Touching the Void "Beware that, when fighting monsters," These first few lines made me wonder what Fredrich Nietzche meant. What reminded me of was Joe Simpson'sfight with his own monsters. When Joe fell into the crevasse after Simon Yates cut his rope, he was fighting the monster within him. It made me recall how helpless Joe felt, and how he thought someone was going to be there for him but no one showed up. He was down there alone; fighting himself thinking death was at his doorstep. He had a broken leg and was unstable; he was suffering until the end. Another monster he fought down there was the mountain itself. Siula Grande was a beast …show more content…
To him, this title had a meaning. I think it takes us back to his near-death experience in the crevasse. He had so much hope and optimism but all that hope and optimism got crushed as his sense of survival was fading. He skimmed the darkness of death as if he touched a void that no one wants to enter. Joe knew if he let himself stay there and die if he fell into this void there was no coming back. He was alone, but Joe said no to that void. He took the risk and went further into the crevasse. To me, I think he named it ‘Touching the Void' because he almost let himself drown in that darkness but came back. I felt there was another moment where he wanted to give up but his goal of not dying alone kept him going. During the film where he first broke his leg, he said himself that he saw death. With his broken leg, Joe thought, there was no way I can make it down. Simon said otherwise. I definitely think the title has a connection to Simon. Without Simon, Joe wouldn't have gotten as far down as he did. Simon took the risk of dying on that mountain as much as Joe did. A void is an empty space, with Joe I think he meant by touching that void, that empty space is to see if someone was there for him. Simon was there even if it looked like to the climbing community that Simon abandoned Joe. To Joe, Simon was there for him, in that void Joe was desperately trying to get
In society, there have always been different roles in defining the boundaries between right and wrong; Monsters take a big part of that role. In Jeffrey Cohen’s “Monster Culture,” Cohen explains seven theses which provide a clearer explanation of how monsters take a part in establishing these boundaries. The oldest Anglo-Saxon story written- “Beowulf”- provides three different monsters which all connect to Cohen’s seven theses. In the older version, however, the monsters do not relate to humans in any way, except that they are enemies. The modern version of Beowulf portrays Grendel’s mother to still be evil but also have relations with the humans in the story.
... the creature after being born and rejected from his creator escapes to the woods were he is classified nothing more than a monster, an animal. He then embarks upon the Delacey family, he studies them for many months learning of love, passion and stability. After being discovered he is forced to flee, and again he comes across rejection, pain and suffering. Not only emotionally is the monster rejected but physically too, having been made from corpse’s body parts he is made out of the dead, the forgotten. The point of no given name to the creature adds to the denial of individuality a personality. So to every aspect to a being the monster is denied to almost all of them which led him to self destruction emotionally and physically.
Finally, the irony of Paul's name comes from his death scene, in which he says, "I raise my eyes, I let them move round, and turn myself with them, one circle, one circle and I stand in the midst.... ... middle of paper ... ..." With a crash something black bears down on us"(69) The coffin is protecting Paul, but at the same time, it is a symbol of Paul's death.
Nevertheless in a glimpse, he seems to be utterly examining the existence of monsters; however he is urging his readers and others to completely question everyone and everything. Cultural anxiety signs that prevail society and its behavior are scrutinized for example when Cohen metaphorically compares the monster’s body with the cultural body. We find our true belief as we are invited by those monsters to explore their minds. We are invoked by monsters to have our own culture examined. Cohen’s argument is compelling as he convinces the reader to want to be on his side by using one’s emotion and anxiety to rule over their reason. He creates the reality that everyone is a monster, and coaxes the reader to accept that. As the New York novelist Colson Whitehead once said, “We never see other people anyways, only the monsters we make of them.”
In "Monster Culture," Cohen widely talks about and investigates monsters regarding the way of life from which they climb. Keeping up the formal tone of a scholastic, he battles that monster climb at the intersection of a society, where contrasts develop and nervousness increases. The beast is an exemplification of distinction of any quality, whether it be ideological, social, sexual, or racial, that rouses trepidation and instability in its inventors. The creature or monster is habitually an irritating half breed that challenges categorization its hybridism defies nature. Yet despite the fact that there are unreliable monsters, real individuals can get to be monsters as well. Keeping in mind the end goal to bring oddity under control, the individuals who submit to the standard code of the day bestow huge personalities to the individuals who don't. Nervousness is the thing that breeds them and characterizes their presence. In this manner placing the beginning of creatures, Cohen strives to uncover our way of life's qualities and inclinations. For the larger part of the article, the monster is just the subject of our examination, an extraordinary animal under our investigation.
I like this quote because the author makes me feel distressed for the monster. He is telling the reader that his personality is good, but his life is miserable due to all the conflicts he faces.
Asma, Stephen. On Monsters :An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print.
The quote shows the creature’s feelings towards humanity. He believes that it is not his fault for acting like a monster but humans' fault for they refused to accept him. By isolating the creature they turned him into a monster who wanted revenge against the person who brought him into existence only to suffer. The creature only wanted to belong but when he was continuously treated terribly he saw that it would never happen and became the monster everyone expected him to be.
One of the many staples of horror fiction is the employment of a monster to aide in the fear the reader experiences. A monster gives the protagonists a tangible object to fear. When the fear is tangible the protagonists are able to be drawn into the story in a more concrete manner. The reader is also able to be included in the fear because they can get a full picture of what is scaring the main characters. Unlike ghosts or spirits, monsters provide a visual representation of the fear to be experienced. One pair of monsters stand out from the others, this is the wolfman and the werewolf. On the surface, both are seemingly the same character with a different name, but this paper is going to explore the differences between the wolfman and the werewolf as they appear in fiction and how their different manifestations relates to the characters in the story and those behind the fur. This writer believes that although there are many similarities behind the werewolf and the wolfman, there are a few differences in how the characters are portrayed. This difference is shown primarily in The Wolfman by Jonathan Maberry and The Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen king.
As Simon was trying to tell the boys that the beast did not exist, his death symbolises that mankind can’t face the truth about their inner desires.
In most novel and movies monsters are known to be evil, committing numerous crimes against humanity and are normally the ones that we don’t sympathize with. However, this novel carefully shows the reader that monsters can be good creatures, with a decent heart and act based on the actions of others. The novel shows how the monster should be pitied, rather than criticised. Mary Shelley's “Frankenstein” manages to create sympathy for the creature through speech, actions and mistreatment the creature suffers.
Although the immediate rejection of the creature serves as the basis for his dehumanization process, the creature’s alienation from society is confirmed when it is constantly referred to by the pronoun “it”, and called “monster” and “wretch” by his creator. These words immediately marks the creature as inhuman. In truth, the creature is rejected by his creator for no other reason that his unnatural features, which causes the creature to become void of any real human emotions from another human being. Because of this, the creature begins to learn on his own, and like Victor finds solace in nature. For the monster, nature is his only place of acceptance. Because of his grotesque outward appearance, he is shunned by towns and villages and must escape to the mountains for protection. Nature serves to humanize him. While the cold temperatures of the Alps serve Victor as solace, the monster finds comfort in the forest during spring. The creature states: “Half surprised by the novelty of these sensations, I allowed myself to be borne away by them; and, forgetting my solitude and deformity, dared to be happy.” In nature, the creature begins to educate himself; one crucial turning point for the monster’s pursuit of new knowledge is when he finds the book “Paradise Lost” while in the forest. The monster compares himself to that of Adam and Eve and
Overall, the film The Elephant Man gives us a new aspect about “monster”, and how people think and react to this topic. Besides, Jeffery Cohen’s Monster Theory brings us a more scientific about monsters, and the effects of them in real life. In fact, thesis 1 – Monster’s body is the cultural body, thesis 6 – Fear of the monster is really a kind of desire, and the last one – Monster stands at the threshold of becoming have the significant relationships with the explanations of the life of John Merrick, and the society in which he lives. The argument about monsters will be continued all over again, but at least the film and the theory helps to introduce a much more different ways to look and recognize the real monsters in the real world.
A common way to describe a modern day monster can be described within the soul and mind. Many people have a complex and confused mind. Stephen King states, “ I think that we’re all mentally ill; those of us outside asylums only hide it a little better- and maybe not all that much better, after all.” Monsters can overpower the mind. Many people struggle to listen to themselves, and they let their monstrous conscience take over their actions which will cause harm to them or people around them. It is common for people to battle monsters within their souls. Many people feel too weak to stand up and be free from