 Various critics have written about the story 's paradoxical themes of deformity and monstrosity . Not only does Henry Johnson suffer a literal and physical defacement that brands him a monster , but the Trescotts ' suffer metaphorical loss of face when they are cast out by society . The trope of monstrosity takes on a second meaning when it becomes clear that the townspeople 's actions make them more monstrous than the man they shun for his deformity ; as professor and critic Lee Clark Mitchell asked in his essay , " Face , Race , and Disfiguration in Stephen Crane 's ' The Monster ' " , " Is ' the monster ' the disfigured black man or is it the town that comes to dis @-@ figure him ? " Similarly , Harold Bloom called The Monster an example of the " invasion myth " , made worse by the fact that the " monster " is born from within the townspeople 's collective mind . Henry @-@ the @-@ monster is therefore " generated by its fears of social instability , its prejudices about appearance ( including racism ) , and its all @-@ consuming passion for gossip and drama . " Trescott , the only man in town not to see Henry as an invader , also becomes ostracized by the frenzied small @-@ town mentality . 
