What Makes a Monster

This week's readings of "Monsters and the Moral Imagination" and Grimley's "Frankenstein" really hit home with me.  First before I go into the main topic of my post, I wanted to say that I enjoyed reading this comic version of Frankenstein.  I have always had a hard time reading the original story, I always got dragged down in the language.  The imagery helped to give life to the psychological and moral challenges presented in the story.

In the "Monsters and the Moral Imagination" article, Asma points out that perhaps there has been an increased interest in monsters and mayhem due to turmoil in the society.  Especially as we are going through this COVID-19 crisis,  I wonder if there is going to be even more of an interest in monsters and mayhem.  Asma said, "monsters can stand as symbols of human vulnerability and crisis.  Part of our fascination with serial-killer monsters is that we (and our loved ones) are potentially vulnerable to sadistic violence."  In a crisis such as what has been going on with the virus, people are more prone to become these monsters.  A week and a half ago, a man came driving down my main street that I live on and killed his ex wife and shot one of my neighbor's teenage son dead.  I drove down the road five minutes after this all occurred.  This made me think, what would I have done if I had been directly involved?  Also, what makes someone turn into a sadistic monster?  As I read Frankenstein, I felt sympathy for the creature.  The creature was not given the opportunity to learn right from wrong; it was the job of Victor to give him the foundation for a good life.  Instead Victor spurned the creature leading to both of their downfalls.  Society seems to spurn people that are different and it is society who helps to make the monsters real and imaginary.

Image Source: https://allthatsinteresting.com/serial-killer-quotes