Monster, by Walter Dean Myers, is a text frequently read in middle school about a 16-year-old boy on trial and facing a life sentence. Because it has a Lexile score of 670L, students at the middle school level can read the text. This actually makes it perfect for my special education students (and sometimes standard students) who are usually reading at around that level. It’s one of those books that is accessible for younger audiences but can also be more thoroughly analyzed by older students in high school. The subject of a teenager in jail and witnessing the horrors of what goes on in jail is certainly appropriate for high school students.

To give you a few ideas of how to approach teaching Monster, I’m listing out what I focus on with my high school students when reading this text.

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Reliable vs. Unreliable Narrators

Monster is broken up into two different sections that alternate throughout the book. One section is from Steve’s personal point of view and is written out in his notebook. The text is even printed with a font to look like handwriting. The other section is written as a screenplay that Steve is writing in his notebook. This section uses a more formal font and is written in third person, but Steve, the narrator, is writing it.

This sets up for good discussions on whether or not Steve is reliable.

Examples of Steve’s Credibility

• is incredibly honest in his notebook writings about his fears in jail. His vulnerability and admitting to crying makes us feel he is telling the truth. This is how the book starts.
• somewhat admits through his movie scenes he was at least approached by King about the robbery.
• never clearly admits in court or in his writings if he was apart of the robbery.
• his lawyer tells him not to write anything in his notebook he wouldn’t want the prosecution to see (don’t admit you did anything in writing)
• is coached by his lawyer on how to answer questions. He is shown lying to his lawyer and being coached by his lawyer on how to answer questions.
• admits he doesn’t really understand himself if he is guilty or innocent.

I have a Prezi I use to introduce the idea of a reliable narrator. Click here if you want to check it out. It just goes through a quick explanation of reliable, unreliable, and somewhere-in-the-middle. I feel like Steve is somewhere in the middle. I give students quotes or have them find their own in order to demonstrate Steve’s varying level of credibility. Then I have them draw an arrow on the reliability gauge and write out a response to support their answer.

Themes about Identity

From the very beginning, the reader sees Steve struggle with his identity as he calls his movie Monster in reference to himself. Throughout there are instances where Steve can’t tell the difference between himself and the other inmates, the prosecutor is trying to make Steve look like all of the other criminals, and his parents no longer look at him the same way. Again, I either give students quotes or ask them to find their own in order to identify what the text is trying to say about identity.

This novel is great for struggling students because a lot of the quotes for his identity crisis come from the section of the text that looks like his handwriting. All my students who are overwhelmed skimming a text for quotes do much better with the natural chunking this book provides.

Accompanying Ted Talk

To go along with this, I have the students watch a Ted Talk given by someone who was incarcerated at a young age. It’s called “Why your worst deeds don’t define you.” Click here to check it out. The common theme is the title, so I have my students find the different examples of the theme in the text and the talk. Much of the talk is how the speaker turned his life around and found himself again. He gives suggestions for how we can change jails so people leave and are rehabilitated instead of hardened, angry, and more violent. Steve is still struggling to find himself again, so I use the talk to begin discussions on what Steve can do now and what the government can do to help others like Steve.

A few examples: create transition programs, train guards to have better interactions with the youth in jail, create programs for inmates like Steve to learn or work at a talent.

Inferences about O’Brien/Complex Character Developing Theme

Everything we hear about Steve’s lawyer, O’Brien, comes from Steve’s perspective. We don’t know what she is thinking, so the students have to make inferences on her feelings towards Steve based on her actions and dialogue. I focus on the relationship between her and Steve since it is complex and seems to change from day to day. For my students, I have a list of quotes involving O’Brien and they have to write out what they can infer about her feelings/attitude towards Steve. In the end, they need to summarize her feelings and explain the internal conflict she is feeling.

In a quick summary: O’Brien occasionally acts maternally or at the very least as a mentor towards Steve which shows she does view him as a child or young person. She also sees him as guilty based on her conversations with him. She likely doesn’t think he deserves a life sentence, but she’s conflicted about helping him to avoid any additional jail time.

The effect of her actions on Steve is significant. Steve is found not-guilty and O’Brien packs her things and walks out. She turns from his open arms and leaves. Steve spends months making movies about himself trying to figure out what O’Brien saw in him that she reacted that way. He is still haunted by the idea that O’Brien sees him as a monster and it causes him to question if it’s true. This is part of the development of the identity theme.

Classroom Discussion

The ambiguity of this text makes it a perfect fit for class discussion. Here are a few of the topics I like to have the students discuss. I hand out the paper at the beginning of the text so students can take notes on it throughout. When we have finished reading, everyone is ready to discuss with notes and textual evidence in hand.

-Is Steve guilty?

-What is an appropriate punishment if Steve is guilty?

-Is O’Brien’s behavior after the verdict given warranted?

-Is Steve’s environment to blame for his actions?

Reliable Witnesses

Okay, so this is just more of a fun activity than anything that is going to align with ELA common core standards. I like to show the opening of the movie Mystic River. I would include a link here, but I can’t find it anywhere. It’s rated R, but the only bad thing in this scene is one swear word. Here’s the link thanks to one of my readers (Leanne Mann) who got it to me in a comment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDCRBmK2tpI 

The scene is of three boys in the 70s in Boston playing hockey in the street. They write their names out in wet cement when a car pulls up. A man steps out and scolds them. He makes the one boy he caught writing in the cement get into his car and they drive off. I stop it there and then put the students in small groups. I tell them they were in one of the neighboring houses watching what happened. The boy never came back and the police want to know what happened. I ask them to write down everything they can remember: what people were wearing, what they said, and what they did.

They struggle. They get into watching the movie and they forget key details. It links back to the novel in that one of the witnesses has trouble remembering the people in the store and what exactly was said.

Again, not totally in line with the standards. However, it breaks things up and is relevant to the text. It’s a game, and what student doesn’t like a game?

Movie Comparison

The Netflix movie is NOT the same as the book, but that’s not always a bad thing. The movie is a more modern version of the story. When it was initially published in 2001, security cameras weren’t everywhere and Steve could claim to not have been in the bodega (which is does when he is on trial). In the movie there is security video of him in the story right before the robbery. This, in my opinion, is one of the biggest differences between the movie and the novel. I don’t want to list out too many of the differences and impacts here because I hear some of the students have been using this blog for homework help (you sneaky buggers; I’m on to you!). 

For my own lessons I picked out nine scenes that I wanted to focus on that had the biggest impact on our understanding of Steve and his dilemma. I include page numbers (pages from a PDF I found) and time stamps so I can pull up and direct students to the essential information of the scene. Click here to find these worksheets in my TpT store. 

If you are planning on using the movie with the book, aside from what I said above, keep this in mind:

1. The movie jumps around even more than the book. It is not sequential. If you’re showing portions of the movie as you go, make sure you know the timestamps for the scenes you want to cover.
2. There is harsher language in the movie than what is in the book. The book depicts life in jail but through Steve’s eyes and he does not repeat what the other people say. In the movie we hear the f-bombs and everything else. 
3. The ending is drastically different. Again, I don’t want to give it away here, but I will say that the title of the novel is nowhere near as relevant in the movie version. 

Not looking to get fired for showing a rated-R movie in class? I hear you 🙁 Check out the alternative I used below before there was an official movie. 

In the meantime, click here for a trailer put out by a theater company. It’s professionally done and true to the movie. I use it as an intro to voice-overs and different camera shots – both of which are used in Steve’s screenplay.

Want my Lesson Plans?

I have everything available on Teachers Pay Teachers which you can access by clicking here. My students really get into this story and appreciate that it is something a bit more modern and easier to understand than, say, Oedipus. Speaking of, that’s the topic of my next blog: Teaching Oedipus to struggling readers in high school.
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