Afternoon of Alterity - Nazareth College

and modern audiences through their connectedness to humanityand ability to represent all that is dark within the human psyche,Gregory Erickson offers similar insights regarding the hybridizednature of Reavers, stating, “They are the strangers we can never hopeto understand, or they are the dark recesses of our souls that wedo not want to acknowledge… Reavers are both improbably otherand dangerously familiar. And as [Joss Whedon] makes clear, we allcontain the core of a Reaver.” (Erickson 175).Fiends Forever: Why Cain Monster Myths Continue to EndureIn studying the monsters depicted in medieval and modern texts,it becomes clear that throughout history, certain monstrousarchetypes have thrived in the Western imagination. By notingthe striking similarities between the medieval monster Grendeland Joss Whedon’s twenty-first century nightmarish Reavers, andin comparing these monsters to the well-established tradition ofmedieval monster myths surrounding the biblical character of Cain,I argue that society’s fears and conceptions regarding monstrosityremain fundamentally unchanged from generation to generation,allowing certain monstrous archetypes to survive for centuries,evolving, yet remaining recognizable over the course of time. I believethat the Cain archetype has thrived in the Western imagination notonly because of humans’ enduring fear of wild, unethical violence,and fear of that which is perceived to be in some way “other,” butbecause of society’s fear of that which cannot be neatly categorized,and fascination with that which reflects people’s own dark, violent,and monstrous qualities. Grendel, the Reavers, and all monsters thatappear in the tradition of Cain myths, blur the lines between whatconstitutes humanity and monstrosity, repelling audiences withtheir viciousness and moral and ethical transgressions, yet invitingpeople to glimpse a reflection of the monstrous within themselves bymaura whitman 15