Emil Ferris’s My Favorite Thing is Monsters is a fascinating yet haunting masterpiece that captures readers’ attention through intricate drawings and life-like character depictions. Narrated by monster-obsessed teenager Karen Reyes, this is a story which centers on murder, family drama, and the monsters that exist within and around us. While monsters can represent a variety of ideas, they are often used to symbolize the other or “marginalized identities” that exist outside of society. In other words, these identities may not be part of the main narrative, but they are crucial to the story as they help readers gain a better understanding of the overall plot and characters. With the use of characterization and setting, Ferris brings these marginalized identities to life through monstrous depictions. Setting is an important aspect of this novel, as it establishes the overall tone of the story. Karen’s story takes place in Chicago during the late…show more content… In other words, when they go after other marginalized identities like Karen, they are really attacking their own because the mob consists of a variety of marginalized identities. For example, within the illustration of the mob, the reader can see a gangster, a Hispanic man, and a nun. Ferris uses these individuals because they represent common marginalized identities. When it comes to their beliefs, many only believe in “what they can see, smell, taste, touch, hear or buy” (Ferris). This is shown when they attack Karen because of her monstrous depiction, automatically assuming that her werewolf- like features make her dangerous. Despite this presumed notion, Karen was only embracing her true identity- a werewolf. Given these points, one can see that Ferris uses the mob to depict the darker side of humanity, showing that we can be our greatest
