Open-Ended Essay
In an essay for an exhibit at DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln Ma.,
curator Nick Capasso wrote:
Monsters are everywhere, and always have been. These terrible and
wonderful beings, since the dawn of human consciousness, have
lurked at the edges and stood front and center in all our far-flung
cultures. Their ubiquity and longevity are based on their power and
adaptability as symbols and metaphors for a great number of things,
all centered upon anxiety. Whenever we are bothered, nervous,
confused, frightened, uncertain, threatened, alienated, oppressed,
repressed, confined, irrational, guilty, ill, flawed, sad, or angry
monsters can appear. They are part and parcel of our condition, our
imagination, our spirituality, our arts, and they won't go away - ever.
We need them too much, and hence we are ever finding them,
creating them, carrying them with us, and surrounding ourselves
with them. They are legion.
http://www.decordova.org/decordova/exhibit/terrors/essays.htm
In a well constructed essay that avoids mere plot summary, discuss how a monster in a
work of recognized literary merit functions as a symbol or metaphor for some deepseated emotion or anxiety and how this symbol or metaphor contributes to the overall
meaning of the work.
OR
In a well constructed essay that avoids mere plot summary, compare how the symbolic or
metaphoric use of a monster in two different works of literature contributes to the similar
or contrasting meanings of the two works.
Choose from the list of works below:
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Scoring of Monster Essay
General Directions:
The score you assign each essay should reflect your judgment of the quality of
the essay as awhole.
Reward the writers for what they do well.
The score for an exceptionally well-written essay may be raised by one point
above the appropriate score.
In no case may a poorly written essay be scored higher than a 3.
9–8
These well-focused essays identify the symbolic or metaphoric significance of an
appropriately selected and defined monster and persuasively explain the nature
of the deep-seated emotion or anxiety the monstrosity of the character
represents. Using apt and specific textual illustrations but without belaboring the
plot, they fully explore not only the nature of the character’s monstrosity, but also
its significance to the work as a whole. These essays need not be flawless, nor
must they accomplish all aspects of this complex task equally well. Nonetheless,
they exhibit the writer’s ability to discuss a literary work with insight and
understanding, to sustain control over a thesis, and to write with clarity and
perhaps.in the case of a nine (9) essay.with stylistic flair.
6–7
These competent essays describe the nature and significance of a character’s
monstrosity in an appropriate novel or play, and they discuss how the
monstrosity reveals deep-seated anxiety or emotion that contributes to the
overall meaning of the work. Although not without insights, the analysis provided
by the 7-6 essays is less thorough, less perceptive, and/or less specific than that
of the 9-8 papers; references to the text may not be as apt or as persuasive.
Papers scored a seven (7) will demonstrate more sophistication in both
substance and style, though both 7’s and 6’s will be generally well-written and
free from significant or sustained misinterpretation.
5
These essays tend to be simplistic in analysis even though they may respond to
the assigned task and may offer a plausible discussion of the work. They often
rely upon plot summary that contains some analysis, implicit or explicit. They
may discuss the meaning of monstrosity in a limited manner, or not fully develop
its significance to the work as a whole. However, these essays will not
accomplish all.or perhaps any.of these tasks with sufficient development. The
work itself may be poorly chosen for this essay question; the character.s
.madness. and its nature may not be clearly related to reasonable behavior.
Typically these essays reveal unsophisticated thinking and/or immature writing.