Presentation arranged by
Kyle Barga
“Seeing my dad cry like that was just so terrible. What was going on between us, me being his son and him being my dad, is pushed down and something else is moving up in its place. It’s like a man looking down to see his son and
seeing a monster instead.” Page 115-116.
In the story Steve Harmon has been placed in jail until his trial is done. You can see that the conflict of the story doesn’t only effect the
Steve, the prison inmate, but also effects his family as well. For the first time in Steve's life he saw his dad cry. Steve being in prison has a
negative impact on his families life's.
This is the probably one of Steve’s expression from his poor self-esteem.
“I see what Miss O’Brien meant when she said part of her job was to make me look human in the eyes of the jury.”
Page 62
Since Steve is on in trial for having relations in a murder the jury thinks that Steve is a monster. You can clearly see that Steve realizes that he is being seen as a monster and needs to be seen
as human or civilized.
This is an eye to symbolize how the jury will see Steve.
“The man they called Sunset asked me if he could read the screenplay, and I let him. He liked it. Sunset said he liked the name of the screenplay. He said when he gets out, he will have the word Monster tattooed on his forehead. I
feel like I already have it tattooed on mine.” Page 61
You can tell that prison has transformed Steve the narrator into a guy who once was a normal kid into a kid who has gone to prison. By going to prison Steve feels he has automatically received the
title of “MONSTER”. This is why he said that he feel that the word monster has already been tattooed on his forehead.
Monster
This shows a kid with the word monster written on his forehead so you can se how Steve feels.
“I asked her if that meant that she thought we were going to lose the case. She's said no, but I don’t believe
her. I am so scared.” Page 201
This falls under characters and conflict because it shows Steve's, the main character, thought process half way
though the case. It shows that Steve’s sensitive side to his case and his little confidence to his case.
By having your fingers crossed behind you back that signifies that you are lying and that is how Steve feels about her.
“In a way he was right , at least about me. I want to look like a good person. I want to feel like I’m a good person because I believe I am. But being in here
with these guys makes it hard to think about yourself as being different.” Page 62
This is an example of how the setting can alter the characters motivation and self-esteem. The author uses
words such as “believe”, “hard”, and “different” to say that he believes he is different from the rest, but just by being in
prison clouds he self-esteem.
The jail bars are suppose to reference Steve being in jail.
“When the lights went out, I think I herd someone crying, in the darkness.” Page
205
This is an example of how the setting effects the mood. The author uses words such as “darkness”, and
“crying” to establish that something really bad is happening, but his voice doesn’t sound surprised like he
is just use to it by know.
This picture symbolizes how Steve would feel at night in jail.
“I hate this place. I hate this place. I cant writ it enough times to make it look the way I feel. I hate, hate, hate this
place!!” Page 46
You can tell that Steve feels that he does not belong in jail, the setting by his writing. An example of this by his word usage of,
“hate”, and how it is underlined. Since the story is in first person, Steve’s thoughts may influence the readers outlook on Steve. It
makes Steve seem innocent.
A nuclear explosion inspires hate just like how Steve hates jail.
Steve “I can kick our narrow butt any day in the week”
This is what the narrator says when threatened. This is how jail and growing up in the bad
sections of town have transformed him. The narrator may say these things even though he
might not mean these things.
This could have been the consequences for getting in a fight.
“The best time to cry is at night, when the lights are out and someone is being beaten up and
screaming for help.” Page 1
This shows the authors sensitive side by him crying, but shows his twisted outlook of life. Him saying
that ,someone is being beaten up, shows that he has maybe encountered a few challenges throughout his
life.
This is how Steve would probably look when he is crying at night.