Summary Of Walter Dean Myers's Monster

Was Justice served in 12 Angry Men or did the jury set a guilty man free?

In Monster by Walter Dean Myers, Steve Harmon is a normal 16-year-old except for the fact he is on trial for something he believes he didn’t do. He thinks he’s telling the truth, but can one really know that. Murderer, liar, and monster Steve have been called all these things and now he’s starting to question if he’s guilty or not. At every twist and turn, people are telling the “truth” to save themselves. But the real truth is, the truth is a concept that cannot be proved.

In the case of the State v. Stu Dents, the jury found the defendant guilty of the following charges: homicide, assault of a police officer, kidnapping, and crimes related to drugs. They felt that there was no sufficient evidence to charge him with the crime of burglary. It has come down to the sentencing stage of this case. We will hear from both the prosecuting and defending attorneys before the court makes their final ruling on the sentence of one, Mr. Stu Dents.

You're not gonna tell me you believe that phony story about losing the knife, and that business about being at the movies. Look, you know how these people lie! It's born in them! I mean what the heck? I don't even have to tell you. They don't know what the truth is! And lemme tell you, they don't need any real big reason to kill someone, either! No sir! [Juror 10, page 51] This type of prejudice offended many of the other jurors, especially Juror 5 who is of similar race to the accused.

“Unless you know who you are, you will always be vulnerable to what people say.” In this quote, American television personality, author, psychologist, and the host of the television show “Dr. Phil”, Dr. Phil McGraw explains, that if you are not true to yourself or if you are not aware of your own beliefs, you will always be susceptible to what people say of you and what people want you to think or believe. A similar theme is communicated through the novel “monster.” In the Novel “Monster”, what Walter Dean Myers suggests about the nature of stereotypes is that one must ignore the negative views of others and stay true to their own beliefs.

1. Monster is a novel written in a screenplay format with Steve’s journal entries mixed in throughout. Do you think this is an effective format for the book? Why or why not?

The questionable forensic evidence, the untrustworthy witnesses and the insufficient investigation are all reasons why Steven Truscott should never have been charged with the rape and murder of Lynne Harper. Being charged with something you did not commit is something nobody wants to go through. Evidence, witnesses and the investigation portion is very important for a case to run correctly. It took Steven Truscott 42 years to finally get his name cleared. He went through many trials and hearings to finally get the news one day that he was free to go. Most of his life was taken from him that he will never get back. “They finally got it right after all these years. I am so used to fighting. Now we don’t have to fight anymore.”

One reason I believe that Steve is guilty is because of his journal. In Steve’s journal he says, “Anybody can walk into a drugstore and look around.”(115) This proves that Steve was helping to be a lookout in the crime, which means he was an accomplice, and that he was in the drugstore when the crime happened. “It was me, I thought as I tried not to throw up, that had wanted to be tough like them.” Steve also writes in his journal (130). Steve is writing that he wanted to be tough like King and his friends. This proves that he wants to be like King, which might have influenced him to help with the crime. Steve also writes in his journal, “I knew she felt that I didn’t do anything wrong. It was me who wasn’t sure.” (148). Steve wrote this after talking with his mother. Steve is doubting his own innocence, if he is doubting his innocence, then is he really innocent?

Johnny Cade should not be convicted for murder because it was all out of self-defense. Ponyboy and Johnny were at the park when it happened. A blue Mustang full of Socs started to circle them because Ponyboy and Johnny picked up their girls at the movies. Bob got out of the car and Johnny seen the rings he was wearing were the same ring Bob had on when he jumped Johnny. Bob then told David to give Ponyboy a bath. By that he mean put Ponyboy's head into the fountain. Johnny got his switchblade and started to go to David to make him let go of Ponyboy. David let go of Ponyboy and ran. Bob started to ran after Johnny. Johnny stabbed Bob to save Ponyboy and himself. Therefore, Johnny is innocent and should not be convicted for murder. The prosecution

Monster is an example of what Patty Campbell would call a “landmark book.” Texts such as these “encourage readers to interact with the text and with one another by employing a variety of devices, among them ambiguity” (Campbell 1) Because it is told through the eyes of Steve himself, the plot can be difficult to decipher. It is ambiguous whether he is innocent or guilty of being involved with the crime. Steve learned to make things unpredictable from his film teacher Mr. Sawicki who teaches him, “If you make your film predictable, they’ll make up their minds about it long before it’s over” (19). Steve took his teacher’s advice and made this film script entirely unpredictable,

I believe Steven Avery was not guilty this is because with all the evidence added up from things to the description of the perpetrator to the evidence that he had showing that he was out the whole day while the incident had happened just explains that he was guilty from the start they treated him very differently to other suspects. Never trust people blindly, but I believe it’s better give people the benefit of the doubt rather than be cynical about everyone and everything people do. If you don’t really know someone, you should assume they are a good person until proven otherwise.

He states several times that he wanted to act tough around the other accomplices in the robbery because they were older and bigger. Steve doesn’t want to ruin the rest of his life. On page 139 he writes, “Felony murder is 25 years to life. My whole life will be gone. I can't stay in prison for 25 years”

A jury would have seen Richard’s case in a few different ways. One way they could have seen the case would be that Richard was an abused child, he did not understand what he was doing, and he does not necessarily deserve to be punished for it. Another way the jury could have seen his case would be that Richard was nearly an adult who murdered his mother, hid the body, and then manipulated people into thinking that he was truly concerned about his mothers whereabouts while the whole time knowing what he did. If the jury would have seen Richard’s case like that, he probably would have ended up with the maximum

Browder I hope you get a chance to hear this , how proud I am for you having such strength and not accepting any deal and to fight for your innocence. Everything that happened to him was wrong. I'm so glad he stuck to being true to himself & not accepting any deal. I truly hope a door will open soon for Mr. Browder that will allow him to go on with his life & put all of this behind him. The prosecution knew from day one that they didn’t have any witness and he is supposed to be set free . The supposed victim had said he was robbed that day then changed his story to being robbed a week earlier, Bullshit!. The prosecution knew that the supposed victim could not be found long before they finally let him go, they only released the information after they knew they had no chance of conviction. Prosecutors didn't care about innocence or guilt only a conviction. The only crime committed here was the thief of this young mans pride and future. True justice would be the state to give him anything and everything possible to restore what they have stolen from him so that he can become what he was to be before they stole

concerned about pinning the murder on someone and they really didn?t care who it was. Interrogators literally forced Williamson to make his dream confession and this was the basis for the entire prosecution even though the defendant was obviously mentally incompetent The prosecution team used other unreliable sources of evidence, mainly hair samples, and ?jailhouse snitches? who received reduced sentences as a reward of testifying against the defendant. Eventually they manipulated an inexperienced jury into believing their insignificant evidence and Ron Williamson was sentenced to death. His friend Dennis Fritz was sentenced to life in prison, mainly for being the only friend Ron had when the murder occurred.