Walter Dean Myers's Monster

The term monster is a derogatory term to use against an individual, yet monsters lie out in the world. Some are actual horrible people, but some are misunderstood. The book Monster by Walter Dean Myers describes 16-year- old Steve Harmon and his journey throughout the scenes of a frightening experience. The experience of Steve is heart-breaking by people calling him a monster and him calling himself a monster. The amount of time that Steve has faced in jail will dictate how it will affect his inner self in the future.

To begin, Steve Harmon, a conflicted adolescent, is faced with the most agonizing challenge that he has to overcome, to be proven guilty or not guilty. The story opens with Steve writing in his journal about the experiences

The horrifying screams to guards attacking cellmates. For instance, text evidence that supports this is, “ The best time is to cry at night” and “ They’re strangers but they still find reason to hurt each other.” Steve, compassionate yet misunderstood, is only sixteen years old while being treated like he has been in jail for half his life. The crime he is brought in for is felony murder, yet he did not commit the act. There were two other participants alongside him, James King and Richard “Bobo” Evans. The role that Harmon was accused of in the crime was being the “lookout” according to the prosecutor, Sandra Petrocelli, yet Steve had no background record of being a convicted criminal or had evidence presented against him. Analyzing, aggravating, petrifying, Steve’s mind was wrapped around the statements that the prosecutor, his own lawyer, the witnesses, and the prisoners were stating. Text

During the time spent in jail, Harmon had always thought about his family, such as his brother Jerry, his mother Mrs. Harmon, and his father Mr. Harmon. Mrs. Harmon had always been by her son’s side, even when he went to prison, yet his father was skeptical. Tamping despair inside his saddened eyes, Mr. Harmon had come to visit his son. After the encounter with his father, Steve had written about what his father had said to him such as asking him about what his lawyer said, asking him about his mother, and his father hoping that he would follow a better path for an average teenager. The text that supports this claim is, “ She doesn’t sound that positive. There’s so much garbage going through that courtroom.” and “I would lie in bed thinking about the scenes of your life. You're going off to college.” and text evidence that Steve wrote in his journal was, “He wasn’t crying like I thought a man would cry. Everything was just pouring off him and I hated to see his face.” With all this happening to him, his mind was a quavering abyss. Based on the text provided, the situation surrounding Steve was harrowing: Steve's father, mother, and little brother were disappointed by the outcome that had come upon him. For future reference, Steve will always remember the times that his family had to come to visit him behind a piece of glass on the phone. This text shows how Steve’s decisions affected the family by