Analysis of a Monster

ENG 2089: Assignment Two – Analysis of a Monster

For this assignment, you will write a four to five page paper in which you will analyze something or someone who is considered monstrous and analyze the qualities that creates a sense of monstrosity.

You should not use the standard monsters, such as vampires, werewolves, witches, ghosts, or mythical beasts. Part of what you will be graded on will be your creativity in what you decide to analyze as a monster

Some points or concepts you should consider:

· How does this person/thing represent a cultural fear

· How does this person/thing help the culture face this fear

· What purpose does this person/thing serve in affirming or challenging that culture’s identity

***You will need to use secondary sources. You are required to use at least three, and they may be all from the readings in class. You are required to have a works cited page for this assignment.

You are encouraged to use the concepts set up in the second short assignment, but this assignment is meant to delve deeper into the social construction of this monster and why it is significant to the culture that produced it.

If the monster is a real person or being, you need to focus on the presentation of the person/thing as it is constructed as a monster. In other words, this is not a biography of the person, but rather an exploration of how that person is presented as monstrous.

Your essay should:

· Set up a focus on monstrous qualities

· Give enough detail on the monster so that the analysis makes sense, but not so much that the description of the monster becomes the focus of the paper

· Demonstrate an ability to connect qualities of the monster to theoretical aspects of monstrosity that you have found in the source material.

You will be graded on how well you set up what monstrosity is and how well you connect your monster to the qualities you have set up.

You need to have a cultural significance aspect to this analysis. This means that you must connect your monster to something in the culture that made the creation of this monster necessary to a specific fear or threat within that culture.

This is an analysis, not a description. You should use description of the monster only as it is necessary to your analysis.

Technical Requirements

The essay must be at least four FULL pages in length and no more than five pages.

The margins should be standard one inch margins. You must follow standard MLA format for this essay. MLA format includes: a standard serif font, a heading, a title, page numbers and a separate works cited page. The title need not be overly creative, but must go beyond “Essay Two” or “Assignment Two” The title should convey the content of your essay, even if it is only something like “The Monstrosity of Chubracabra.”

A works cited page is required. You must use proper MLA format for your citations. All the readings have enough information for you to do this correctly.

My requirements include:

The font must be New Times Roman, and cannot be larger than 12pt. You may not use unusual or difficult to read fonts, you should not use bold face or larger print for the title.

If you fail to meet any of these requirements, your essay WILL be penalized.