Walter Dean Myers’ Monster - Guilty Until Proven Innocent Essay

Walter Dean Myers daimon - Guilty Until Proven InnocentMonster is an example of what Patty Campbell would call a landmark book. Texts such as these encourage reviewers to interact with the text and with one another by employing a variety of devices, among them ambiguity (Campbell 1) Because it is told through the eyes of Steve himself, the plot can be rocky to decipher. It is ambiguous whether he is innocent or ill-doingy of existence involved with the crime. Steve learned to appoint things unpredictable from his film teacher Mr. Sawicki who teaches him, If you make your film predictable, theyll make up their minds about it long forrader its over (19). Steve took his teachers advice and made this film script all unpredictable, even after it is over. His lawyer, OBrien, says in her closing statement, What can we hunt down as to the guilt or innocence of my client, Steve Harmon? (245) This leaves the jury with an undoubtedly difficult decision, as well as the reader, because th ere are clues to both guilt and innocence in Steves case. What we do know is that many commonwealth think Steve is iniquitous. One of the guards describes the case, Six days maybe seven. Its a motion case. They go through the motions then they lock them up (14). The judicial system has many flaws, one of which being that they assume guilt before proof when it comes to plenty like Steve. The phrase innocent until proven guilty does not apply to cases like his. As prosecutor Petrocelli states in seed to people like Steve, There are also monsters in our communities people who are willing to steal and to kill, people who disregard the rights of others (21). OBrien compactly sums this up for Steve, Youre young, youre Black, and youre on ... ... to jail. He locomote away, and the distance between us seemed to grow bigger and bigger (280). The reader is left pondering the good character of Steve, the bad friends he exhausted time with, the doctoring of his testimony, and the inf ormation that Steve provided us hinting both at his guilt and at his innocence. We are comfortable with the fact that he has been let let loose, but has been warned. If he were involved in the crime, at least he may fork out learned his lesson through his time in prison and on trial. If he were not involved in the crime, at least he is free to start over and move on from the experience.Works CitedCampbell, Patty. Radical Monster. The horn Book Magazine. Boston Nov/Dec 1999. Vol. 75, Iss. 6 pg. 769.Dean Myers, Walter. Monster. New York harper Tempest, 1999.Kus, Jonathan. Monster A critical look from the outside. April 13, 2004.