{"id":14937,"date":"2023-04-17T06:01:49","date_gmt":"2023-04-17T06:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/questions\/put-the-monsters-weve-read-about-into-conversation-with-jeffrey-jerome-cohens-theory-of-monsters-7-theses\/"},"modified":"2023-04-17T06:01:49","modified_gmt":"2023-04-17T06:01:49","slug":"put-the-monsters-weve-read-about-into-conversation-with-jeffrey-jerome-cohens-theory-of-monsters-7-theses","status":"publish","type":"questions","link":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/questions\/put-the-monsters-weve-read-about-into-conversation-with-jeffrey-jerome-cohens-theory-of-monsters-7-theses\/","title":{"rendered":"Put the monsters we\u2019ve read about into conversation with Jeffrey Jerome Cohen\u2019s theory of monsters, 7 theses"},"content":{"rendered":"

For this assignment, you will need to put the monsters we\u2019ve read about into conversation with Jeffrey Jerome Cohen\u2019s theory of monsters, 7 theses. More specifically, you\u2019ll use Cohen\u2019s theory as a lens through which to better understand these monsters\u2014why they were invented, what they\u2019re doing, and what their existence can tell us about the societies in which they held such fascination, and the world we live in now. The aim of the assignment will be to better understand and analytically frame the social role of monsters, so that you can have a better sense of what we mean when we talk about them.<\/p>\n

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Step 1: 7 theses is very broad, covering a lot of different topics; it\u2019s too much to effectively deal with in its totality in one essay. Instead, you just need to choose one of Cohen\u2019s these to work with. You can choose whichever thesis you\u2019re most interested in writing about.\n<\/div>\n
Step 2: Think about the monsters you\u2019re most interested in analyzing. You can by all means choose to write about all three, but you need to write about at least two. It\u2019s entirely up to you to choose which monsters you want to analyze and why For instance, you\u2019ll find that the creature in Frankenstein is connected to Satan in Paradise Lost because he reads the poem and finds himself influenced by it. On the other hand, maybe silence of Grendel would be an interesting contrast with Satan\u2019s wordiness. Or maybe you like the wordiness of both Satan and the Creature. Or, as I mentioned, maybe you even want to tackle all three.\n<\/div>\n
Step 3: Once you\u2019ve chosen the thesis that you find most compelling and the monsters you want to work with, the next step is to write a thesis, or main argument for your paper. You should use this thesis as a frame through which to analyze the monsters in at least two of the three texts we\u2019ll read over the course of this unit. That sounds like a lot of work to do, so I\u2019ve written out a sample thesis. This thesis is to serve as a model for you to think about but should not be used as your own thesis. Your own thesis should be demonstrably different, and your own creation. Here\u2019s the sample thesis below:\n<\/div>\n
In John Milton\u2019s Paradise Lost, Satan becomes monstrous in the eyes of God precisely because of his refusal to participate in His perfectly ordered kingdom. Similarly, the creature in Frankenstein only becomes truly detestable to Victor Frankenstein when he won\u2019t go away, when he asks for Victor to make space for his creation in an otherwise pleasantly ordered life. Jeffrey Jerome Cohen argues in _7 Theses_ that this refusal is a central feature of the monster. He writes, \u201cmonsters refuse to participate in the classificatory \u2018order of things\u2019\u201d. Exploring Satan and the Creature through Cohen\u2019s thinking, we find that the monster\u2019s most fundamental feature is that of refusal.\n<\/div>\n
This is not a perfect thesis. To be frank, while it\u2019s limited and somewhat unique, I think there\u2019s still something missing. The reader will want to know why it\u2019s important to think of the monster through the lens of refusal. It\u2019s a question that the essay will have to go on to answer, or one that might be added later to the thesis. That\u2019s something that\u2019s going to come as the essay starts to fill with supporting paragraphs and ideas. A thesis a little bit like a dance in this way\u2014once you write it, you\u2019re always thinking about how everything else you write will support it. Sometimes, you need to change the thesis and sometimes you need to redirect your writing to better support it, but it\u2019s always at the center of the essay informing the subsequent choices you make. What\u2019s important in this thesis is that it has a focus\u2014it\u2019s focused on one of Cohen\u2019s theses and it\u2019s connected Cohen\u2019s thinking to the monsters in a particular way, on the topic of refusal.\n<\/div>\n
Step 4: Conducting research. This assignment asks you to work with two different kinds of texts, primary and secondary texts. For the primary texts, you\u2019ll be using and analyzing at least two of the three texts we\u2019ll read in class this semester, Beowulf, Paradise Lost and Frankenstein. Secondary texts are the kinds of texts you use to better understand or make sense of the primary texts. I\u2019ve given you one of these already, Cohen\u2019s 7 theses. But you\u2019ll need more than that. You\u2019ll also need some secondary sources to help you support your argument about Cohen and the monster\u2019s you\u2019re analyzing. Once you have an idea of what you want to say in your thesis, you can begin to do academic research. This consists of visiting a good academic library to see if you can find books or essays that might help you develop your thinking. Research is important because it helps to put you in conversation with other writers who are thinking about the same topics as you are, it gives you a sense of what other writers are thinking and saying about those topics, and it can help you to corroborate your arguments and ideas. As you write your paper, you\u2019ll cite or quote from at least three of the sources you find in your research. We\u2019ll spend time in class discussing research\u2014everything from what counts as research to where to find it and how to evaluate it once you do find it. So you don\u2019t need to know everything about research right now\u2014only that it will be necessary to see what some other writers have to say about the monster you\u2019re interested in, as this will give you more knowledge and hopefully greater insight.\n<\/div>\n
Step 5: Putting it all together. Now that you\u2019ve got a thesis and you\u2019ve done some research, it\u2019s off to the races. You use the rest of the paper in order to support your thesis or claim. Each body paragraph should seek to support that thesis in a unique way\u2014to make a specific point in support of the thesis. You can do this by using reasoning, by citing the primary texts, and by citing secondary materials as well. This work takes a long time and it is where the bulk of the writing is, but it\u2019s also usually the easiest part of the process because you\u2019ve got the key parts of the essay figured out by this point. If, as you write, you decide that you need to change the thesis a bit in order to account for where your thinking is taking you, that\u2019s fine. Just note that developing your essay is always a process of reckoning what you\u2019ve written with what your thesis is trying to argue. Maybe for instance, in my sample thesis, I decide that the Creature\u2019s form of resistance to social order is somehow different than Satan\u2019s\u2014so different that the two of them can\u2019t be aligned together in any way. If that\u2019s the case, I\u2019ll have to go back to my thesis and adjust it for this change in my thinking. That\u2019s a part of writing and it\u2019s ok to do.\n<\/div>\n
Requirements: 1800 words; MLA Style (including formatting, citation and works cited page); Citation\/quotation from the primary text; citation from at least three secondary sources related to the primary text, or to the topic you are discussing.<\/div>\n
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For this assignment, you will need to put the monsters we\u2019ve read about into conversation with Jeffrey Jerome Cohen\u2019s theory of monsters, 7 theses. More specifically, you\u2019ll use Cohen\u2019s theory as a lens through which to better understand these monsters\u2014why they were invented, what they\u2019re doing, and what their existence can tell us about the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"disciplines":[234],"paper_types":[],"tagged":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/questions\/14937"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/questions"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/questions"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/questions\/14937\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"disciplines","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/disciplines?post=14937"},{"taxonomy":"paper_types","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/paper_types?post=14937"},{"taxonomy":"tagged","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tagged?post=14937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}