Trial For A Crime In Monster, By Walter Dean Myers

Lowell Myers is best known for his work on behalf of Donald Lang. Donald Lang was a African American deaf Chicago man who could not speak, and was accused of murdering a prostitute in the 1960s. Lang, who didn’t know sign language or lip reading and had almost no ability to communicate. He was sent to a state school for the mentally retarded after being charged with killing a prostitute in the mid-1960s.For several years, Myers pressed for Lang’s right to a trial.

Even though Steve may or may not have given a signal if anyone was in the store, he still walked in the store and walked out like the plan was. In Petrocelli closing arguments, she reminds everyone about what the plan was, saying, “He is as guilty as everyone else, no matter how many moral hairs he can split. His participation made the crime easier. His willingness to check out the store, no matter how poorly he did it, was one of those causative factors that resulted in the death of Mr. Nesbitt” (262). Petrocelli wants the jury to know that everything Steve did helped lead up to the death of Mr, Nesbitt.

If you read page 245, O’brien’s closing statement reads, “The State did elicit from Steve that he spoke to Mr.King about basketball. The conversation were short, and without substance. At no time did the State establish any conversation between Steve and anyone else about a robbery.”. Even though Steve has had small talk with James, there is no proof that they’ve talked about planning the robbery. On page 51, there’s a flashback between a woman named Peaches, a man named Johnny, King, and Steve. King did mention the difficulties of getting money and the only thing Steve did was agree to just that. Nothing more, nothing less. Then, Peaches, Johnny, and King spoke about is money.

The idea of what a monster is and how it pertains to modern day society has fascinated readers and writers for decades. Before taking this class, I was aware of what a monster is and the function it served in today’s society. Furthermore, after taking this class, I am now aware of what a monster truly is, and what really separates a monster from a regular person. The piece of text that I mainly chose to focus on and elaborate closely to demonstrate the aspects of a monster is appropriately named, Monster, by Walter Dean Myers. The reason I chose this piece of literature is because, Monster thoroughly elaborates what a monster is in todays society and how it functions in the modern day world. In this essay I will elaborate on

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 United States judicial system says that you are innocent until proven guilty. In language arts class we read a book called Monster, by Walter Dean Myers. Monster is about a 16 year old boy named Steve Harmon, and how he had to go on a trial for felony murder. The book is set as if Steve is making a screenplay. At the end of the book Steve is proven innocent, and free to go, but I believe that there was not enough information for Steve to be proven guilty. The jury did not see many parts of the story that readers of the book Monster read, for example, in his journal Steve writes about wanting to be like King, he also has flashbacks to before the crime that show him interacting with other members of the crime, and finally he had a lot of really close people doubting him.

Monster by Walter Dean Myers has varied themes that the author wants the reader to take away after reading the novel. Monster is about a sixteen year old named Steve Harmon that was accused of felony murder. Harmon has never committed a crime before and the novel is his version of a movie script; the reader only knows what he writes down. Harmon has his own notes throughout the script and he describes everything that is going on while the trial goes on. Evidently, the theme for Monster is that telling the truth will depend on the future.

Nesbitt and has admitted to participating in the crime, he didn’t know if Steve participated in the robbery. On page 182 and 192 in a testimony between Bobo and Petrocelli Bobo said “ He was supposed to tell us if there was anybody in the store. He didn’t say anything so we figured it was all right I thought King had hooked it up. He told me he had everything straight.” Bobo Evans said that he didn’t think that they had received a signal because Steve didn’t say anything to them. Since Bobo said King had it covered he didn’t know everything about the robbery including Steve’s

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,

In the book, Mississippi Trial, 1955, by Chris Crowe, Hiram’s view of Greenwood is changing. As Hiram talks to the people in Greenwood, he discovers that colored people aren’t treated the same way as whites, causing his perspective to change. One example is When Mr. Paul told Hiram what was new in Greenwood, Hiram thinks:

History on Trial, written by Gary B. Nash, Charlotte Crabtree, and Ross E. Dunn, explains the events circulating the release of the National History Standards in 1994. This book follows their trials and tribulations after releasing the standards. It discusses the critics' harsh responses to the standards. These responses led to a media war over history and how it should be taught in American schools. The book, being written by them, offers the creators of the standards point of view. With that said, the book is biased. The book is a great source that shows exactly what the Gary Nash, Charlotte Crabtree and Ross Dunn felt during the media war, but it does not give the critics point of view. It paints the critics as rash and stubborn Americans

Stephen Bonnycastle lists a set of traits or stereotypes in his work In Search for Authority, that are considered "feminine" and an opposing list that is considered "masculine"; these traits seem to be inevitably true to life (Bonnycastle 10,11). For example, one of the traits listed is emotional, women are expected to be emotional and when this is not the case a man is often confused and indifferent towards the woman. This is especially the case if she is not emotional she is viewed as not feminine. Any time a woman does not fit the idea of what society expects of her she is outcasted and frowned upon. This hatred runs even deeper if a woman crosses over into what is considered "masculine", a woman who shows any type of authority over a

A truly insane being, Owlman manipulates his teammates, secretly hides his true intentions, and makes an effort to destroy every universe in existence.

The way Bob Ewell's lawyer was speaking to and about Tom you could easily see that he treated him bad just because the way his skin color was, even dill couldn’t stand it that he cried. “No one should have the right to treat someone like that.” The law is the law. You can’t change it. You could tell who had done this near the ending of the book as the town figured it out. They would keep on repeating what they did if Boo Radley was convicted of killing Bob Ewells.

I was thrilled to view the engaging first week's discussion! Everyone clearly understood Hitchcock’s narrative structure, and two plotlines. Many insightful and thought-provoking comments. I found particularly interesting the diagram which identified Mrs. Thornwald as bedridden/ill, paralleled Jeff’s story—could her immobility led to his empathy toward her? Narrative structure is the first stop in our survey. Good work!