Of Monsters and Men

By: Alex Spears

 What does it mean to be a monster? Sharp fangs, large claws, a hunger for human blood? Most
of us are familiar with vampires, zombies, ghost, and ghouls. But what about these creatures that hide in
the dark corners of our world and imagination makes them the monsters we have come to know and love.
Having an understanding that monsters are more than just made up creatures put on a screen or page helps
us understand the concept of other. Looking at this concept using monsters helps us understand better
what it truly means to be other and in turn, monstrous.
Looking at monsters though a historical and cultural perspective allows us to distance ourselves
from troubling events, that we can look back on them for a close look at what these stories are actually
saying. For example, ghost stories; many people have stories and experiences with those stuck between
worlds. At first glance these may just seem like scary stories, on closer inspection, we see that they often
tell the tail of past trauma. The distance these stories provide often gives marginalized groups a way to
tell their stories. It is important to look at these diverse stories because what is a monster to one group or
culture may be different to another group. The monster body is the cultural body. This means that
monsters are dependent upon the culture. Different cultures will have similar, although different,
monsters that can tell us about the events of that time. Ten thousand years ago we see evidence in Syria
of graves being exhumed and large rocks being placed on corpses. Were these people afraid that the dead
would come back to life? What might have occured at the time to prompt such behaviour. Since there is
no recorded record from that time we may never know. Perhaps was the case in Syria, many monster
stories have their roots in some truth, over time this truth gets dramatised into legend. These legends are
passed down from generation to generation, like a historical game of telephone. Using careful analysis
we can try to decipher exactly what may have happened to spawn the legend. One thing to also look at
when analysing a monster story is the hero. Like the monster the hero also represents the cultural body of
the time. In the United States this is often a white heterosexual dominant male. Although I believe that
even white heterosexual males can be diverse in themselves, it is important to understand the social and
cultural aspect of why they are the ones represented. This is another reason why it is important to read the
monster stories of a diversity or writers. Each one will have its own monster and also its own hero.
Monsters and monster stories are diverse and what is a monster is often a theme in many of them.
In stories like Frankenstein and the Hunchback of Noter-Dame we see that the monster do not neatly fit
into some pre prescribed category. Although these characters may physically embody other, perhaps
the society that ostracized them is more monstrous than the thing in which they have described as other.
When we analyse these stories through a marxist, feminist, or race, and other critical theories, we find
thing that upon first inspection we have missed. Our behavior is a summation of our biology and culture,
this behavior for better and for worse, narrow our gaze of the world. We many never know what it is like
to be part of another group or culture. However, using tools like the monster thesis combined with the
tools like marxist, feminist, and race theory, as well as other theories, may help us widen this gaze.
The main reason it is important to analyze these monster stories the a diverse lense is that it
allows us a deeper understanding and allows us to sympathise with those whose struggles are not their
own. In order to understand a diversity of groups we must know a diversity of groups. A good place to
start is by looking at what they fear. The zombie of Haitian culture spawned as a fear of colonial
enslavement and loss of free agency. Understanding what different groups fear helps us understand how
we can empathise with them and heal past wounds. In order for us to fight these boogie men under our
beds and in our closets we must work together and in order to work together we must understand how that
boogie man got their. We must not only become the hero in our own story, but allow others to be the hero
in theirs.

Table of Contents
Wayward Sisters. - Wayward Sisters: An Anthology of Monstrous Women 3

Claude Mckay- Outcast and Mulatto 3

Dr. Seuss- The Lorax 5

Emil Ferris - My Favorite Thing Is Monsters 7

Isabel Allende - City of the Beast 7

John Ajvide Lindqvist - Let the Right One In 9

Jon Krakauer - Into Thin Air 10

Lemony Snicket - A series of Unfortunate Events 11

Edgar Wallace - King Kong 12

Mary Shelley - Frankenstein 13

Stephen Graham - The Fast Red Road: A Plainsong 14

Stephen King - The Green Mile 15

Victor Hugo - The Hunchback of Notre-Dame 16

Wayward Sisters. - Wayward Sisters: An Anthology of Monstrous Women
The Wayward Sisters is a collection of 25 monster stories from both female and non-binary/
non-conforming creators. Starred by lead editor Allison O'Toole and editor M. Blankier The Wayward
Sisters created a Kickstarter in October of 2017. Both OToole and Blankier were bothe bored by
monster stories where women are only victims, romantic interest, or sexy monster hunters they wanted
something different, so they called for pitches. Wayward sisters is a collection of stories about female
monsters. Within these 25 stories we get a large diversity of tellings. From Love and Fury about two
demon sisters who exact revenge on wrongdoers, Moonless Sea about a captured mermaid made to be the
wife of a fisherman waiting for her chance to escape, or Skin Deep where a fatal car crash led to Izzy
being public figure lecturing other Undead about blending in with the living.
Although this is a collection of multiple stories all with their own stories and characters, this is
exactly why I included this as my intersectional title/work. Not only do the authors represent a variety of
background, the stories they tell so as well. Within the 25 text we see minority characters, queer
characters, intersectional characters, and many others. These are characters that are not often represented
in media and even when they are they are type-cast into a certain role. In the male dominated genre of
monsters it is nice to see those who identify as something other than male tale their stories.

Claude Mckay- Outcast and Mulatto

Festus Claudius McKay, born 1889 was a Jamaican writer and poet who was a key figure in the
Harlem Renaissance, which was a literary movement in the 1920s. McKay wrote about life in Jamaica as
well as poems challenging white authority in America. These ranged from straight forward tails of black
life in Jamaica and America to the more philosophical fiction addressing instinctual/intellectual dualit in
an effort to cope with a racist society. Upon arriving in the United States McKay struggle to find where it
was he fit into a society that hated him. During this time he wrote many poems about subjects like
segregation. The poem Outcast reads :
For the dim regions whence my fathers came
My spirit, bondaged by the body, longs.
Words felt, but never heard, my lips would frame;
My soul would sing forgotten jungle songs.
I would go back to darkness and to peace,
But the great western world holds me in fee,
 And I may never hope for full release
While to its alien gods I bend my knee.
Something in me is lost, forever lost,
Some vital thing has gone out of my heart,
And I must walk the way of life a ghost
Among the sons of earth, a thing apart;
For I was born, far from my native clime,
Under the white man's menace, out of time.
I chose this poem because it frames the United States from the perspective of a black immigrant
in the 1920s . In this story the speaker has succumb to the alien gods losing part of the essential
Blackness that is rooted in Africa. This poem speaks about a romanticized Africa. In the lines I would
go back to darkness and to peace, But the great wester world hold me in fee, darkness and peace seem to
be referring to Africa. The fee that Mckay is referring to may have to do with enslavement. Although
more romanticised Outcast deals with the diversion and separation between White and Black in the
Western world, specifically the United States. This poem is important because it speaks about how
colonialism washed away, by force, much of the culture of Africa. This is important because it creates a
divide within Black people. They do not fit in to the Western world, however they have lost so much of
their African roots they also don't fit in their. I think this is what McKay is talking about when he says
And I must walk the way of life a ghost McKay is talking about being torn between two worlds, on that
doesnt want him, and one that he cannot go back too.
A more literal interpretation about the separation of White and Black America is in his poem
Mulatto. It reads:
Because I am the white mans sonhis own,
Bearing his bastard birth-mark on my face,
I will dispute his title to his throne,
Forever fight him for my rightful place.
There is a searing hate within my soul,
A hate that only kin can feel for kin,
A hate that makes me vigorous and whole,
And spurs me on increasingly to win.
Because I am my cruel fathers child,
My love of justice stirs me up to hate,
A warring Ishmaelite, unreconciled,
 When falls the hour I shall not hesitate
Into my fathers heart to plunge the knife
To gain the utmost freedom that is life.

It seems to me that we see at least two different speaker in this poem, after the first line it seems as though
it is the father speaking. McKay seems to be suggestion that the father is the one who bears the blemish
of his mulatto son. He sees his mulatto son as a blemish on his racial purity. Because of this he distances
himself from him. In the second part it seems as though the son is the one talking There is a searing hate
within my soul, I believe this is a hatred the son has for his father. We later see a reference to Ishmael,
Abrahams bastard son in both the Bible and the Quran. In the Bible Ishmael is ostracised by God He
shall be a Wild man; / His hand shall be against every man, / And every mans hands against him
. (Genesis 16:12). The final lines suggest that unlike Isaac, Abrahams legitimate younger child, the
speaker in the poem would not wait to be sacrificed and marched to his death.

Dr. Seuss- The Lorax

Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known by his pen name Dr. Seuss was a beloved children's book
cartoonist and writer. Geisel was born in Springfield, Massachusetts to Theodor Robert Geisel, and
Henrietta Seuss Geisel. At the age of 18 Geisel left home to attend Dartmouth College. Once he
graduated he continued his education at Oxford University in England where he planned on being a
professor. Their Geisel met his future wife Helen Palmer. After dropping out of college he and his wife
moved by the the United States. Geisel worked as cartoonist full-time after returning to the U.S. and had
articles and illustrations published in magazines including Life and Vanity Fair. Geisel wrote his first
book And to Think That I saw It on Mulberry Street in 1937, after it was rejected 27 times it was finally
published by Vanguard Press. During World war II Geisel served with Frank Capras Signal Corps,
making animated training videos and propaganda posters. Geisels place in childrens literature was
established when challenged to write a childrens primer using 220 vocabulary words. The result of this
challenge was one of Gisele's most successful pieces The Cat in the Hat. Geisel continued to write some
of the most popular children's books ever. These included Green Eggs and Ham and How the Grinch
Stole Christmas. Geisle died at the age of 87 in 1991.
For this anthology I have included Dr. Seuss personal favorite, The Lorax. Published in 1972
The Lorax tell the story of the Lorax who speaks for the trees against the Once-ler. The story starts with a
boy living in a polluted world visiting a man called the Once-ler. After paying ht man fifteen cents, a
nail, and the shell of a great-great-great grandfather snail the Once-ler tells the boy the story of the Lorax.
The Once-ler tells the boy about finding the beautify valley containing Truffula trees and animals. The
Once-ler proceeds to cut down one of the trees to use its foliage to knit a Thneed, a very versatile
garment. The Lorax then emerges from the stump to protest the destruction of the tree as well as the
garment. The next person to pass by purchased the Thneed, prompting the Once-ler to start a business
producing Thneeds. The small shop soon turned into a factory as the Once-lers family came to work for
him. Using heavy equipment the Truffula forest is destroyed and the Thneeds are shipped out. Once
again the Lorax protest, noting that the Bar-ba-loots who eat the Truffula fruits are short on food. Laiter
the Lorax protest again, now noting the polluted air and water forcing more animals out. The onceler tells
the Lorax that he will keep on biggering his business until the last Truffula is felled. Once the last tree
is gone and the Once-lers family and industry leaves, the Lorax gives one look before he disappears into
the smoggy clouds. Where he last stood a small monument is engraved with a single word UNLESS.
Now living in a falling apart house the Once-ler finally understands what the Lorax ment. The Once-ler
then gives the boy the last Truffula seed, telling him if he grows back the forest and protects it, perhaps
the Lorax and his friends will return.
The story of the Lorax is a fable about the dangers of corporate greed and its threat to nature. The
stage is set with the Once-ler personifying the corporation and the Lorax personifying the environment.
The Lorax despite his protest and evidence of damage is powerless to stop the biggering. In the end
both the Lorax and the animals are forced to leave. It seems like living in the new bleak and dirty world
the Once-ler realises what he has done. Towards the end he tell the boy that he finally understand what
the Lorax meant by unless saying: unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going
to get better. Its not. What is important about this story, and the reason I included it is what the Lorax
represents. In the book the Lorax represents the trees because they have no tongues. In real life this can
mean two things, either the Lorax is supposed to represent those who protest environmental destruction.
Or, what I believe, the Lorax represent the environment itself. I believe the Loraxs protest represents the
the birds forced to migrate, and the fish that die in the polluted water. All of these are the protest of the
Lorax, and like the Lorax, ignored. Like in real life, only once everything is dead and gone do we realize
we have made a mistake. Like the book it is they young generations that must then bear the burden of
rebuilding what was stolen.
Emil Ferris - My Favorite Thing Is Monsters
Emil Ferris is an American writer, cartoonist, and designer. Ferris debut in publishing where her
graphic novel My Favorite Thing is Monsters. Ferris was born in South SIde Chicago and grew up on
North Sides Uptown. Ferris worked as a graphic designer before contracting West Nile virus from a
mosquito. Ferris woke up in the hospital three week later, paralyzed from the waist down, unable to
speak and no use of her right hand. Ferris was the single mother of her 6 year old daughter at the time.
Ferris eventually recovered and went on to get an M.F.A. in creative writing from the School of the Art
Institute of Chicago.
My Favorite THing is Monsters tells the story of 10 year old Karen growing up in the late 1960s
Chicago. Karen is a lover of monster and outcast by her friends. The main story centers around Karen
looking into the murder of her upstairs neighbor, a Holocaust survivor.
The story is hard to summarize because of the complex nature of the stories within. Although the
story revolve around the murder of Karen's upstairs neighbor. It also tells to story of the struggles of
growing up in 1960s Chicago. The darker side of this story talks about the society where it is impossible
for a young girl to be innocent. From child prostitution, organized crime, street harassment. On the other
hand this story is about the appreciation of fine art and a complex story of friendship among young girls,
gender identity an queerness, and a story about family.
I chose this book because it seems to tackle may of the issues of diversity, especially issues
surrounding impoverished minority groups in the United States. This piece explores elements of class,
sexual orientation, gender, and race.

Isabel Allende - City of the Beast

Isabel Allende is a Chilean-American writer. Allende was born in 1942 in Lima , Peru to
Francisca Llona Barros and Tomas Allende. After Allendes father disappeared in 1945, Allende and her
mother moved to Santiago, Chile where they live until 1953. Between 1953 and 1958 Allendes mother
was married to Ramon Huidobro who was a diplomat to Bolivia and Beirut. Allende attended an
American private school in Bolivia and an English private school in Beirut. In 1958 Allende a moves
back to Chile where she was homeschooled. From 1959 to 1965 Allende worked with the United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organisation in Santiago, then Brussels, and elsewhere in Europe. After the 1973
CIA-backed military coup, Allende was forced to flee to Venezuela, where she lived for 13 years, after
finding herself on a wanted list.
 Allende works often contain elements of magical realism and is famous for novels like The House
of the Spirits and City of the Beast. Allende has been called the worlds most widely read
Spanish-language autor. In 2004 Allende was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters,
in 2010 se received Chiles National Literature Prize, and in 2014 she was awarded the Presidential Medal
of Freedom by President Barack Obama.
City of the Beast tells the story of Alexander Cold. Alex is 15 when he is sent to live with his
grandmother Kate Cold after his father and mother leave to Texas to treat his mothers cancer. Upon
arriving at the airport, Alex finds this grandmother never intended to pick him up. While walking to her
apartment Alexs backpack is stolen, inside was on of his precious flutes. After getting to the apartment
his grandmother gives Alex one of his grandfathers flutes and tells him she plans on taking Alex on an
expedition to the Amazon during his stay. During the first part of the expedition members of the group
are killed and injured. After sending people back with the wounded and to get reinforcement. During this
part of the trip Alex befriends Nadia, the guides twelve-year-old daughter. The two children are
kidnapped by the People of the Mist after Alex starts playing his grandfather's flute. Once they arrive at
the village they are welcomed and given a drug which reveals to Nadia her totem of the eagle. Alex being
15 is put through a rite of passage into manhood where he finds his totem a jaguar. After the ceremony
the Shaman takes Eagle and Jaguar, as they are now called, to the Beast who live in the center of the
forest. The Beast are worshiped as gods by the People of the Mist. Once they get to the City of the Beast,
they meet with the Beast, who are largest sloth looking creatures. During their stay Eagle and Jaguar ask
for gifts for protecting the Beast from the expedition. The Beast agree but only if they exchange
something valuable in return. Eagle exchanges her protection necklace for three crystal eggs, and Jaguar
gives up his flute for water of life to save his mother. Upon returning the the People of the Mist, they
discover it has been taken over by the expedition. Nadia convinces the Indians to receive vaccinations
which unknown to the children actually contain deadly doses of measles, part of a plan to destroy the
Amazonian Indians. With the help of the Beast the expedition is defeated, the remaining members leave.
I chose this because not only is it magical realism which we discussed in class, but the second
part talks alot about colonialism and the treatment of indigenous people. Magical realism, like we
discussed in class, is taking the real world and introducing elements of the magical. In this book both the
People of the Mist and the Beast can be seen as magical, were as the rest of the world is the same. This
idea of magical realism is often present especial in stories about indigenous people who are often talked
about as being magical. The last part of this story is important even in current times. Currently the
Amazon is home to indigenous people who have little to know contact with the outside world. Every few
years we hear of stories where farmers, or loggers, or researchers encounter groups of people no one knew
about. Unfortunately these encounters often turn out poorly, especially for the indigenous people. The
use of a virus in this story to eradicate the indigenous people is important because whether accidentally or
purposefully, viruses are often what lead to the death of indigenous people when they come into contact
with the modern world. The interaction between the modern world and these more ancient societies is
an interesting one. We must ask ourselves, do we try and integrate themselves into the modern world or
leave them in peace to live life as they see fit.

John Ajvide Lindqvist - Let the Right One In

John Ajvide Lindqvist is a Swedish writer know for horror novels and short stories. Born in the
Stockholm suburb of Blackleg in 1968 Lindqvist spent his teen years performing street magic for tourist.
Lindqvist worked as a magician and stand-up-comedian for 12 years before becoming a writer. Lindqvist
debut novel Let the Right One In in 2004 was very successful in Sweden and abroad.
Let the Right One In tells the story of the relationship between Oskar, a 12-year-old boy and Eli, a
centuries-old vampire child. The story takes place in an early 1980s Stockholm and focuses on some dark
elements of society. The book talks about hinks like existential anxiety, social isolation, fatherlessness,
divorce, alcoholism, bullying, pedophilla, genital mutilation, self-mutilation, and murder. Oska lives with
his mother and occasional visits his alcoholic father. A social outcast and victim of merciless bullying,
Oskar gained an interest in the morbid, like crime and forensics, and keeps a scrapbook with murder
articles in it. Oskar befriends Eli who moved in next door, Eli live with an older man named Hakan who
was forced to move and fired from his teaching job after being caught in possession of child pornography.
As the relationship between Oskar and Eli gets closer Eli past life as a human over 200 years ago is
reviled. Among the revelations is that Eli is a boy who was castrated after being turned into a vampire
however Eli dresses in female clothing and is perceived to be a young girl. Hakan serves Eli by killing
people to supply Eli with blood to drink. Eli pays Hakan for this service even though Hakan say he would
do it for free if Eli would allow them to be physically intimate. After a botched kidnaping Hakan
splashed acid on his face before being arrested so he was unidentifiable and his actions would not lead
back to Eli. In the hospital Eli suckes the blood of Hakan but is interrupted before Hakan dies. Not
wanting to turn, Hakan jumps from the window, but still turns into a mindless vampire. Driven by his
desire for Eli, Hakan perseus hin and traps him in a basement where he attempts to rape Eli. Eli is able to
fight off Hakan and escapes. Hakan is later killed by a neighbor who accidently gets trapped in a
basement with him. After Oskar fights back against his bullies, he is pursued and the bullies older brother
and friends try to drown Oskar, Eli kills them and Eli and Oskar flee the city.
 This story is not a very nice story and paints society in a very dark light. I chose this story
because it deals with some very heavy themes and although it is about monsters it is very much up to
interpretation on who the real monster of the story is. As well as having an unknown monster, it also
deals with sexuality. Specifically between Oskar and Eli, who are both male. This story also deals with
mental illness with Hakan and pedifilia, and Oskars father and alcoholism. Some of the important things
to take away from this story is that we are all monstrous in a way. Eli has Hakan kill people for him.
Oskars bullies try to kill him. Hakan is a pedifile and tries to rape Eli. One thing I wondered is how
much in depth. In a way this story tries to convey adolescence. Oskar is exploring himself and his
sexualaity. Because he does not fit the norm of society he is bullied. This is often the story of children
who are queer or do not fit typical binary roles.

Jon Krakauer - Into Thin Air

Jon Krakauer is an American writer and mountaineer best known for his non-fiction books Into
Thin Air and Into the Wild. Born in 1954 in Brookline, Massachusetts to Carol Ann and Lewis Joseph
Krakauer. Jons father introduced him the mountaineering at the age of eight. After graduation High
School in 1972 he went to study at Hampshire College earning his degree in Environmental Studies.
After graduation Krakauer spent three weeks alone in the Stikine Icecap region of Alaska where he
climbed a new route to the Devils Thumb. In 1992 he climbed one of the hardest technical climbs in the
world, Cerro Torre in the Andes of Patagonia. Krakauers most well known climb and the subject of his
book Into Thin Air was his ascent of Mount Everest during the 1996 disaster that was the 3rd deadliest
day in the mountains history.
I chose to put Into Thin Air in this anthology for two reasons. I wanted a story that put man
against nature in this way. Additionally I recently read the book so I feel knowledgeable enough to write
about it. Into Thin Air is the story of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster from the perspective of Krakauer
who was on a guided tour to ascend the mountain. Soon after summiting the group found themselves in
the midst of a storm as they made their way down. Some controversy surrounded the book mainly
centered around the Russian climber and guide Anatoli Boukreev. Krakauer criticized Boukreev for
descending before his clients. Boukreev stated in his book The Climb that he did this with the intention of
bringing back medical assistance.
I wanted to put a man versus nature story in this because in some ways it embodies the idea of
monster represent a sort of desire. Climbing Mount Everest is a dangerous endeavor. Even though
nature does not have intentions it is easy to frame such a perilous place as monstrous, yet every year more
and more people risk their lives to pursue the summit. This desire to charge into the fray, to face these
monstrous places that in every aspect seem intent on killing you, seems like chasing monsters. One other
aspect of why I chose to include this piece specifically is because it can be question whether the action of
people in dire situations are monstrose. In this case monsters are like mountains, and facing either will
test you.

Lemony Snicket - A series of Unfortunate Events

Daniel Handler, better know by his pen name Lemony Snicket is an American novelist best

known for his childrens books, and serving as the narrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events. Handler
was born in San Francisco to Sandra Handler and Louis Handler. After graduation from Lowell High
School Handler went on to graduate for Wesleyan University in 1992. He was awarded the 1992
Connecticut Student Poet Prize.
A series of Unfortunate Events is a series of thirteen children's novels that center around three
orphaned siblings, Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire. The story takes place in a sort of timeless
alternative world, with similarities to the 19th century and the 1930s with contemporary and anachronistic
scientific knowledge. Messages are sent using Morse code on a telegraph, yet their are fiber-optic cables
for sale in the general store. As stated before the story follows the story of the Baudelaire siblings after
they were orphaned when there parents were killed in a house fire. Violet the eldest at 14 is an inventor,
Klause the middle child at 12 is a reader of books with a extraordinary ability to speed read and remember
everything he has ever read after reading it only once, and Sunny, a baby who enjoys biting things, and
cooking later in the series. In the first book The Bad Beginning the children are sent to live with their
distant relative Count Olaf. The siblings latter discover he has plans on stealing the enormous Baudelaire
fortune, which Violet will inherit when she turns 18. After thwarting an attempt by Olof to marry Violet
pretending is part of a play the children go on to live with other people. Through the next six books Olaf
disguises himself, finds the children, and with help from accomplices tries to steal their fortune,
committing arson, murder and other crimes along the way. Between the 8th and 12th book the siblings
are forced to take on disguises themselves after Olaf framed them for his own murder. Through the books
the children continually find more information about the death of their parents, like being part of a secret
organisation. In the last book we see the siblings find a diary written by their parents that answers many
of the questions, and lastly we see them leave with another young orphan on a boat to a remote island.
I chose this book because I think that it tells the plight of orphaned children, a disadvantaged and
minority group who are often not represented. Although the tone of the book is dark and stylistically
gothic, the lives of may orphans could be described as a series of unfortunate events. In the first seven
books we see the children with seven different caretakers and after they are framed for murder, they are
forced to tag along with other groups, like a circus in one book. The story also has to do with greed and
the lengths people will go to acquire money. In this case Olaf attempts child marriage, commits murder,
arson and a wide range of other crimes. The Baudelaire children are the other even Mr. Poe the banker
in charger of their money is reluctant to help the children. I dont know a lot about orphans but it is a
group that i felt is often forgotten about and often othered so i wanted to include a story about them.

Edgar Wallace - King Kong

Edgar Wallace was born into poverty as an illegitimate London Child int 1875. At age 12
Wallace left school. At age 21 he joined the army and was a war correspondent during the Second Boer
War. After struggling with debt Wallace left South Africa and moved back to London where he began
writing thrillers to help raise income. Using the skills acquired reporting in the Congo, wallace created
sthor stories in magazines and later published collections such as Sanders of the River. Wallace moved
to hollywood where he worked as a scriptwriter. Wallace died from undiagnosed diabetes in 1932.
King Kong was 1933 American monster adventure film. The screenplay written by James
Ashmore Creelman and Ruth Rose was and idea by Edgar Wallace. The film follows the story of
filmmaker Carl Denham who is famous for making wildlife films in exotic and remote locations.
Denham charters Captain Englehorn ship the Venture for a new project. Unable to find a lead female
actor, Denham convinces Ann Darrow, a woman he met on the streets of New York, to play the part.
After leaving Denham tells Englehorn and Driscoll, the first mate, that their destination is Skull Island, an
uncharted island located on a map in Denhams position. Denham alludes to the fact that there are
monsters on the island, in particular a monster known as Kong. Upon arriving at the island the crew go
ashore were they meet a group of local people sacrificing a young woman to Kong behind a huge stone
wall. The chief offers to trade six native women for Ann. after refusing and returning the the ship Ann is
taken. Kong, a enormous gorilla-like ape takes and and carries her off into the wilderness just as the crew
arrives to save her. After an adventure on the island Driscoll saves Ann and the two are chased back to
the village by Kong. Enrage Kong breaks down the gate and chases the two back to the shore, where
Denham knocks Kong out using gas bombs. Upon returning to the U.S. Kong is presented on Broadway
shackled in chains as Kong, Eighth Wonder of the World. Kong breaks loose and chases Ann, after
catching her, Kong goes on a rampage through the city until he eventual climbed the Empire State
Building. The ensuing battle between Kong and planes results in Kong falling to his death.
I chose this piece because i believe it represent the potential exploitation caused by a capitalistic
society. In the film Kong is first portrayed as the monster, he fits nicely into the category crisis and gate
of difference category of the monster thesis. However after he is captured and brought in chains to New
York, we quickly release the King is the victim. This could be representative of colonialism and slavery
as well, but I think this more generally has to do with exploitation due to greed. This is a concept we seen
in many aspects of our society. Our natural and human systems are routinely taken advantage of so a
small group of people can make money. In King Kong we see that exploded system fight back. When
this happens in the movie and in real life, we often see that system turned into the monster and destroyed.
A great example of this is human animal conflict. As we expand into large predators natural habitats we
have more instances of often deadly attacks on humans. Our answer to this is often killing the predator
responsible. We push things into a corner and when it tries to get out we turn it into a monster and
destroy it.

Mary Shelley - Frankenstein

Mary Shelley was an English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biografer, and travel
writer. Born in 1797 in Somers Town, London she was the child of the feminist philosopher, educator,
and writer Mary Wollstonecraft and the philosopher, novelist, and journalist William Godwin. Shelley
married Percy Bysshe Shelley a radical poet-philosopher after meeting him between her two stays in
Scotland. Percys economic radicalism alienated him from his wealthy aristocratic family for suggesting
they donate large amounts of money to schemes intended to help the disadvantaged. The two eloped in
1814 and left in secret for France. Mary's best known work is Frankenstein which she wrote in
collaboration with her husband.
Frankenstein tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a scientist that excels at chemistry and other
sciences. Frankenstein soon find a way to impart life to non-living things. Eventually he undertakes the
task of creating a humanoid. Due to the difficulty of replication of small parts, the Creature is made
intentionally large. Despite intentions, the Creature is hideous. Repulsed by his creation Frankenstein
flees. After falling ill and being cared for my his friend Henry, Frankenstein learns of the murder of his
brother William. After seeing the Creature Frankenstein believes the Creature is responsible for his
brother murder. Retreating into the mountains the Creature finds Frankenstein and pleads Frankenstein
hear his story. The creature learned to speak by listening to a family and read when he found some books
in the woods. The Creature swore revenge on the Frankenstein for bringing him into a world that hates
him and demand Frankenstein make him a wife so he can be happy. The Creature threatens to kill
everyone Frankenstein loves if he refuses. Just before finishing Frankenstein releases the ramification of
creating another monster and destroys his creation. Frankenstein fled to Ireland where he was imprisoned
for the death of Clerval who the creature had killed. After being acquitted Frankenstein vowed to fight
the Creature to the death. After Frankenstein married Elizabeth, the Creature strangles he in her room.
Frankenstein shoots the Creature but he escapes. Seeking revenge Frankenstein pursues the Creature to
the North Pole bu collapses from exhaustion and hypothermia before he can find him.
I chose this story because it represents not only the monster dwells at the gate of difference but
also stands at the threshold of becoming. The Creature, much like Quasimoto in The Hunchback of
Notre-Dame is hated because of the way he looks. Unlike Quasimoto though, the Creature becomes
angry and violent. This is an important concept to understand when talking about marginalized groups.
Although the Creature may have been created to look like a monster, he did not become a monster until
that label had been placed upon him. All the Creature wanted to do was be happy. When you push
people into corners or labels that make them monstrous you run the risk of creating actual monsters. In
this case the monster stands at the threshold of becoming because our othering of people can make
monsters where none existed.

Stephen Graham - The Fast Red Road: A Plainsong

Stephan Graham Jones is a Blackfeet Native American author. Graham was born in 1972 in West
Texas. Graham is Alma mater of Texas Tech University and Florida State University. Graham shares a
fan base with fellow autors Will Christopher Baer and Craig Clevenger. Graham hws one the Texas
Institute of Letters Award and a National Endowment for the Arts fellow in fiction.
The Fast Red Road: A Plainsong is Grahams debut novel written in 2000. The story is a gleeful
plundering of the myth and pop culture surrounding the American Indian and the american west. The
story takes place in a surreal pseudo-Western world. The role of Indian, cowboy and outlaws are
tradeable and horses are traded for Trans-Ams. Pidgin, the protagonist, inhabits this world of aliens,
ghost, telekinesis, and water-pistol violence. Pidgin attempts to reconcile the death of this father. After
escaping the porn factories of Utah, Pidgin heads for Clovis, New Mexico the bury his father. Upon
arrival he finds out his father's body has been stolen and with the help of car thief Charlie Ward, he criss
crossed a wasted New Mexico.
Pidgins search helps him reconcile the death of his father along with five hundred years of colonial
myth-making and puts him in a place to rewrite history.
I chose this story because I makes pokes fun at the myths associated with the good ol
American West. Since history is written by the victors, we have lost a lot of the history of the Native
American people. All of our stories about the Wild West, are told through a expansionist point of view.
Hearing a Native American tell these same stories through their perspective and having them make fun of
the stories we know is useful because it allows us to see the other side of the story. The story points out
that not only can we rewrite some aspects of history, but for the preservation of culture and the truths, we
often must.

Stephen King - The Green Mile

Stephen King was born in 1947 in Portland, Maine. King was the son of DOnald and Nellie Ruth
Pillsbury King. After his parents separated when he was little he and his older brother were raised by his
mother. After graduating grammar school in 1966 King when on to study at the University of Maine at
Orono where he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper. King also served as a member of the
Student Senate. King graduated with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach at a High School level.
King marid Tabitha Spruce in 1971 who he met during college. In 1973 King sold his first novel, Carrie.
The success of this book allowed King to take on writing full time. King has published 56 novels, some
under the ben name Richard Bachman, 5 non-fiction as well as almost 200 short stories. Some of Kings
more popular novels are Salems Lot, The Shining, Firestarter, Cujo, and It. More than 74 of Kings
works have been adapted to fill an television. Some of the most famous are The Shawshank Redemption,
The Shining, and It.
Even though King has many classic monster stories I chose The Green Mile even though most
people probably don't consider it a monster movie. The Green Mile is the story of a death row supervisor
Paul Edgecombes encounter with John Coffey, a man wrongly accused of the rape and murder of two
young girls, who has inexplicable healing abilities. Paul first meets Coffey in 1932 working as the bock
supervisor of the Cold Mountain Penitentiary death row, given the name The Green Mile for its green
linoleum floor. Coffey is a large 6 ft 8 in powerfully built black man who has been convicted of raping
and murdering two small white girls. Also in the prison are Eduard Del Delacroix, and arsonies, rapist,
and murderer, William Wharton, a dangerous multiple murder, and Arlen Bitterbuck, a Native American
who killed a man if a fight over a pair of boots. There is a constant struggle in the book between paul and
the other guard who are irritated with Percy Wetmore, a sadistic guard wo intentional agonises the
inmates. Paul and the other guared are helpless to do anything as Percy is the nephew of the Governors
wife. Upon being offered a better position somewhere else Percy refuses to leave until he has supervised
an execution. During his supervision of the execution of Del, Percy intentionally leaves the sponge put on
the inmates head, causing Del to catch fire and suffer an agonising death.
I chose this book even though it is not technically a monster story because I feel like it has a lot to
do with creating monsters and racism. John Coffey although charged in the rape and murder of the two
sister, is innocent. It appears as though Coffey was used as a scapegoat in their death. I think this is to do
with not only his size and lack of education, but his skin color. We later find out that it was Wharton who
commited the crimes Coffey is guilty of. Race played a role in this story because had Coffey been white,
there is a chance he would have been able to defend himself. We as humans like to create monsters to
explain bad things happening. In this case it is John Coffey who is turned into a monster. It is easier to
turn someone who is already an other into a monster because it separates you from the idea that
someone like you could do such terrible deeds. We see heavily in colonialism where other cultures,
usually communities of color, are seen as monstrous and barbaric. Clearly some of the historic practices
of all of the worlds communities are monstrous, but the idea of turning the other into a monster to
shield yourself from the idea that you could become that is wrong and creates prejudice.

Victor Hugo - The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

Victor Marie Hugo was a French poet and novelist. Born in 1802 Hugo is largely considered on
of the greatest French writers. His most famous works include Les Miserables in 1862 and T
he
Hunchback of Notre-Dame in 1831. Hugo was a large part of the romantic literary movement with his
plays Cromwell and Hernani. Hugo was the child of Joseph Leopold Sigisbert Hugo and Sophie
Trebuchet and was born in Besancon in easter Franche-Comte. Hugos first novel Han d'islande was
published in 1823. Hugo was an activist by heart and fought against the death penalty and social injustice
as well as being in favor of freedom of the press. After being elected to the National Assembly of the
Second Republic in 1848 as a conservative Hugo broke with the conservatives after giving a speech
calling for the end of misery and poverty. He also called for universal suffrage and free education. Hugo
was fled from France after Napoleon III seized power in 1851. Relocation to Brussels and laiter Jersey
where he was expelled for supporting a newspaper the citizen Queen Victoria. Finally settling down in
Guernsey where he and his family would live until 1870. After returning to France Hugo was hailed a
hero. Hugo keep on fighting for humanistic progres, in 1879 in his last public address he prophesies: in
the twentieth century war will be dead, the scaffold will be dead, hatred will be dead, frontier boundaries
will be dead, dogmas will be dead; man will live. Although his last phase in politics was considered a
failure he was given on of the greatest tributes to a living writer. Honoring his entry into his 80th year of
life one of the largest parades in French history was held. Hugo died in 1885.
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame tells the story of the bell ringer of Notre Dame. A barely verbal
hunchback, Quasimodo. Quasimodo was abandoned by his mother as a baby and adopted by Claude
Frollo, the Archdeacon of Notre Dame. The story begins when Claude Frollo falls in love with
Esmeralda, a beautiful gypsy dancer. Frollo is torn between his lust for Esmeralda and the rule of the
Cathedral. Frollo orders Quasimodo to kidnap Esmeralda but he is captured by Captain Phoebus and his
guards. The next day Quasimoto is flogged and turned on the pillory for one hour before another hours
public exposure. During Quasimodo's punishment, Esmeralda, the only character to show Quasimoto
kindness, give the man a drink of water. Frollo jealous he cannot have Esmeralda, charges her with the
attempted murder of Phoebus who he himself tried to kill. Before Esmerelda can be executed Quasimodo
saves her and brings her back to the cathedral where she is temporarily safe. Frollo eventually finds
Esmeralda and after another failed attempt to win her affection he betrays her and hands he to the troops
to he hanged. During the execution Quasimoto pushes Frollo off of Notre Dame to his death.
I chose this story for two reasons. It tells the story of a disabled man, ostracized by society
because of his disability. And second, because it tells how a woman, Esmeralda, is only valuable for her
looks to Frollo. Quasimoto was hated by the people of Paris for his looks. Although I believe that Frollo
did care for Quasimoto, he also took advantage of him by forcing him do do things he might have not
otherwise done. Esmeralda on the other had is loved by Paris, and Frollo for her looks. Although she is
kind, it is her appearance that is desirable to the men in this story. This story helps us to understand that
monsters dwells at the gate of difference. Quasimoto scares us not because of the way he acts but because
of the way he looks.
Unfortunately in our society individuals with disabilities, especially physical, are the others,
other. Even in The Hunchback of Notre-Dame we find out that the gypsies are the ones who abandoned
Quasimodo's. Gypsies themselves are a minority and often oppressed culture, yet they to abandon
Quasimodo for his looks in favor of Esmerelda for hers.

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