Steve Harmon's Monster

First Steve and Mrs.Petrocelli said “ I don’t remember seeing him play ball” “you having trouble remembering what you’ve seen.” (Myers 226). Steve is using a tactic which he said he doesn’t remember something and nobody can disprove that because it’s his memory. Then in the jail inmate number two states “Nah! truth is something you gave up when you were out there on the street. Now you are talking survival” (Myers 226). This demonstrates my theme because the criminal is saying nobody will tell the truth, they will just look for ways to lie to get out of trouble. Steve is a very smart person as he is only saying the bare minimum as to not say any facts to show that he is guilty. The truth is gone all you have left now is

In the book Monster by Walter Dean Myers, two boys named Steve Harmon and James King are facing charges for felony murder. Sandra Petrocelli is the prosecutor, and Kathy O’Brien is the defense attorney for Steve Harmon. They both do an excellent job with their arguments, however, they both want different things. Because O’Brien wants the jury to see Steve as a good person while Petrocelli wants the jury to see Steve as a monster, they each must bring their strongest arguments to determine Steve’s guilt or innocence. Kathy O’Brien is Steve Harmon’s defense attorney, and her job is to prove Steve not guilty.

Today we are discussing whether if Steve Harmon should be held guilty or not guilty. I, the defender, says that he is not. We’ve all experienced being accused of doing something we didn’t actually do but Steve’s situation is just more extreme than most of ours. It’s not everyday when we get told a friend is being accused of felony murder. I will be using O’brien’s closing statement along with other quotes to prove to you, that Steve Harmon is not guilty.

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.

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?

In Walter Dean Myers’ Monster, Steven Harmon is 16 years old and on trial for felony murder. The lack of scientific evidence and Steve’s character cast doubt on Steve's guilt. However, the testimonies of those known to be involved in the robbery and murder of Mr. Nesbitt as well as Steve's own testimony lead one to believe he could have played a role in the crime. Steve Harmon is not guilty of felony murder because Steve was scouting locations for a school film project, he did not receive a reward and the witnesses confirmed he was not in the store.

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?

“Fear and euphoria are dominant forces, and fear is many multiples the size of euphoria” - Alan Greenspan. New York author, Alan Greenspan, here is explaining that the threat fear presents is really no different than the state of intensity caused by euphoria. In Andrew J. Hoffman’s anthology, Monsters, there is substantial evidence that both fear and euphoria are inflicted upon men, by female monsters. The two threats men typically face against women are temptation and emasculation. Thus, in mythology and folklore, female monsters exemplify the impulse of desire (sexually) for men, and male weakness. These are creature that are lusted after and yet, still feared because of their power. Men find female monsters both fearsome and euphoric and will always threaten their dominance and control.

In Paul Trout’s “Why We Invented Monster”, he explores the ways of how the term “monsters” came to be from our ancestors and how people view monsters. Trout starts off by naming different types of monsters from basically every myth you can possibly think of. He continues by saying that even though there are many different types of monsters, they all have one thing in common. They eat humans. Cue the ominous music in the background.

His story is quite engaging as he was placed on the death sentence at only fourteen years old in June 1959 of rape and murder of a fellow classmate, arranged to be executed of hanging months after the conviction that he was wrongfully convicted for. Even despite being found not guilty by a jury of the murder of Lynne Harper in 1959, Steven has always claimed he was innocent, though he did not offer his evidence at the original murder trial, the jury did disclose that most of the evidence had been circumstantial. He also even voluntarily submitted to psychiatric probation in prison for truth serum and LSD to help his innocence. There was also no DNA evidence that could have been analyzed in his case. Steven's father, Daniel also had struggled for two decades to clear the name of his

In the Monster by Walter Dean Myers, the character Steve Harmon finds himself easily excepting of the label of a monster which was presented by Sandra Petrocelli "But there are also monsters in our community- people who are willing to steal and to kill, people who disregard the rights of others". Steve doesn't view himself as an active participant in the robbery which leads to the death of the store owner Alguinaldo Nesbitt and because of this he has not completely excepted the label of a monster, looking at Petrocelli point of view of what makes a monster showed Steve that regardless if he plays a minor role or are larger role, he still took part in the crime which leads to death of Mr. Nesbitt, a crime which showed no regard for the rights of others and willingness to steal and kill. Being a person of morals Steve should have seen that they were about to steal from an innocent person without consideration for the victim, even though murder may not have been apart of the plan it is still an act which victimizes someone and in some ways place people in danger. Secondly, Steve faces probably the most challenging of all, Steve realizes that his father now views him as a monster and not as his son. Mr. Harmon showed his disappointment when he shares with Steve what he dreamt of for his son "When you were first born, I would lie up in bed thinking about scenes of your life. You playing football. You going off to college. I used to think of you going to Morehouse and doing the same things I did when I was there. I never made the football team, but I thought—I dreamed you would. I never thought of seeing you in a place like this. It just never came to me that you'd ever be in any kind of trouble." This

Imagine being on trial for a crime you did not commit. In the book Monster, by Walter Dean Myers, Steve Harmon, a nice sixteen-year-old boy living in Harlem, New York was in a situation just like this. Steve was on trial after being accused of being a lookout during a robbery and murder at a neighborhood drugstore. Steve is innocent because he never gave a signal to the robbers that the store wasn’t clear of people and he did not know Bobo, one of the other suspected robbers. Steve was just in the store shopping for mints at the time of the crime.

The book I chose is called Monster by Walter Dean Myers. This novel won the Coretta Scott King award , the Printz award , and was also a National Book Award Finalist. Monster is the name and thing that Steve considers himself as he has gotten in a bit of trouble. This novel took place in Harlem New York in mid year of 1997. Steve harmon was in a drug store while some of the people he has been seen around the neighborhood with stuck the place up and murdered the owner of the store in cold blood now he is on trial for Felony 1 murder and this is the story of his trail. Our lives compare to each others in many ways. There are thousands of inferences that could be made

The movie “Monster” is based on the true story of Aileen Wuornos, a woman who was popularly known as “America’s first female serial killer” (Pearson, 2007, p.256). She was executed for killing six men on October. 9th, 2002, after 12 years on Florida’s Death Row (Jenkins, 2003). Aileen Wuornos was a 37-year-old white woman, born in Rochester, Michigan, and growing up in the nearby Troy area. When Aileen was young, a friend of her father sexually assaulted her for years. She complained to her farther, while her farther did not believe her and physically abused her instead (Jenkins, 2003). After her farther killed himself, she was abandoned by her family because she engaged in prostitution. Due to the