I have chosen to use as my patient’s chief complaint is back pain. The only other clues that I have to use in order to help narrow my focus is that she is a female, she is 47-years-old, and she is Hispanic. I do not know how long she has been experiencing pain or how severe her pain is. Given these parameters, I will “cast a wide net” as I evaluate my patient and create my list of differential diagnoses.

The study I chose was the Monster Study, it was a study that took place at the University of Iowa in 1939 by two female researchers named Wendell Johnson and Mary Tudor. They conducted an experiment on stuttering. This experiment was done on 22 orphan children in Davenport, Iowa. The children were separated into two groups, the first group received positive speech therapy where the children were praised for how good their speech was. In the second group the children were taught bad speech therapy and the children were belittled for every time they did not speak the right way. At the end of the experiment the normal-speaking children from group two that was belittled developed negative psychological effects, and

Captain Robert Walton: As a failing writer, he sets out on a voyage to the North Pole in hopes of the fame in new scientific discoveries. He rescues the main character, Victor Frankenstein, and record the story as told by Frankenstein.

Similarly, Victor Frankenstein and the creature both want revenge. The creature starts out as good but turns evil and wants revenge after being persecuted by humans because of his looks. He also wants revenge against Victor after Victor destroys the female creature. Victor wants revenge against the creature after figuring out that the creature has murder some of Victor’s family and his friend, Henry Clerval.

“Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody,” says  Mark Twain. Twain’s concept shines through in multiple stories of Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. Human vulnerability glimmers in the dark, while harsh public facades gloom over the daylight. Lahiri utilizes darkness to display true selves, personalities the individual desires to be seen are showcased using light. These devices are especially relevant in the text which is a tribute to human emotion and interaction as well as the power knowledge as on the heart. Two stories this is mainly true in are “A Temporary Matter” and “Interpreter of Maladies”.

The monster giggles while I silently cry. It has curly short brown hair and blue eyes. Its nose is oval with giant, hairy NOSTRILS! Some parts of its skin are bright pink while others beige. It holds me with its two bulging hands, but I can barely endure it. It sits on the moist grass and holds me between its legs. It’s a shame that I had to be captured on such a sunny day.

Through her tasteful selection of contemporary Indian influenced prose pieces, Jhumpa Lahiri traces the unique journey of Indian families established in America. Focusing on the intergenerational aspect of traditional households, Lahiri conveys the emotional rollercoaster that accompanies a person who is branded as a foreigner. In America, there exists a common misconception that immigrants who arrive in this country fully assimilate or seek to assimilate as time progresses. The category I chose was "The Dot of true Happiness." The dot which signifies the bindi, a traditional red mark worn by Indian people, is the source of true happiness among these immigrants.