Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Monster Calls, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Death, Denial, and Acceptance
Storytelling
Isolation
Family and Growing Up
Summary
Analysis
Conor and his father go out for pizza, and Conor’s notes that his father sounds more and more American every time they speak. His father then asks (for “the eight hundredth time,” according to Conor) how Conor is holding up. Conor says he’s fine, and that his mother is on a new medicine that will make her better, even though she doesn’t look so good. Conor doesn’t know why everyone is acting so worried. Conor’s father says that Conor will have to “be brave for her.”
The opening of Conor and his father’s exchange brings up two main points: first, that Conor is still in denial about what’s happening, ignoring the evidence that his mother is getting worse in order to push away his own pain. Additionally, Conor’s father’s statement shows how he has put the responsibility of being brave and being more adult onto Conor’s shoulders while he’s been away.
Themes
Conor’s father invites Conor to visit him and his family in America for Christmas. Conor asks why it would only be a visit, adamantly saying that he doesn’t want to live with his grandmother, and asks why he can’t live with his father in America. Conor complains about not being comfortable at his grandmother’s house (which he calls “an old lady’s house”), and that he wants his own room in his own house.
The conversation that Conor has with his father also connects his father with the parson in the monster’s second tale. Like the parson, Conor’s father is a good man, but he says things that he doesn’t believe in (like what is implied to be an empty promise for Conor to visit America) and shirks the responsibility of taking care of his son while Conor’s mother is dying.
Themes
Conor’s father argues that Conor’s grandmother has more money and space, and that it wouldn’t be fair to Conor to pull him away from his life in England. Conor protests, thinking that his father just doesn’t want him to come to America. Conor’s father says that he wishes things were different, but Conor is unconvinced. Conor asks if they can talk about it more when his mother gets better, and his dad reluctantly agrees.
This exchange shows the deep contradictions of Conor’s thoughts. His proposal to move to America is clearly in the event that his mother dies, yet he says that he doesn’t want to talk about it until his mother gets better, in which case he wouldn’t need to move to America in the first place. In this conversation, Conor shows that he privately understands his mother might not—and probably will not—get better but still has trouble acknowledging this aloud.
Themes
