Afternoon of Alterity - Nazareth College

hours “led to the term ‘night’ becoming a code word for sodomy”(Bildaur 147). The temptation to sin through sexual acts was great,and people seemed more than willing to venture into the darknessto gratify their desires. Indeed, the night provided a cover for theirdisreputable actions which lent itself to a welcome change from thelight, busy daytime where all could be seen. The monster that is thenight time was very attractive in its ability to hide the sinful sideof human life, and may well have been desirable to all who wishedto participate in such acts. Dreaming as well, especially for a moremodern culture, has for many turned into a positive thing. Wedetest nightmares, but the dream world can be a place where all ourfantasies and imaginings come true, hence the vernacular meaningof the word “dream.” While the Church helped to apply negativemeaning to the dream because of the harmful effects of humans’inability to control the sinful subjects of dreams, dreaming today isassociated much more with its ability to take us away from whateverundesirable reality we live in. Night time, therefore, provides theattractive ability to let us escape from the dreary world and live inour dream world for a few short hours. Cohen says, “We distrust andloathe the monster at the same time we envy its freedom” (Cohen17) and indeed the darkness is very attractive when it provides uswith the opportunity to experience the freedom of the monster, aslong as we can feel we are safe doing it.Lastly is Cohen’s seventh thesis, entitled “The Monster Stands atthe Threshold…of Becoming” (Cohen 20). This last thesis says verysimply that the monster is our own creation, one of our making,and that “these monsters ask us how we perceive the world, and howwe have misrepresented what we have attempted to place” (Cohen20). The nighttime certainly shows us how we attempt to categorizethose things which we do not like or understand, and while it seemsevil and terrible to us, there are certain things about it which alsodraw us in. This, in turn, should make us question our originallauren apt 61