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The Truth about a Monster
Monster is not a friendly term, especially among children, irrespective of the context in
which it is mentioned. Essentially, a monster is a subject that should only exist in fairytales.
However, the first thought appeared in a mother's the mind about drunkard driver who killed her
child is "Monster!" However, she cannot exclusively describe what she called a monster. In this
paper, I attempt to define what can genuinely get portrayed as a monster. Using the information
presented in The Hound of Baskervilles, a 19th-century crime novel by Conan Doyle, I tend to
prove that monsters are not just what they seem to be on the surface and at times they are not
responsible for the grotesque behaviors associated to them.
Initially, monsters were commonly used to describe mythical creatures such as griffins,
sphinxes, and centaurs. They were associated with adverse connotations due to their strange
characters (Conan 146). Progressively, a monster evolved into a more disturbing term whereby it
was popularly used to refer to any creature that displayed misshapen features. For instance, a
child who was perceived to be possessed by demons was seen as a monster. As horror literature
continued to gain roots in the society, the monster became a popular term used with bad
intentions. It could be used to refer to evil characters such as rapists and kidnappers (Conan 146).
Up to date, the term has continued to evolve gaining application under different circumstances.
The most general definition of a monster is a mythical creature whose features vary
between those of a human and an animal. Most often, it is considered to portray cruelty and
