A monster is read as a fear given a body. Dream tradition holds that turning to face it — asking what it wants — is how the dream changes. Being chased by a monster is one of the most common nightmares in childhood and adult life, read as avoiding something that grows the more it is avoided. A monster under the bed or in a wardrobe points to a worry kept close and out of sight. Befriending or taming it is taken as accepting a part of yourself that once caused fear. A monster that shrinks when looked at is read as a fear smaller than it seemed.
Does the traditional reading fit your dream, or did it mean something else to you?
My Cosmic Code has a private dream journal. Write a dream down and the app picks out the symbols in it, shows what dream books say about them and, over time, which words recur across your entries. The journal is stored on your device only.