49 pages • 1 hour read
Little Monsters
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Background
Political Context: The 2016 Election
Little Monsters is set in the months preceding the 2016 election and the “October surprise” announced by then FBI Director James Comey, where he said he was going to investigate Hillary Clinton’s emails again. This seemed to have impacted her loss to Donald Trump. Little Monsters refers to Clinton and Trump throughout the novel. Adam is a supporter of Bernie Sanders, the senator from Vermont. He concedes in Chapter 1 that the “presidential choice would be between a boorish billionaire and an unscrupulous woman” (6), echoing the attacks on each candidate from the other.
Attacks on Clinton—from questions about her fundraising to complaints about her emails—are interspersed throughout the novel. They reflect the narrative’s emphasis on toxic masculinity and ambitious women. They also reflect Adam and Ken’s view of women as dutiful wives and objects of desire. At Ken and Jenny’s Memorial Day party, David observes, “The news cycle is nuts right now, and this election […] is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before” (87). David lays bare the election’s strangeness, which serves as a backdrop for the novel’s exploration of toxic masculinity, lies and secrets, and family dynamics.
These dynamics spill over into Ken’s personal ambitions. His political aspirations depend on his family and their expected behavior. Embarrassed by Abby’s criticism on Memorial Day and mortified by her triumph at his father’s birthday party, Ken reflects much of the behavior of the “boorish billionaire.” For both Clinton and Trump, their familial associations become campaign fodder. Little Monsters demonstrates how politics and family mix on a much smaller scale.
Literary Context: The Mark of Cain and the First Murder in the Bible
Little Monsters alludes to figures from the Old Testament throughout, including the prophet Jonah. The novel focuses on Cain and Abel. Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament, features the brothers, who are the first children of Adam and Eve. They bear the original sin that serves as Adam and Eve’s punishment for eating from the tree of knowledge. Abel, a shepherd, and Cain, a farmer, make sacrifices to God, except that Cain’s proves insufficient. Filled with jealousy, Cain murders his brother in the field. When God asks Cain where his brother is, Cain responds that he is not his brother’s keeper. This results in Cain’s expulsion and the mark of Cain upon his children.
Adam Gardner echoes the biblical Adam. His children, Ken and Abby, echo Cain and Abel. Abby, Adam’s favorite, follows her father in his “moral superiority and talk of purposeful work” (14). Her dedication to something beyond money and material possessions aligns her with Adam, just as Abel’s sacrifice pleases God. Envy drives Ken just as it does Cain. After a sermon on the Seven Deadly Sins, Ken’s family agrees that his sin is envy. While Ken controls money and land, he craves his father’s approval, just as Cain chases God’s favor with his sacrifice. Cain’s unsuitable sacrifice is echoed in Ken’s gift to Adam at Adam’s birthday party. Abby’s gift, in contrast, pleases Adam. She gives him a grandson and a painting that depicts her pregnancy and shows how she has been her brother’s keeper, carrying the secret of his abuse from their childhood.
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