A Monster Calls: A Literary Analysis

Selfishness, a quality that best shines in times of isolation, forces others to become aware of one's need for attention. Patrick Ness portrays this trait in A Monster Calls in a way that makes the readers realize that the burden of a secret is too great for anyone of any age to carry. Conor O'Malley is thirteen, but his experiences and hardships are ones that those who are beyond their years have not necessarily needed to overcome. Taking into account his mother's worsening condition, he does not want to let his surroundings affect him more than they already have. Under the influence of the Monster, Conor allows himself to act in accordance to his situation instead of keeping everything to himself without an outlet for his emotions. Conor’s selfishness, which is seen throughout the novel, affects his interactions with others in drawing out their flaws. To retaliate against his father, Lily and his grandma for putting him in situations that cause him suffering, Conor must act in this selfish manner regardless of the consequences.

When analyzed online many of the definitions you will find for the word monster include: a strange or horrible imaginary creature, one who deviates from normal or acceptable behavior, or an animal of strange and/or terrifying shape. (Merriam Webster) When observing the “Monster Theory” by Jeffrey Cohen and the 7 theses that he provides in this text, one can begin to somewhat disagree with these formal definitions and attempt to say that it has an even greater meaning. Monsters might scare us and frighten us because of their physical appearances but also can provide us with possible solutions to gaps and uncertainties in our mind that Sigmund Freud would label as “The Uncanny”. I can only but agree with

Chapters 17 through 24, the monster starts narrating. The monster “ returned to Geneva; and I (he) could not collect the courage to recommence my work.” On his journey back, he was thinking “he saw his former self, “in Clerval. As the novel ends the monster shows sorrow, kindness, and remorse by saying “farewell I leave you, and in you the last of humankind whom these eyes will ever behold.” Throughout the novel, the reader has opinions about different characters because of the unique writing style; “framed

Rhetorical Analysis of “ Monster Culture ” In his opinion piece at the beginning of the book Monster Theory: Reading Culture , entitled “ Monster Culture (Seven Theses) ” , Jeffery Jerome Cohen tries his best to detail to his audience why monsters are symbolic of those things which e xist on the edges of culture. What monsters are changes according to the ideas and convention s most disruptive to any given culture at any point in time.

Patrick Ness' A Monster Calls, is truly inspiring and an emotional novel for audiences that changes ones’ perspective towards facing death. Conor’s mother affects the main character of the story (Conor) due to the fact that she has cancer. Conor seems to be maintained and calm since Conors mom is still alive. Because of her sickness, Conor was reunited with his family once again, but he wishes they would both leave since his father and grandmother are trying to make him understand that there’s a good chance she won’t make it. The audience can only understand Conor if they understand what’s going on in his head. Overtime, this “nightmare” is shown throughout the text but is never explained until the final chapter. A nightmare that’s been

In her speech, and the article, titled “The Case for Good Taste in Children’s Books,” Meghan Cox Gurdon addresses the controversy on Young Adult Literature. Throughout her speech at Hillsdale College she labels this current category of fiction as gaudy, inappropriate, and sacrilegious. Gurdon’s claim on the content of YA, for Young Adult, books obtains effectiveness through her ability to incorporate real world examples, the claim made by the opposing view, and a moral push.

It was only two gangs, three deaths, and many injuries, but the bloody, death defying, life changing brawl is what ended all of the chaos.In book The Outsiders by S.E Hinton Ponyboy learns a lot about being caring. In this novel two groups called the Socs and the Greasers fight each other continuously. This leads them to unexpected fights and deaths, causing things to not go as planned.Ponyboy is caring because he is thoughtful, trustworthy, and brave.

He began again to daze off staring at the fire and imagining the hairy man crouched down in the summer sun. The Call of the Wild written by Jack London is an adventure book that follows the life of a once tamed dog known as Buck to a dog that has retrogressed to a more primitive state during the Yukon Gold Rush. Buck who eventually answered the call of the wild had to go through many difficulties to get there.The theme power of the primitive is reinforced by the retrogression of a dog despite the love of mankind.

Meghan Cox Gurdon’s article has many varying points of attack, while Sherman focuses all of his resources on one point; young adult (YA) literature isn’t detrimental. Gurdon contends the argument that youths being exposed to darker themes makes the themes less effective and ultimately undermines the intensity of the subjects, as well as spread them. She states this as “Self-destructive adolescent behaviors are observably infectious and have periods of vogue. That is not to discount the real suffering that some young people endure; it is an argument for taking care” (par. 13). Gurdon says young adult literature takes away a child’s innocence and negatively affects moral development (par. 6). In contrast, Sherman believes that YA books help people dealing with those troubles to overcome and accept them. He states, “... Does she believe that a YA novel about murder and rape will somehow schock a teenage

S.E Hinton’s, “The Outsiders” and Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s ,“Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” are two young adult novels with greatly different stories yet support the same ideology. Both works focus on the lives of two teenage boys, Ponyboy, of Hinton’s novel, and Aristotle, of Sáenz’s. The story of Ponyboy takes place in the year 1969, and focuses on a huge but short period of his life. It tells about his struggle as an orphan under the care of his two older brothers and deals with gang violence, socioeconomic status, and death. Whereas, the story of Aristotle takes place during the 1980’s and covers a long period of his life and involves his experiences with his relationship with his hands-on parents, his sexual orientation, and struggling with his awkward years. There are many conceptions of what is appropriate for young readers, but these two novels defend that young people should be informed. By examining “The Outsiders” and “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe”, this ideology of communicating mature topics to these readers is supported as the characters of both novels deal with the challenges of belonging, identity, and staying true to themselves, as well as reinforce the notion that adolescents can benefit from this knowledge.

Monster by Sanyika Shakur yields a firsthand insight on gang warfare, prison, and redemption. “There are no gang experts except participants (xiii)” says Kody Scott aka. Monster. Monster vicariously explains the roots of the epidemic of South Central Los Angeles between the Crips and the Bloods that the world eventually witnessed on April 29, 1992. As readers we learn to not necessarily give gangs grace but do achieve a better understanding of their disposition to their distinct perception in life.

In history, monsters are portrayed as vicious creatures with frightening superpowers and other inhuman characteristics. In A Monster Calls, monsters play a significant role in the story. Although they're just imaginary creatures created by the human's imagination, they have a great purpose in the creation of the story, they are often used to tell the story, show fear, and scare. In the case of A Monster Calls, the Yew Tree monster takes Conor on a journey of courage, faith, and truth. For example, the quote from A Monster Calls "It is not what I want from you, Conor O’Malley, it said. It is what you want from me."[page.10], he is trying to help Conor and often the monster can be seen friendly and helping Conor with his life by experiences. Conor has an egregious life, while his father moved away, his mother is dying because of cancer and cannot help him on the things she wanted to help, this monster helps change his life in exchange for the truth or the his “nightmare.” While getting bullied and abused in school Conor still maintains a calm life. At 12:07 the monster arrives to talk to him every night and takes to tell three stories and then he has tell his nightmare, but Conor loses his mom because of the nightmare monster this was the nightmare he saw every day, but when he woke up, he went to hold his mom for the last time. As the quote from A Monster Calls states her death “Conor held tightly onto his mother, and by doing so, he could finally let her go.”

Psychologists usually agree that the teenage years are among the most difficult periods in one’s life. Most teens are trying to figure out who they are, what they believe, and how they fit into the world around them. Beginning in the late 1970’s, a whole genre of fiction, referred to as coming-of-age literature, emerged and serves, at least for many teens, as believable presentations of young people learning to navigate the difficulties of their lives, often fraught with feelings of rejection, seemingly unresolvable personal turmoil, social problems, school and family issues, etc. Indeed one value of reading is to see and better understand some aspect of ourselves through studying others. The reading of SPEAK, a somewhat controversial book

“The short term pain of accepting the truth is much better than the long term pain of believing an illusion”- unknown. In the novel A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, a 13 year old boy, Conor O'malley, deals with inner struggles when accepting his mother’s fatal illness. Conor experiences hardship when coming to terms with the truth so he chooses to suppress it with denial and this worsens his grieving process. Conor undergoes a troubling state where he is lonesome and unwillingly expresses himself through violence and a series of emotional collapses. The teen’s way of coping is not beneficial to either him or is family. A monster in the form of a Yew tree comes to visit Conor and guides him towards the acceptance of truth. Although Conor is not oblivious towards his mother’s imminent death, he must learn from the monster to fully accept the condition she is in, in order to move on with his life. The Yew tree monster guides Conor through storytelling, thus teaching him the importance of accepting the truth. At times, the monster takes a step back and this allows Conor to discover the importance of truth slowly and independently. The way the monster approaches Conor and the tactics he uses to enlighten him are the main reasons Conor develops throughout the novel as an individual. Patrick Ness conveys the importance of truth and how difficult it is for individuals to accept and come to terms with

A young adult novel’s audience often desires relatable characters and a meaningful plot that helps them to find resolutions to their own uncertainties concerning life. Many authors employ the literary technique realism to satiate these cravings. Today, there are some popular novels that attempt to imitate this, such as the coveted The Fault in Our Stars or Divergent. These selections, while widespread in the hands of young adult readers today, will not stand the test of time in the way that The Outsiders has, written by S. E. Hinton in 1967, has. This novel, both produced by and intended for teenagers, instead is a better candidate of realistic young adult fiction. Other selections, from Hinton’s era and from today, do not radiate the same