ENGLISH 400: MONSTER THEORY
Emma English
Research Abstract
Research Abstract
"Eating as Evil, Soup and Sweet Flesh Alike: Representation of Eating Disorders in 'Greedy Chokepuppy'"
"Greedy puppy does choke," Granny warns Jacky as she burns her mouth with soup - a Caribbean saying that warns about overconsumption, of an overeager animal that eats and eats until it dies. While common analysis interprets this warning as a threat about what's to come if Jacky takes on soucouyant form and devours the newborn, this overlooks other aspects of Jacky's consumption that have monstrous effects. Jacky's obsession with food itself, not simply the life of children she consumes but the soup and spices that burn her, and the fruits and chocolates that she subscribes to herself and others' body parts, contribute to her monstrosity.
Such consumption not only illustrates her desire but her socio-culturally condemned lack of control over her appetite. Her extremely disordered eating and her focus on food stems from and mutually interacts with her disordered sense of self-worth. Jacky's lack of comfort within her body, and her insatiable craving for male validation as an affirmation of her attractiveness and worthiness leads to and encourages her disordered eating. Her focus on consumption, and how it affects those around her, makes her monstrous - not simply her soucouyant form, and her soucouyant Grandmother serves as an exemplary model of what constitutes a "good eater." Analyzing Jacky's eating behavior from a feminist psychological perspective, I argue that socio-cultural expectations of women's appetites and bodies rather than the inherited condition of being a "soucouyant" makes Jacky monstrous.
Capstone Presentation
"A Boy With A Cunt: Gender As A Story Inscribed On Flesh"
In The Devourers by Indra Das, the second-self pelt of the vukodlak given to Fenrir has the story of “A Boy With A Cunt” inscribed within the skin (53-55). Through a close reading of the fourteen-line inscription, and informed by feminist analysis and queer studies, I argue two primary points. Firstly, that the story on the skin itself comments on the physical construction and aesthetics of gender. Secondly, that the story portrays a narrative of queer belonging as a reclamation of the “abominable,” as “abomination” in this context refers to gender that exists outside of socio-cultural norms.