Review the thesis in your formal draft. Write a revised thesis that has the qualities of an effective thesis as is described in the Effective Thesis handout. Post your revised thesis below.
(10 minutes)
College Writing 1: Monsters and/in Culture | Spring 2018
A COURSE SITE FOR ENGLISH 110, SECTIONS 3 & 26 | Professor Christopher Williams
When most freshmen readers first read “Monster Culture(Seven Theses)” they strain to understand almost everything, so to them, reading the essay might feel like an intricate puzzle that needs to be taken apart, “decoded” and put back together. The advanced vocabulary, historical references, literary and cinematic examples in reference to other scholars that the author uses are not in the scope of knowledge of an average college freshmen, however, they would instantly be known to people who study cultural history, literary history and people who, like Cohen, have diverse historical expertise He writes towards this audience as though he wants them to see the monsters through his eyes, as he bombards them with evidence from diverse areas of knowledge as though to leave no room from contradiction.
Cohen carefully uses rhetorical strategies in his essay to analyze his evidence and reveals that his intended audience is not college freshman scholars but it is for academic scholars who studies culture and European history who might know a wide range of words that may not be known to freshman scholars. He provides examples and evidence to persuade academic scholars and historians who might not agree with him and would be hard to get convinced in his point of view.
There is no doubt that people may have questions when they are reading this article “monster culture(seven theses)” because there are a lot of examples and advanced words that people cannot really understand it as fresh man. However, it is safe to say that the intended audiences for this article is historical scholar or cultural scholars. Furthermore,
Cohens intended audience is for academics in the field of cultures as well as those in the horror/ monsters genre and lastly historians . Because his audience is comprised of academics in these 3 fields he will not go into detail with his evidence for his theory.
You should know that Cohan wasn’t writing for the freshmen, he writes it for some specific audiences – the culture and history scholars. He was writing for the people who already have some search for the culture, they have to know some different culture and they know what is the common between different culture.
“Monster Culture (Seven Theses)” by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, offers seven theses about “monster culture” and how this plays a role in our society. However, the vocabulary and contextual information in monster culture are sometimes too complicated to discern for the audience, especially for college freshman. Too many terminologies, historical references, literary references, and various cultural references with distinct writing patterns, which make so many readers confused. It seems like Cohen sets a very high level and rejects most of us to read his article. Many readers doubt, who are intended audience? In fact, Cohen’s intended audiences are scholars who are in historical, literary, and cultural realms, like Cohen’s colleagues. Besides, “Monster Culture (Seven Theses)” is essential to look at the references he uses to back up his, or diminish others’, opinions about monstrosity within our society, and how this plays a role in presenting his ideas to the intended audience.
I believe Cohen intended this essay for people with similar background to him, probably literature, language or history professors/scholar, in order to present a new way to see things, new ways to explore and understand culture in a different way. That is why he used terminology that is familiar to them and included as many examples as possible to convince them, almost forcing them to believe that there are other ways to explore and analyze.
Monsters are in between reality and fantasy because they are part nature and part culture. Monsters are reality because monsters can also be around in our life, like some evil human. Monsters are also abstract because they are created by people’s imagination. Monster is the harbinger of category crisis, it because monster does not fall into neat in any specific classification of animals or people that are known to us or fit into our world. Moreover, monsters are dangerous because their physical
Cohen Jerome the author of “monster cultural(seven theses) “contains many historic example, advanced words , cultural reference that are difficult for a freshman in college. Readers who are not interested in monster story may feel more difficult to understand the example about alien, vampire that the author offered. Cohen’s article reveals his abundant research about “monster culture”. He wrote this article is likely to show his analysis toward monster culture to people who are in the academic scholars of cultural studies and history in western country.
In his essay “Monster Culture (Seven Theses)”, Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, professor of English and director of the Medieval and Early Modern Studies Institute at George Washington University, offers seven theses helping to understand “cultures through the monsters they bear” (4). The freshmen students might have trouble understanding this essay because Cohen uses a lot of difficult historical references and the cultural examples. Cohen uses the examples to help his audiences to have better understanding about relation between culture and monster, but sometimes examples Cohen uses cause the unclear understanding of the essay. In addition to the fact Cohen uses unfamiliar examples, he also does not explain his argument he wants to convince to his readers through his examples. Difficult examples and vague explanation of Cohen reveals Cohen’s intended audience is not a college freshmen, but the academic scholars of cultural studies and history, who have wide range of knowledge in literature.
Cohen’s essay isn’t written for freshmen students or anyone around the college level, his main target audience are academic scholars like historians and anthropologists.
He is confident that his information will help persuade these scholars who might be unconvinced.
Cohen uses advanced vocabulary, repetitions and different language so that his intended audience understands his persuasive argument and have a new perception towards Cohen’s idea of monsters and cultures, despite their disagreements. Cohen incorporates his writing patterns to convince his academically experienced historians, that monsters can evolve over time and uses their counterclaims to show how they can to adapt to his cultural analytical idea of monsters.
They are the vampires and zombies, ghosts and goblins, dragons and demons that invade fantasy and fiction, dominating novels, films, and video games. But the monsters, being a product of its time, represent the views of the people of those times but they can also challenge the public view. So, they serve to reinterpret parts of the culture. In a word, the audiences of the essay are the people who are interested in the study of culture. After reading this interesting essay, I find that stance Cohen is enlightening, and his essay argues that our fascination for the monstrous testifies to our continued desire to explore difference and prohibition.
The essay Cohen writes is not written to everyone. He writes to people who are interested in monster, or who are doing research of culture. Only people who are interested in the monster culture will take the time to study and understand the essay. Cohen uses a lot of examples to help different readers understand monsters and persuade the readers to believe in his views. He explains what the monster is and what the relationship between monster and culture through the essay. He discusses his views based on monster and culture.
In this article, Cohen is attempting audience is he is trying to persuade his audience to believe in his point of view. He uses many advanced vocabulary and different examples try to convince his audience. He’s stance towards topic is that he uses LOGOS and ETHOS to show that he is very familiar with this topic, and the facts that he choose is mostly in history event.
As a freshman in college, “Monster Culture(Seven Theses)” may be very difficult to understand and comprehend because the essay has an overwhelming amount of examples and filled with advanced terminology, historical/literary references, and cinematic examples. These examples are not necessarily intended for the average college freshman but rather for academic experts who study history and culture. Using these examples and references, the essay demonstrates that Cohen is attempting to persuade the scholars that may not agree with him and can not be easily be persuaded to believe in his ideals on how to analyze cultures through the monsters they bear.
In the article “Monster Culture (Seven Thesis)” By Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, author offer an abundant of information filled with a historical event, Variety of Cultural influence, and Literary Evidence. Cohen uses these evidence to support his claim, Intended providing the answer and shared a new way of finding a solution to the mysteries of the monster myth to those people such as scholars, researchers, and Cultural& Literature Professor.
didn’t find email in class.