"My Hideous Progeny": Complicating Preconceived Notions of Monstrous Beings in "Frankenstein" and "Jurassic Park"

Authors

Megan EngstromFollow

Publication Date

Spring 4-28-2024

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Faculty Sponsor

Dianne Berg

First Advisor

Dianne Berg

Second Advisor

Kourtney Senquiz

Major

English and Theater

Abstract

This project examines and complicates preconceived notions of the monstrous in Frankenstein and Jurassic Park. By engaging with monster theory, I interrogate how the creators are destructive beings and their creations are only trying to fit into their made bodies. I also complicate the ideas of family when interacting with monsters or monstrous places – specifically looking at how isolation/creation of them will affect people. These ideas are questioned to confront a normalized perception of monsters as the villains. By examining the monstrous in Frankenstein and Jurassic Park, I am questioning the very idea of how a monster is created and why those ideas are inhibiting the overall discussion about monstrous beings. This is important due to the ever-changing perceptions of monsters in literature; beginning with the idea that not all created bodies are monsters. It takes a monster to make a monster and those ideas complicate the beings in our care. In order to accept the monstrous, we need to care about them, and to care about them we need to accept their flaws.

Keywords

monster, monstrous, monstrosity, quasi-family, creator, pseudo-parent, creation

Recommended Citation

Engstrom, Megan, ""My Hideous Progeny": Complicating Preconceived Notions of Monstrous Beings in "Frankenstein" and "Jurassic Park"" (2024). English. 5.
https://commons.clarku.edu/undergraduate_english/5

Worcester

No