Why Should You Read Monster by Walter Dean Myers

Volume Review

Monster (by Walter Dean Myers)

Walter Dean Myers

Coming-of-Historic period

Credits

Readability Age Range

13 and up

Publisher

Amistad and HarperTeen, imprints of HarperCollins Publishers

Awards

National Book Accolade Finalist, Young People's Literature, 1999; Coretta Scott King Honour Award, 2000; YALSA Michael L. Printz Accolade, 2000

Twelvemonth Published

1999

Volume Review

Monster by Walter Dean Myers has been reviewed by Focus on the Family'due south matrimony and parenting magazine.

Plot Summary

Steve may have made some poor decisions in the last 16 years, simply he's not a monster. At least he doesn't think he is. Simply not anybody agrees with Steve, least of all Sandra Petrocelli, the attorney who is prosecuting him for felony murder. Thankfully, Steve'south lawyer, Kathy O'Brien, is doing her all-time to make the jury encounter him as a human being.

In his journal, Steve secretly admits to existence involved in a drugstore robbery that left a human being expressionless. Steve was supposed to make sure no law officers were in the shop before the robbery occurred. Because he gave no signal after leaving the store, Steve doesn't believe that his peripheral interest makes him guilty of criminal activity. On the witness stand, he denies all connection to the murder.

An aspiring filmmaker, Steve copes with the stress of jail and the trial past writing a film script near his life and experiences following his abort and detention. (The script comprises most of the novel's text, interspersed with brief periodical entries.) As the trial progresses, Steve alternately chronicles the courtroom proceedings and the brutality of his fellow inmates. He slowly loses hope that he volition be acquitted and struggles to cope with the reality that he may spend the next two decades of his life behind bars.

The testimonies finally current of air to a close and the jury delivers a verdict. Steve has been found non guilty. He reaches to hug his lawyer, the woman who showed the world that he is non a monster. But Kathy O'Brien refuses to return his hug. She may have convinced the jury that Steve was human, only she couldn't convince herself.

Steve didn't retrieve he was a monster, but now he's non so sure.

Christian Beliefs

Steve's mother brings him a Bible and asks him to read Psalm 28:7 aloud. He does so, although he doesn't feel similar rejoicing or singing praises. Steve wonders if, when the guards searched the Bible, they found annihilation like grace, salvation or compassion.

A preacher visits the jail to inquire the inmates if they would like to talk or pray. Steve wants to go forward, but some other prisoner says that it'southward as well late to pretend to exist holy. Steve attends church services while in jail. A prisoner has a tattoo of the Devil.

Other Conventionalities Systems

Authority Roles

Steve's parents visit him regularly in jail, and Steve wishes that he could tell his brother, Jerry, that he loves him. Throughout the trial, Steve'south mother leaves cleaned shirts and underwear for him. She tells him that she knows he is innocent, regardless of what happens. Although she and Steve'southward begetter endeavor to be upbeat, Steve feels that she is mourning him as though he were dead.

After his arrest, Steve's relationship with his father is tense. During a supervised visit to the jail, Steve's father shares both his affection and his emotional turmoil with his son before telling him that everything will exist OK. After the trial, however, Steve's father moves abroad. Although he wants to believe that Steve did nothing wrong, he doesn't understand the choices Steve made and is no longer sure who Steve is.

The prison guards are harsh and crude. They testify no compassion toward the inmates and get in known that they are betting on the consequence of the trial and severity of the sentencing.

Steve remembers wanting to emulate the tough, streetwise men he now recognizes as criminals. Steve admires Mr. Sawicki, the instructor who leads Steve's film club.

Profanity & Violence

Uses of profanity include f–got and d–n.

In prison, violence is normalized, threats are commonplace and strangers find reasons to injure each other. Inmates have been jailed for various crimes, including robbery, assault, manslaughter and murder. Prisoners trounce upward inmates who testify signs of weakness. A prisoner is hit in the face with a tray then hard that he bleeds. Two prisoners fight at a church service. Ane human being has a handmade knife. Steve is afraid all the time.

Steve throws a rock that hits a immature woman. The tough-looking immature man who was walking with her mistakenly thinks that Steve'due south friend Tony threw the rock and punches Tony. Tony tells Steve that he wants to become an Uzi and blow the young human being's brains out.

Blackness-and-white pictures of the deceased drugstore possessor, Mr. Nesbitt, are shown as evidence. Steve finds them difficult to view. Bear witness is besides presented that proves Mr. Nesbitt died past drowning in his own blood.

When a detective testifies that the death penalty may be considered, Steve imagines a guard inserting a plug into his rectum so he won't defecate during his execution. A witness admits to taking part in a gang initiation that involves fighting a gang member and knifing a stranger in the face up. A neighbor mentions that a local child was shot while sitting on a doorstep.

Sexual Content

An inmate testifies that he was beingness sexually harassed past other (male person) prisoners and that they threatened to gang-rape him. Steve listens as a human being in his cell is beaten and raped. Whenever they aren't talking nigh hurting 1 another, prisoners talk about sex. A guard mockingly offers to find a boyfriend for an inmate. Another guard makes a sexual joke about one of the female jurors.

Discussion Topics

Additional Comments

Drugs: An inmate is accused of possessing drugs with the intent to sell them. Women speculate that the drugstore was robbed past addicts who needed money for drugs. A character smokes marijuana.

Suicide: Belts are taken away from prisoners to make it more difficult for them to kill themselves. Steve wonders if the inability to commit suicide is part of the prisoner's punishment. He wonders if he would commit suicide if he were sentenced to 20 years in jail.

Lying: Steve and other inmates lie while on the witness stand up.

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