Myers, W. (1999). Monster. New York: HarperCollins.
Steve is in denial. He refuses to believe he is a monster. What can a person possibly do to be labeled as a monster? Murder. What else? Yet, he didn't pull the trigger. All he did was the boy on the look out. Being part of an armed robbery that ends in death for the victim is what lands him in jail and puts him on trial at the young age of sixteen. He hates prison and is terrified. Every waking second while encarcerated he experiences fear. Fear of talking, of breathing, of looking, of making a noise. Anything, absoultey anything can get you beat up. To cope with this fear he creates a screen play of his experiences, of the trial, of his past, of everything that led him to his cell.
His screenplay recreates the trial and flashbacks of his life. And as the trial comes to an end, he is found not guilty. In his attempt to celebrate his verdict, his lawyer refuses to hug him and makes him think about what it is tha the is. Could he possibly be the mosnter that the prosecutor made him out to be? Months later this thought still messes with his head. Could he be the monster they made him out to be just because he was the one on the lookout? And of course, he did not pull the trigger. He did not physicaly kill the man but he was part of the act that did. Will he ever be able to live with himself or will he live with the guilt of what he allowed himself to become by making a bad decision, the worst decision of his life?
Steve is in denial. He refuses to believe he is a monster. What can a person possibly do to be labeled as a monster? Murder. What else? Yet, he didn't pull the trigger. All he did was the boy on the look out. Being part of an armed robbery that ends in death for the victim is what lands him in jail and puts him on trial at the young age of sixteen. He hates prison and is terrified. Every waking second while encarcerated he experiences fear. Fear of talking, of breathing, of looking, of making a noise. Anything, absoultey anything can get you beat up. To cope with this fear he creates a screen play of his experiences, of the trial, of his past, of everything that led him to his cell.
His screenplay recreates the trial and flashbacks of his life. And as the trial comes to an end, he is found not guilty. In his attempt to celebrate his verdict, his lawyer refuses to hug him and makes him think about what it is tha the is. Could he possibly be the mosnter that the prosecutor made him out to be? Months later this thought still messes with his head. Could he be the monster they made him out to be just because he was the one on the lookout? And of course, he did not pull the trigger. He did not physicaly kill the man but he was part of the act that did. Will he ever be able to live with himself or will he live with the guilt of what he allowed himself to become by making a bad decision, the worst decision of his life?
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