Walter Dean Myers’ Monster - Guilty Until Proven Innocent

Walter Dean Myers’ Monster - Guilty Until Proven Innocent

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, even after it is over. His lawyer, O’Brien, says in her closing statement, “What can we trace as to the guilt or innocence of my client, Steve Harmon?” (245) This leaves the jury with an undoubtedly difficult decision, as well as the reader, because there are clues to both guilt and innocence in Steve’s case.

What we do know is that many people think Steve is guilty. One of the guards describes the case, “Six days – maybe seven. It’s a motion case. They go through the motions; then they lock them up” (14). The judicial system has many flaws, one of which being that they assume guilt before proof when it comes to people like Steve. The phrase “innocent until proven guilty” does not apply to cases like his. As prosecutor Petrocelli states in reference to people like Steve, “There are also monsters in our communities – people who are willing to steal and to kill, people who disregard the rights of others” (21). O’Brien succinctly sums this up for Steve, “You’re young, you’re Black, and you’re on ...

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... to jail. He moved away, and the distance between us seemed to grow bigger and bigger” (280). The reader is left pondering the good character of Steve, the bad friends he spent time with, the doctoring of his testimony, and the information that Steve provided us hinting both at his guilt and at his innocence. We are comfortable with the fact that he has been let free, but has been warned. If he were involved in the crime, at least he may have learned his lesson through his time in prison and on trial. If he were not involved in the crime, at least he is free to start over and move on from the experience.

Works Cited

Campbell, Patty. “Radical Monster.” The Horn Book Magazine. Boston: Nov/Dec 1999. Vol. 75, Iss. 6; pg. 769.

Dean Myers, Walter. Monster. New York: Harper Tempest, 1999.

Kus, Jonathan. “Monster: A critical look from the outside.” April 13, 2004.