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Amanda Martinez

Professor Beadle

English 115 Appr University Writing

21 September 2017

Bedtime Terrors

A house is considered a safe haven, but at night the imagination can deceive the mind.

Often children face these conflicts. At a childs young age, it is the prime time that the imagination

is exploding with outrageous ideas and has no limitations. Ted Genoways, an editor wrote an

article Here Be Monsters about exploring the concept of monsters representing our own creation

of imagination and reality. The wide access to media and television programs to young audiences

affects the mind when facing darkness especially in a bedroom. Once the lights in a bedroom turn

off the mind shuts down and begins to project internal fears they face in every day. The imagination

produces monsters from the mind to reveal fears, that carry over in life.

Fear of the dark, simple anxieties about going to bed, and monsters in the closet are all

relatively common in young childrens behavior at some point during their childhood. But the root

of the fear generates from witnessing scary movies or listening to fictional stories shared between

classmates. The monstrous part of fears exploit the idea of being inferior and surround the belief

of what would happen. The exposure of scary movies seem appealing to young minds but once

isolated from the care of parents, the mind begins to construe unimaginable scenarios. Ted

Genoways, acknowledges this concept of fear as, the unknown lies just past the horizon

(Genoways130) being rooted from the imagination for conjur[ing] everything from leviathans

of the deep to beast part-human (Genoways 130). Genoways claim supports the assertion of fears

being derived from the unknown given humanistic characteristics. In other words, giving
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humanistic characteristics to an imaginative object creates a sense of understanding to a targeted

root of fear, as opposed to objects that have never been encountered. The driving force of the

construed concepts is through the childs imagination, due to their mind being in their own constant

fantasy world and the difficulty in switching their perception off of imagination when its needed

to go to sleep. Once exposed to the concept of fear it is difficult to fight off the inter concepts tat

aid in the idea of monsters. Despite the familiarity of objects that dont have a scary connotation,

like a dark bedroom, may suddenly appear frightening with the aid of the imaginative mind.

I personally, dealt with my fears in the darkness at a young age. But my fears were driven

by the bullys I faced at school. The idea of not being able to fight them off or let my emotions

show of how I really felt was my worst fear. I recall a specific moment when I first got familiar

with the concept of my imagination driving me to face my worst inner monsters. I had just watched

my first scary movie Poltergiest with my family, and once it was time to go to bed it seemed

impossible. The idea of a possible monster in my closet or something tapping on my window made

me want to yell for help. But what stuck to me the most about a dark bedroom is having a blank

place where all my worries and doubts were magnified. The traumatic movie affected how I dealt

with the darkness in my later years, I needed a nightlight and had to have my door open if I needed

to run for help. At a young age, I learned that the imagination truly has no boundaries of thinking

of scary monsters. Ultimately these monsters reflected the bully characteristics I faced at school

which sent a chill down my spine. The need to fight them off was constant but my imagination

drove these fears to an excessive extent that even the sight of them made me want to yell for help.

I told people at school of all the scary villains I had to fight off the night before, which lead a

domino effect of more kids being afraid of darkness. In other words, exposing other peers to fear

creates a universal concept that ones fear can come to life. The idea of having to face our own
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internal monsters has individuals deal with an inclination to seek consistency rather than,

amplifying the issue. This idea of inconsistency, I avoided due to the fact it bestowed unwanted

stress which could affect the way I generally deal with situations. In addition, knowing I had the

power the construe any type of identify for my fear allowed me to acknowledge that us humans

are puppeteers to our own internal conflicts. A supportive claim of opinion is Losh, from

Understanding Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing, that argues a personal experience creates

credibility which reflects the concept of Ethos in the attraction to young minds in believing these

incidents are real due to its first point of view standpoint. Therefore, the interaction between

individuals and presenting a personal experience creates credibility for others to believe that

monsters can truly come after someone when in a vulnerable state, in a dark bedroom.

Nighttime fears are very common at an adolescent stage in life and can follow them into

adulthood, which can ultimately cause the shared belief that the fear of darkness is truly the

unknown. Although the concept of darkness is inevitable scary there can be an applied positive

aspect towards the negative connotation. In other words, despite the imaginative aspect in ones

mind, perception inevitably develops to understand that within darkness there can be light.

Throughout my years in high school, I grasped onto the idea that darkness is a believed fear but

can be fought in the belief that light can provide guidance through all dark times. I realized many

philosophers spoke of this concept in the spirit world and physical world having close correlation.

Once applied this concept to the monsters in a dark bedroom there is a new perspective that fights

of the fears. Meaning, an individual who sees the world as a bad place, sees nothing good and

believes there is no hope to better their situation, which becomes a dark minded person. Whereas,

a person with a positive outlook on life would realize there are faults within all monsters and can

be fought off their own strength, reflects light. The darkness is a manifestation of the physical
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world yet is filled with light. In other words, the perception of darkness within a dark bedroom, is

in fact another form of light. Neither one of these perceptions is necessarily right or wrong, both

can make an argument of attempting to concur fear. The Light and Darkness debate corresponds

with the issue of good and evil but light can do as much harm as darkness, where one is

discovered, the other exists. In other words, both ideas are exact opposites but there will never be

light or darkness without the other, there should be a balance of one another. Although these

concepts are learned later in life due to the wide attention span that is developed. Children face the

difficulty in drawing the line between imaginary and reality. The imagination runs out of their

control once in a dark place where all surrounds become alien. The mind plays tricks on perception

to manipulate the fear that individuals face.

Although at a relatively young age the fear of darkness is consuming, in later years the

mind is able to make the clear distinction between reality and fantasy. Ultimately it is up to the

individual in wanting to fix their internal monsters and getting to their own light at the end of the

tunnel. In addition, knowing that the darkness is truly the unknown reflects the idea of not knowing

how to fight can have individuals live with caution. Despite all the monsters that are among us, we

cannot right ourselves in forever jumping at those who perceive as threats. Darkness is light that

is standing still and is in the state of light for readiness. Darkness is potential light which indicates

darkness is the source of light.

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Works Cited

Losh, Elizabeth M., et al. Understanding Rhetoric: a Graphic Guide to Writing. 2nd ed.,

Bedford/St. Martin's, 2017.

Genoways, Ted. Here Be Monsters. Monsters: a Bedford Spotlight Reader, edited by Andrew

J. Hoffman, Bedford/St. Martins, a Macmillan Education Imprint, 2016.