Character Analysis Of Steve Harmon In Monster By Walter Dean Myers

“Don 't be afraid of losing people. Be afraid of losing yourself by trying to please everyone around you."~ Lewis Howes. In the novel Monster by Walter Dean Myers, we are introduced to Steve Harmon, a sixteen-year-old dark-skinned boy who is the narrator of the book. He writes the book as if it were a movie script, so we get details on his thoughts about everything, so he describes well how that he’s hating being in Jail and at court, and knowing that he really wants to get out. Steve Harmon undergoes a change from being afraid to becoming lost as the book nears completion because of what happens to him before, during, and after the trial. Steve Harmon has lost himself because he has been through a couple incidences of self-doubt before

As Steve progresses through the trial, he starts getting disappointed about what the people are testifying. We can see this when he says, “I think they are bringing out all of these people and letting them look terrible on the stand and sound terrible and then reminding the jury that they don’t look any different from me and King”(Myers 60). While the trial is going on, Steve sees a couple of witnesses, and immediately falls in disappointment. He starts to make assumptions about bad things that might happen to him before the trial is even halfway. This shows how he is already feeling disappointed that he will lose. After Steve’s father visits him in prison, Steve writes this in his notebook about what his dad’s reaction was, “It’s like the man looking down to see his son and seeing a monster instead”(Myers 116). After seeing his dad act this way as Steve describes it, we can see that he feels like he has disappointed and let down his own father. In both examples, we can see that during the trial, Steve has felt disappointed in his chances and

Before the trial, Steve is already scared of what the outcome is and how he might spend his whole life in jail and starts doubting his chances of being found not guilty. During the trial, Steve starts hearing the things the prosecutor is saying and sees the people who are testifying against him, which is already not putting him in a good state of mind, and this combines with him seeing his father who looks very scared of Steve, and this all gives Steve disappointment. After the trial, Steve is found not guilty and gets to return home and we next hear from him five months later where we see his father had left him and that Steve doesn’t even know who he is, which shows that he feels damaged. With all of this in mind, we can see that Steve, a dark-skinned, sixteen-year-old boy, has gone through a change from being afraid to feeling lost with himself through doubt, disappointment, and damage. Image how other people feel in