Walter Dean Myers insightful novel “Monster,” is told through the eyes of a young man accused of armed robbery and murder. Steve, a teenager accused of murder tells the story of his experience in court and in prison. Throughout the entire book the reader must decide if they think Steve is guilty or innocent. Towards the middle of the book we find out that Steve has been framed, whether people will believe Steve or not is the ongoing internal struggle throughout the entire book. The people in Steve's life begin to doubt him and end up not believing him at all. One lesson that this novel suggests is that, when no one believes in you it ends up causing you to not believe in yourself.
Right after Steve is taken from his home, after being accused …show more content…
The only problem is that Miss O’brien believes that Steve is guilty this is shown on page 138 when the author states “ She thinks i'm guilty. I know she thinks i'm guilty. I can feel it when we sit together on the bench they have assigned for us. She writes what is being said, and what is being said about me, and she adds it all up to guilty.” Miss O’brien should trust Steve, she's all he has left, she's the only person that he can talk to on a daily basis. Miss O’brien has no trust towards Steve. Even when they sit together it shows she's scared and he can feel it which makes Steve feel insecure. The human brain is an interesting thing, the mind is very stubborn and most times refuses to give up what they already know or what they thought was to be true. At the end of the trial Steve receives the good news that the jury finds him innocent, but Steve does not think that Miss O’brien was convinced “When Miss O’brien looked at me, after we had won the case, what did she see that made her turn away? What did she see?” (281). Even after having known that Steve was innocent ( as proved by the judge) she still decided to misjudge him and treat him as if he were guilty. We'll never know for sure why Miss O’brien judged him so hard even though all the evidence pointed to James King, maybe it was racism or maybe it plain judgement based on how many of these cases she had
Right after Steve is taken from his home, after being accused …show more content…
The only problem is that Miss O’brien believes that Steve is guilty this is shown on page 138 when the author states “ She thinks i'm guilty. I know she thinks i'm guilty. I can feel it when we sit together on the bench they have assigned for us. She writes what is being said, and what is being said about me, and she adds it all up to guilty.” Miss O’brien should trust Steve, she's all he has left, she's the only person that he can talk to on a daily basis. Miss O’brien has no trust towards Steve. Even when they sit together it shows she's scared and he can feel it which makes Steve feel insecure. The human brain is an interesting thing, the mind is very stubborn and most times refuses to give up what they already know or what they thought was to be true. At the end of the trial Steve receives the good news that the jury finds him innocent, but Steve does not think that Miss O’brien was convinced “When Miss O’brien looked at me, after we had won the case, what did she see that made her turn away? What did she see?” (281). Even after having known that Steve was innocent ( as proved by the judge) she still decided to misjudge him and treat him as if he were guilty. We'll never know for sure why Miss O’brien judged him so hard even though all the evidence pointed to James King, maybe it was racism or maybe it plain judgement based on how many of these cases she had