The same could be said for American politics…

The part about the monster is that he may have been able to be more than a chimp with a hand gun. Maybe not much more; a Bonobo with a bazooka maybe, or Hans Delbruck (I hope you get this reference). I don’t think there’s more to it that Shelly was getting at with the monster (though again I haven’t read it), but the implications and thoughts after the fact are interesting