MONSTER BY WALTER DEAN MYERS - BOOKNOTES / CHAPTER SYNOPSIS

Journal Entry #10

Summary

Steve tells the reader that the night before he had been unable to go to sleep out of fear that he would die. He knows there no more arguments to make and that’s why guys who have been through this before want to make appeals of their sentences - they can continue the argument that the system has said is over. He recalls the look of desperation on his mother’s face when he left the courtroom and for a moment felt sorry for her.

However, now he doesn’t feel that way, because all he can think of is his case and the appeals he is already planning. Pounded into his brain is Petrocelli saying, “Steve Harmon made a moral decision,” and he wonders what was the decision he made? Nothing seems real around him except the panic and the movies that keep dancing through his head. The last thought for his movie is, “I know what right is, what truth is. I don’t do tightropes, moral or otherwise.” He puts strings in the background like cellos and violas.

Notes

Like all of Steve’s journal entries, this one shows the truth about him. He is panicked about the verdict, but already feels it will be a guilty one, because he’s planning his appeals. He also re-examines his decisions which show he is still lying to himself. The final thought is so ironic, because he doesn’t know what truth is or right is and has been walking a tightrope in his neighborhood.

Friday, July 17th

Summary

The guard calls out to James and Steve that they have a verdict, and they head back to the courtroom. While they are waiting for the Nesbitt family to arrive, Steve asks O’Brien what she thinks the verdict will be. Significantly, she doesn’t answer him, saying instead that no matter what it is, they can appeal.

Steve then imagines the words rolling out, like the Star Wars movie, words that explain that this is the story of his life and of his trial; that it was not something he expected and it was not the activity that he thought would fill every bit of his soul or change what life meant to him. He insists that he has transcribed everything as he remembers it.

Then, the jury foreman read the verdicts. Not surprisingly, James King is found guilty, is handcuffed, and is led away. While Steve’s mother desperately clasps her hands before her, we see the guards move away from Steve, because he has been found NOT GUILTY. The camera moves in and becomes grainier as Steve tries to embrace O’Brien. However, she stiffens and pulls away from him. Her lips are tense and she appears thoughtful. She gathers her papers and moves away further. The camera shot becomes grainier and grainier until Steve, arms still outstretched, becomes a picture like those used for psychological testing or some strange beast, a monster. The last words on the screen are: “A Steve Harmon Film.”

Notes

Once again, we see Steve making his movie into a Star Wars presentation. It is the end of his movie and he lies to himself again when he says that he has transcribed everything as he remembers it. In his heart he knows he’s guilty, but he is found not guilty by the jury anyway. It is a happy ending, but he is not a hero like the characters in Star Wars. He’s just been lucky. The truth of who he is can be seen in the reaction of his own attorney who refuses to embrace him. She knows he was the lookout and his presentation of himself to the jury won him the verdict he wanted. What’s more, the reader can further see that Steve knows the truth about himself when he ends his movie with his face morphing into a grainy distorted picture of a monster.

Journal Entry #11 - December, Five Months Later

Summary

Steve reflects how much time has passed since the murder. He tells us that James King received 25 years to life, Bobo is still in jail, and Osvaldo was later arrested for stealing a car and sent to a reformatory.

His mother doesn’t understand what he is doing with films he is making. He has been creating movies of himself in which he talks and tells the camera who he is and what he thinks he is. He sets the camera in a variety of different angles and tries creative shots like reflections from a mirror. Sometimes, he allows his little brother to film him as well. Ultimately, whatever he does please his mother, because he is not in jail.

After the trial, his father, with tears in his eyes, had held him close and told him he was thankful Steve didn’t have to go to jail. Then, he moved away and Steve says the distance has been growing between them ever since. His father is no longer sure of who Steve is. He doesn’t understand Steve even knowing people like Bobo and King and he wonders what else he doesn’t know about him. So that is why Steve makes the films about himself. He wants to look at himself a thousand times to find one true image. However, the thought that hits him the hardest is the look on O’Brien’s face after they won the case. He needs to know, “What did she see when she turned away? WHAT DID SHE SEE?”

Notes

The films that Steve is making are symbolic of his inner struggle. He would like to turn the clock back and never have been a part of the robbery and the murder, but he cannot and now he has to come to terms with who he really is. It seems like a task like may be the heaviest of his life.

Monster by Walter Dean Myers Free BookNotes Summary