Walter Dean Myers’ Monster: Does Prison Make Steve a Monster? Creep. Psycho. Thug. Monster. The moment a mugshot appears on the six o’clock news, viewers make assumptions about the person in the photo. In a court system based on the premise that all men are innocent until proven guilty, people are quick to assume the worst about each defendant before the trial begins. In Walter Dean Myers’ novel Monster, Steve Harmon is on trial for his alleged role in a robbery that ultimately led to the carry-out owner’s death. At sixteen years old, Steven’s entire life is in the hands of the jury who must decide if he participated as the lookout for the convenience store robbery that resulted in the owner’s death. Because the robbery led to a murder, …show more content…
Steve observes, “Everybody in here either talks about sex or hurting somebody or what they’re in here for. That’s all they think about and that’s all that’s on my mind, too” (139-140). For the first time, Steve places himself in the same group as the violent criminals he has referred to so many times before. He later describes another violent incident at the prison by stating, “There was a fight just before lunch and a guy was stabbed in the eye…Violence in here is always happening or just about ready to happen. I think these guys like it—they want to be normal because that’s what they’re used to dealing with” (143-144). Steve identifies that violence is only this common in prison. In fact, fights happen so frequently that the inmates and guards do not emotionally react as they have become numb and desensitized to the recurring …show more content…
By the end of the novel, Steve concludes, “I think I finally understand why there are so many fights. In here all you have going for you is the little surface stuff, how people look at you and what they say. And if that’s all you have, then you have to protect that. Maybe that’s right” (154-155). Steve reflects on the violence in prison and concludes that people feel obligated to protect their reputation in prison because that is all they have left. Steve begins to justify the violence in prison because he has been exposed to so much of it. He no longer thinks it is wrong or misguided. This shows that Steve has lost his innocence and he is on the path to participate in the violence himself.
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