Entry Two: Monster

       The book Monster by Walter Dean Myers is structured like a play. The book shows Steve Harmon is writing about how terrifying his experience when he says "the best time to cry is at night when the lights are out and someone is being beaten up and screaming for help" (Myers 1) in the Manhattan Detention Center. The book also has dates to show what happens before and after the trial everyday. It gives the opening credits to the characters that are acting in the book and shows that Steve Harmon wrote the script and directed this play. The book shows the designs that are set and props that are given by the State of New York. It says how Steve Harmon is transported in a van from the Detention Center to the Courthouse.
        Steve Harmon wants his defense attorney Mrs. O'Brien to convince the jurors in the courtroom that he did not commit a felony murder by giving a signal to James King  and Richard "Bobo" Evans. I think King wants the jurors to say he is not guilty but I do not think that will happen because Richard Evans and Osvaldo Cruz pointed him out at the scene where Nesbitt was shot. Richard Evans was already caught by the police but if he told what at the scene he would get ten to fifteen years in prison.
        One theme I have identified is stereotyping because Steve Harmon was being judged by his violent behavior as a black man. In the book Myers writes, "Steve spreads his arms to hug O'Brien but she stiffens and turns to pick up her papers from the table before them" (Myers 276). Mrs.O'Brien hesitates and Steve wants to give her hug because he was found not guilty, but she was afraid of him. Another theme I have identified is prejudice.  In the book Myers writes, "The prosecution try to connect him to my client. With him in gear, that prejudices my client" (Myers 172). Mrs. Petrocelli was connecting the client, James King and Richard Evans because of the crimes that are made by black men.

Entry One: Monster

The major characters are 16 year old boy Steve Harmon and James king are on trial for a felony murder for the clerk at the drugstore. Richard "Bobo" Evans is a major character too because he stole cigarettes from the drugstore and gets a lesser charge to go to jail for ten to fifteen years. The setting takes place in the courtroom where there is a trial that deals with robbery and murder. The conflict is man vs. society because Steve Harmon is an accomplice to a felony murder that happen at a drugstore that he did not commit. he  is sitting in the courtroom terrified, waiting for the jurors to decide if he is guilty or not. The defense attorney for Steve Harmon is Mrs. O'Brien. The other defense attorney for James King is Mrs. Briggs. Steve Harmon stays in a detention center for everyday until the trial ends. Why doesn't the book say where James King stays during the trial? What made Steve Harmon go along with a plan from James King and Richard Evans by stealing cigarettes, shooting a man when he didn't even do anything and stealing money from the cash register? I think Steve Harmon should have thought those things through when he had the chance.