Human's infatuation with monsters bind the works on the English 23 syllabus into one common theme: monsters. Monsters have stood the test of time, and their stories continue to be one of the most common themes in fictional literature. All of the short stories and books assigned to English 23 are full of monsters: Michael Crichton's Eaters of the Dead, John Gardner's Grendel, The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling, and Mary Shelly's Frankenstein all have some sort of monster intertwined within their plots. A short story not listed on the syllabus that could very well fit the "monster" criteria for English 23 is "The Sea Raiders" by H. G. Wells.

The common definition of a monster is "an imaginary or legendary creature...that combines parts from various animal or human forms" or "a creature having a strange...