Monsters

Absolute justice, some will say, is virtually impossible to accomplish in the world we live in. The book Monster focuses on the issue of justice and the constant struggle human beings have finding it. Since Monster is not on everyone’s reading list this week, I will offer a brief overview of the book and discuss some of the difficult issues it raises. The story is about a boy, Steve Harmon, who is accused of murder. It is written through his point of view using the outline of a movie script as its format. At first, this type of writing confused and distracted me. However, the longer I read, the more the format added to the character of the book. The entire story takes place during Steve’s trial; during which, we are thrust into the flurry of emotions he undergoes.

In certain parts of the book, I found myself getting so nervous my stomach hurt. Facing a life sentence in prison would be horrifying! It made me think about the overflowing prison system in our country. How could there be so many people that chose the wrong path in life? Yet again, how is it possible that so much evil exists? Granted, there are various degrees of criminal severity, but all crimes cause harm to someone. If we loosely define “evil” as any crime done against another to do harm, then how can there be so much evil in the heart of mankind? Furthermore, by incarcerating people for their crimes, are we truly rehabilitating them or fostering an environment of increased violence and hostility? Is this system really proving to be effective? These are all questions I found myself asking throughout this book. The brutality and finality of prison is a disheartening reality; a place where evil seems to flourish in the hearts of men as a means of survival.

These thoughts also broach another question: What about innocent people wrongly accused and living in such close quarters with these monsters? Would a good person, sentenced alongside hardened criminals, be transformed into a monster to survive the horror of prison life? If so, what really separates you and I from the serial killer whose childhood was the result of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of alcoholic parents?

Monster is a book that provokes all these thoughts and questions. It is a book that leaves you questioning what you thought you already knew; then it forces you to evaluate whether your knowledge was a distortion of the true forces manipulating your life every day. The book forces you to re-think your approach at evaluating a person’s true character; did you really know the person at all? Emotions of fear, anger, sympathy, regret, and sadness will overcome you as you plunge into the journey of this dark, yet realistic, book. 

-Catherine