Steve Harmon Character Analysis in Monster Essay Sample
📌Category: | Books |
📌Words: | 723 |
📌Pages: | 3 |
📌Published: | 23 February 2022 |
“Our criminal justice system treats you better if you are rich and guilty than if you are poor and innocent”-Bryan Stevenson. In the book “Monster” by Walter Dean Myers Steve Harmon, the main protagonist is a black sixteen-year-old male facing the horrors of jail and is on trial for murder. Steve often conveys his feelings through his journal. Steve Harmon is portrayed as a character who is not as mature as other prisoners because of his lack of understanding of the corrupted justice system. Steve Harmon is a confused/clueless person because he does not realize that the justice system is flawed, and not everything in the world is peaceful. Throughout the book, the reader sees Steve has an innocent mind and the maturity of a child. The author Walter Dean Myers uses indirect characterization to portray the protagonist Steve Harmon by giving Steve a clueless, innocent mentality. I will write about how Steve Harmon shows his maturity as a character in his thoughts and feelings and actions.
Steve Harmon seems like a little kid in a sixteen-year-old body and especially him being in jail with a cluster of adults that are more mature than him. Steve writes in his journal to express his feelings about situations that are happening in jail or how he feels about jail. This journal helps Steve cope and deal with stress in jail. “I want to look like I'm 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.”(Myers 62) This actively demonstrates that Steve is clueless about who he perceives himself to be when he is around other criminals. The aura Steve must get in jail might be throwing him off so, therefore he does not know if he can call himself innocent or not because the people surrounding him make him second guess that. Another example of character development is “How could he scare me? I go to bed every night, terrified out of my mind. I have nightmares whenever I close my eyes. I am afraid to speak to these people in the jail with me.” (Myers 96) This actively demonstrates that Steve feared King before jail time, however, Steve has been through some traumatic experiences because of jail. How can King scare Steve with just a look? Life in jail has changed Steve, so he is now tougher because it seems like he is going through the worst situations right now. Because of the rough environment in jail, Steve has lost the emotion of fear, especially after being in there for a long time and hearing people getting beat up.
Throughout the story, Steve has numerous flashbacks, usually before the crime, revealing more of the plot. These flashbacks usually contain Steve in a scenario conversing with somebody or doing something. “Tony: I didn’t throw that rock. You threw it. Steve: I didn’t say you threw it. I just said run you should’ve run”(Myers 43) This flashback actively shows Steve throwing a rock and hitting a woman with it. The guy punches tony whilst Steve tries to run. This might conflict with the idea that Steve is innocent because they try to get away with it, instead they could have apologized and that would have probably avoided tony getting hit. He let his friend get punched and didn't even feel bad for him. Even though it was all Steve’s fault, he thought that tony should have avoided it by running, so Steve does not even try to take the blame. Another example of character development is “Steve: Ain’t no use putting that blanket over your head, man, you can’t cut this out; this is reality. This is the real deal,”(Myers 8) This actively demonstrates character development because this shows Steve acting like a child, and the reader can infer that the author is portraying that he is not used to life in jail. Steve uses the blanket as a safe spot to get away from the horrors of his life and jail right now.
Walter Dean Myers used indirect characterization to help develop the character of Steve in his thoughts and feelings and actions. Doing this helps the reader understand the plot of the story and the character. Although Steve does not fully get how the justice system works and how corrupted it is, just like in the real world, people don’t see how corrupted it is. People till this day are getting judged racially and right away, they will assume that you are guilty because of your appearance. “You are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty”- Eleventh Amendment.