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Toby Guinn
English 1101 / Redding
Writing Assignment 2
March 4, 2016
Blinded by Fear and Pride
Monsters can often come out of misconceptions or things we dont understand. Well, at
least thats how I feel theyre perceived in the essays, The Birth of Monsters and Alexander
Fights Monsters in India. After reading Stephen T. Asmas essay about how Alexander the Great
battles strange beasts that he has never encountered before, I immediately made a correlation
between that essay and Daniel Cohens essay, The Birth of Monsters. Although Daniel Cohens
essay and Stephen T. Asmas essay both talk about the origins of strange, dangerous creatures
that we tell stories about today, the difference lies in the reason these stories were told. This calls
for appraisal because the monsters tell us about the human capacity for embellishment.
Daniel Cohen talks about the Aztecs who had never seen a horse before and definitely not
a man riding horseback, and how they were horrified of Hernan Cortes and his Calvary of
mounted men. The Aztecs were afraid because they thought man and horse were one being. In
Greek mythology centaurs were described as fierce, wild, and tribal. Words which could well
apply to nomadic horsemen (Cohen 135). All of the monsters besides the guides in Stephen T.
Asmas essay had no combination or association with human features like some monsters
suggested by Cohen. Alexander the Great lists plenty of enemies, including enormous crabs,
white lions larger than bulls, oversized pigs with various colors and etcetera. None of which that
described by Alexander were combined or associated with humans or other animals. Alexander

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came across animals that he perceived in larger sizes and collectively larger amounts that acted
out in violent behavior, that wouldnt be normal in todays setting.
Whenever we find monsters, there, too, we also find heroes (Asma 169). A similarity that
was clear between the two essays was that almost every monster described in Cohen and Asmas
essays had a hero or victim to tell its story. The emotional state of a hero or victim is what
causes misperceptions or embellishments of those monsters in told stories. Psychologists have
identified a common human tendency to unconsciously exaggerate perceptions (Asma 159).
Two heroes I believe are guilty for such exaggerations and misperceptions in the telling of their
tales are Sinbad in Cohen;s essay and Alexander the Great in Asmas essay. Sinbads adventures
include a monster called the Roc. The Roc was apparently an enormous size bird, bulky body
and wide wings. Also big enough to feed elephants to their young. These statements made in
Sinbads tales are surely an embellishment. For comparison, In Asmas essay, Alexander speaks
of being attacked by a number of hippopotamuses, bigger than elephants. I believe these two
heroes had feared-filled misperceptions which magnified the dimensions of the monsters they
encountered.
Daniel Cohen suspects that the legends of most of these monsters started from an
observation of a real creature; then that observation became exaggerated because of a constant
retelling of the story. Basically not blaming the original hero or victims that encountered these
monster for their mythological status today. Asmas view on Alexanders creation of the legend
of these monsters seem different than Cohen. Asma says Among other things, the narrative is a
testament to masculine stereotypes of courage and resilience (Asma 160). I believe Alexander is
responsible for the legend he described. I also believe his misperceptions and exaggerations
came not only from fear, but also from wanting to promote his own legacy with masculinity,

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Alexanders adventure in India and the mythological creatures he encountered, is a great

example how monsters are born. For monsters to exist there has to be someone to fear it in the
first place which causes embellishment on that monster. Embellishing is a human tendency when
faced with something youre afraid of. Fear also takes part in misperception. Cohen talks about
how civilized city dwellers who encountered their first invasion by men on horseback could have
believed the horse and rider were one. The heroes/ victims play the biggest part of these monsters
legacies; they tell the stories. They tell the beginning and end of these creatures we will never see
today.

Works Cited
Cohen, Daniel. "The Birth of Monsters." Monsters: Bedford Spotlight Reader. By Andrew J.
Hoffman. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2015. 134-39. Print.
Asma, Stephen T. "Alexander Fights Monsters in India." Monsters: Bedford Spotlight Reader.
By Andrew J. Hoffman. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2015. 156-62. Print.