Full sentence outline for Critical Essay 2
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FULL SENTENCE OUTLINE FOR MONSTER TROPE: CRITICAL ESSAY #2
RESEARCH QUESTION
: In 4-5 sentences, contextualize and express your research topic as a
QUESTION.
In the world as we know it, monsters are the “bad guys”, the antagonists, the creatures people
are scared of, but in the novel, the title of “monster” is flipped on its head. We empathize with
the monsters of the novel because they are the “others”, the misunderstood ones. Why are the
monsters the good guys and why is Karen hiding behind a monster persona?
YOUR CLAIM:
In no more than three sentences express your CLAIM OR ARGUMENT to your
question above here.
Karen hides behind her monster persona because it is the only way she can accept her sexual
orientation, identity and the world around her.
INTRODUCTION:
Your introduction should express the CLAIM, provide CONTEXT and SCOPE,
explain the importance of your RESEARCH QUESTION for the text you are analyzing. Your
Introduction should give the readers a clear sense of what will be covered in the essay.
Write your full Introduction paragraph here.
A hero and a monster, these are characters that are always present in good fairy tale stories.
The protagonist is the one that is learning something along the way, and they get the most
growth when they beat and kill the villain; the monster. The monster is always the cunning one,
the trickster that acts according to its own needs, and cares not who they hurt on the way to
getting what they want. However, this common monster trope is flipped on its head within a
peculiar story found within the journal pages of Emil Ferris’ character. Emil Ferris is an American
writer and cartoonist, who after contracting West Nile fever and becoming paralyzed from the
waist down, wrote her graphic novel My Favorite Thing is Monsters (2017), while in recovery.
Ferris’ novel follows Karen Reyes, a ten-year-old werewolf detective girl, while she tries to
uncover the mysterious death of her neighbor Anka. The novel also follows Karen’s journey with
identity, sexual orientation, grief and growing up amidst the civil rights movement. Ferris’
unique style shows Karen’s life through a mix of illustrations that go outside the normal comic
style. Within the intricate cross hatching drawings, Emil Ferris uses symbols, hyperbole and
character backstories to show the way Karen deals with her identity, and why she hides behind
her monster persona. For the only way Karen can accept herself, is if she sees herself as a
werewolf, showing that the monsters are the most misunderstood of all. Within its pages, the
reader learns about Karen’s life through her point of view, learns about art appreciation and
about what it really means to be a monster.
MAJOR POINT #1:
In 2-3 sentences, describe the first major point you will analyze to prove your
overall claim. Your language should express the connection between this point and your overall
claim.
Karen hides behind her monster persona because it is a way for her to process her sexuality and
identity. Karen is constantly a werewolf, which is symbolic for change.
TEXTUAL EVIDENCE/SUPPORT FOR MAJOR POINT #1:
In 2-3 sentences, describe the elements
of the text you will use to develop your analysis for Major Point #1.
Ferris uses monsters as symbols of the misfits or the others. It is better to be a monster than to
be a part of the MOB. The monsters are the victims of the humans, as seen in the page where
Karen gets bullied. Karen can not look at herself as human because it makes more sense to be
LGBTQ+ and a monster.
RESEARCH SUPPORT FOR MAJOR POINT #1:
In 2-3 sentences, describe the secondary sources
you will use to develop your analysis for Major Point #1. List your sources here in MLA.
The thesis highlights important points on why Karen is hiding her lesbianism behind her
werewolf persona.
Rossberg,
Jennifer.
“My
Favorite
Thing
is
Monsters
Theory:
Horror
Comics
and
DeMONSTRating Difference in Emil Ferris’s “My Favorite Thing is Monsters.””
CUNY Academic
Works
,
2022,
academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5715&context=gc_etds.
Accessed 6 Nov. 2023.
MAJOR POINT #2:
In 2-3 sentences, describe the second major point you will analyze to prove
your overall claim. Your language should express the connection between this point and your
overall claim.
Karen is using the monster mask to make sense of the world around her. She is constantly
relating things back to art and monsters. It is the way she sees the world. Monsters are her safe
place, because she identifies with them. She also tries to escape reality through monsters.
TEXTUAL EVIDENCE/SUPPORT FOR MAJOR POINT #2:
In 2-3 sentences, describe the elements
of the text you will use to develop your analysis for Major Point #2.
Emil Ferris uses hyperbole to further emphasize the way that character sees the humans as
“evil” and the way she over dramatizes certain events. Like Karen and Missy hugging in the
stairs, or her view of the MOB at the beginning of her dream. She escapes reality by convincing
herself that monsters will help her mother, and by deflecting her problems with Anka’s story.
Use of the macguffin, Karen taking drugs.
RESEARCH SUPPORT FOR MAJOR POINT #2:
In 2-3 sentences, describe the secondary sources
you will use to develop your analysis for Major Point #2. List your sources here in MLA.
This document is an experiment that shows the people that tend to use escapism and why they
do so.
Hirschman, Elizabeth C. “Predictors of Self-Projection, Fantasy Fulfillment, and Escapism.”
Journal of
Social Psychology
, vol. 120, no. 1, June 1983, pp. 68-75.
EBSCOhost
,
https://0-doi-org.library.scad.edu/10.1080/00224545.1983.9712011.
MAJOR POINT #3:
In 2-3 sentences, describe the third major point you will analyze to prove
your overall claim. Your language should express the connection between this point and your
overall claim.
The way Karen needs to identify with monsters to feel comfortable. She can not look at herself
through a human lense, and her way of categorizing everyone else is through a monster lense or
a human one. Karen can only feel like she is not flawed if she identifies with a monster, because
monsters are inherently flawed creatures. If she was not a monster then it would mean that she
was human, and why would humans hurt her like that?
TEXTUAL EVIDENCE/SUPPORT FOR MAJOR POINT #3:
In 2-3 sentences, describe the elements
of the text you will use to develop your analysis for Major Point #3.
Karen makes everyone a Monster. Frank, Sandy, Missy, even Anka. She likes to think of the
misfits as monsters because if they are not, then what are they? The label monster is a
scapegoat for any flaws Karen might have. Character backstories help illustrate this point.
RESEARCH SUPPORT FOR MAJOR POINT #3:
In 2-3 sentences, describe the secondary sources
you will use to develop your analysis for Major Point #3. List your sources here in MLA.
This source explains common meanings and symbolisms for monsters. Some are old and some
are more modern.
Bayiley, Ashlee. “Monsters: Classic to Contemporary Symbols.” Culture, Society and Praxis
Volume 7, 2008, https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/csp/vol7/iss1/6.
COUNTER ARGUMENT:
Discuss at least one counter argument to your claim or reading of the
text. This could be you anticipating a disagreement or challenge to your readings. Or, this could
be an already existing reading of the text that comes to different conclusions.
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One might argue that Karen does not make everyone that is a misfit into a monster. For
example, Deeze is not represented as a monster character, even though his introduction is of
him facing xenophobia. So Karen is not projecting her monster identity onto every person she
sees to be othered.
REBUTTAL:
Provide your thoughtful rebuttal of the counterargument.
The reason Deeze is not a monster and instead is a human, is because Deeze is the villain. Most
characters in the novel are good or bad, but Deeze is both. He can not be a Monster because he
is a killer, a macho man and not very responsible. Karen adores him either way, but she can see
the darkness within him and therefore he does not qualify him to be a Monster.
CONCLUSION: In 2-3 sentences describe what you will include in your Conclusion.
Emil Ferris uses hyperbole to show the way Karen sees the world and blows things out of
proportion to make really good people and really bad people. The use of symbolism shows the
way Karen understands her sexuality by her hiding behind the monsters she adores. And the use
of character backstories serve the purpose of showing the way Karen can only like herself if she
sees herself and others through a monster lens.
WORKS CITED
List your primary and secondary sources here in MLA.
Ferris, Emil. My Favorite Thing Is Monsters: Volume 1. Fantagraphics Books, 2017.
Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome. “Monster Culture (Seven Theses).” Monster Theory: Reading Culture.
University of Minnesota Press, 1997, pp. 3 – 25.
Hirschman, Elizabeth C. “Predictors of Self-Projection, Fantasy Fulfillment, and Escapism.”
Journal of Social Psychology
, vol. 120, no. 1, June 1983, pp. 68-75.
EBSCOhost
,
https://0-doi-org.library.scad.edu/10.1080/00224545.1983.9712011.
Rossberg, Jennifer. “My Favorite Thing is Monsters Theory: Horror Comics and DeMONSTRating
Difference in Emil Ferris’s “My Favorite Thing is Monsters.””
CUNY Academic Works
, 2022,
academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5715&context=gc_etds.
Bayiley, Ashlee. “Monsters: Classic to Contemporary Symbols.” Culture, Society and Praxis
Volume 7, 2008,
https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/csp/vol7/iss1/6
.