The Monster Character Analysis in A Monster Calls

A giant creature who takes the shape of a yew tree. Conor’s pain, grief, and inability to accept his feelings and his mother’s impending death is what calls the monster to him. The monster says that it has been called Herne the Hunter, Cernunnos, and the Green Man in the past—all implying that it is a natural spirit of pagan lore. The monster comes to tell stories to Conor to try and help him heal, and to help him understand that life and human emotions are complex and resist simple answers. The monster appears to be heavily linked to Conor’s denial surrounding his mother: the more Conor tries to deny that anything is wrong, the more violent both the monster and Conor get. But when Conor finally accepts the truth about his guilt and the fact that his mother is likely going to die, the monster becomes gentler and more like a parental figure. The monster stays with Conor at the end of the book, and helps support him as his mother quietly passes away. In contrast to other family members, who either require Conor to grow up too quickly or try to take away all responsibilities from him, the monster allows Conor to both be a child and an adult. The monster helps Conor face adulthood and the challenges that he is grappling with in his life, but the monster also helps Conor retain some of his innocence by comforting him. And because the monster is only able to comfort Conor when he finally accepts the truth, Ness argues that only by facing his emotions rather than trying to suppress them is Conor be able to move past his grief.

The Monster Quotes in A Monster Calls

The A Monster Calls quotes below are all either spoken by The Monster or refer to The Monster. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Death, Denial, and Acceptance Theme Icon

He’d told no one about the nightmare. Not his mum, obviously, but no one else either, not his dad in their fortnightly (or so) phone call, definitely not his grandma, and no one at school. Absolutely not.

Related Characters: Conor O’Malley, Conor’s Grandmother, Conor’s Father, Conor’s Mother, The Monster

Page Number and Citation: 1

Explanation and Analysis:

But she wasn’t in the kitchen. Which meant she was probably still up in her bed. Which meant Conor would have to make his own breakfast, something he’d grown used to doing. Fine. Good, in fact, especially this morning.

Related Characters: Conor O’Malley, Conor’s Mother, The Monster

Page Number and Citation: 10

Explanation and Analysis:

You know that is not true, the monster said. You know that your truth, the one that you hide, Conor O’Malley, is the thing you are most afraid of.

Related Characters: The Monster (speaker), Conor’s Mother, Conor O’Malley

Page Number and Citation: 36

Explanation and Analysis:

And you have worse things to be frightened of, said the monster, but not as a question.

Conor looked at the ground, then up at the moon, anywhere but at the monster’s eyes. The nightmare feeling was rising in him, turning everything around him to darkness, making everything seem heavy and impossible, like he’d been asked to lift a mountain with his bare hands and no one would let him leave until he did.

Related Characters: The Monster (speaker), Conor O’Malley

Page Number and Citation: 50

Explanation and Analysis:

You think I tell you stories to teach you lessons? the monster said. You think I have come walking out of time and earth itself to teach you a lesson in niceness?

Related Characters: The Monster (speaker), The Evil Queen, The Farmer’s Daughter, The Young Prince, Conor’s Grandmother, Conor O’Malley

Page Number and Citation: 63

Explanation and Analysis:

There is not always a good guy. Nor is there always a bad one. Most people are somewhere in between.

Conor shook his head. “That’s a terrible story. And a cheat.”

It is a true story, the monster said. Many things that are true feel like a cheat. Kingdoms get the princes they deserve, farmers’ daughters die for no reason, and sometimes witches merit saving.

Related Characters: The Monster (speaker), Conor O’Malley (speaker), Conor’s Mother, The Evil Queen, The Farmer’s Daughter, The Young Prince, Conor’s Grandmother

Page Number and Citation: 64

Explanation and Analysis:

The yew tree is the most important of all the healing trees, it said. It lives for thousands of years. Its berries, its bark, its leaves, its sap, its pulp, its wood, they all thrum and burn and twist with life. It can cure almost any ailment man suffers from, mixed and treated by the right apothecary.

Related Characters: The Monster (speaker), The Apothecary, Conor’s Mother, Conor O’Malley, The Parson

Related Symbols: The Yew Tree

Page Number and Citation: 105

Explanation and Analysis:

She walked right past him, her face twisted in tears, the moaning spilling out of her again. She went to the display cabinet, the only thing remaining upright in the room.

And she grabbed it by one side—

And pulled on it hard once—

Twice—

And a third time.

Sending it crashing to the floor with a final-sounding crunch.

Related Characters: Conor’s Grandmother, The Monster, The Parson, Conor O’Malley

Page Number and Citation: 118

Explanation and Analysis:

“Son,” his father said, leaning forward. “Stories don’t always have happy endings.”

This stopped him. Because they didn’t, did they? That’s one thing the monster had definitely taught him. Stories were wild, wild animals and went off in directions you couldn’t expect.

Related Characters: Conor’s Father (speaker), Conor’s Mother, Conor O’Malley, The Monster

Related Symbols: The Yew Tree

Page Number and Citation: 134

Explanation and Analysis:

Harry leaned forward, his eyes flashing. “I see nothing,” he said. Without turning around, Conor asked the monster a question. “What did you do to help the invisible man?”

And he felt the monster’s voice again, like it was in his own head.

I made them see, it said.

Conor clenched his fists even tighter.

Then the monster leapt forward to make Harry see.

Related Characters: Harry (speaker), Conor O’Malley (speaker), The Monster (speaker), Lily Andrews, Conor’s Mother

Page Number and Citation: 152

Explanation and Analysis:

There are worse things than being invisible, the monster had said, and it was right.

Conor was no longer invisible. They all saw him now. But he was further away than ever.

Related Characters: The Monster (speaker), Conor O’Malley, Harry, Lily Andrews

Page Number and Citation: 158

Explanation and Analysis:

“I’ve known forever she wasn’t going to make it, almost from the beginning. She said she was getting better because that’s what I wanted to hear. And I believed her. Except I didn’t.”

No, the monster said.

Conor swallowed, still struggling. “And I started to think how much I wanted it to be over. How much I just wanted to stop having to think about it. How I couldn’t stand the waiting anymore. I couldn’t stand how alone it made me feel.”

Related Characters: The Monster (speaker), Conor O’Malley (speaker), Conor’s Mother

Page Number and Citation: 171

Explanation and Analysis:

He faintly felt the huge hands of the monster pick him up, forming a little nest to hold him. He was only vaguely aware of the leaves and branches twisting around him, softening and widening to let him lie back.

Related Characters: Conor O’Malley, Conor’s Mother, The Monster

Page Number and Citation: 190

Explanation and Analysis:

You were merely wishing for the end of pain, the monster said. Your own pain. An end to how it isolated you. It is the most human wish of all.

“I didn’t mean it,” Conor said.

You did, the monster said, but you also did not.

Conor sniffed and looked up to its face, which was as big as a wall in front of him. “How can both be true?”

Because humans are complicated beasts, the monster said. How can a queen be both a good witch and a bad witch? How can a prince be a murderer and a saviour?

Related Characters: Conor O’Malley (speaker), The Monster (speaker), The Apothecary, The Evil Queen, Conor’s Mother, The Parson, The Young Prince

Page Number and Citation: 191

Explanation and Analysis:

And he also knew he was going to get through it.

It would be terrible. It would be beyond terrible.

But he’d survive.

And it was for this that the monster came. It must have been.

Conor had needed it, and his need had somehow called it. And it had come walking. Just for this moment.

Related Characters: Conor O’Malley, Conor’s Mother, The Monster

Page Number and Citation: 204

Explanation and Analysis:

“You’ll stay?” Conor whispered to the monster, barely able to speak. “You’ll stay until. . .”

I will stay, the monster said, its hands still on Conor’s shoulders. Now all you have to do is speak the truth.

And so Conor did.

He took in a breath.

And, at last, he spoke the final and total truth.

“I don’t want you to go,” he said, the tears dropping from his eyes, slowly at first, then spilling like a river.

Related Characters: Conor O’Malley (speaker), The Monster (speaker), Conor’s Mother

Related Symbols: The Yew Tree

Page Number and Citation: 204

Explanation and Analysis:

The Monster Character Timeline in A Monster Calls

The timeline below shows where the character The Monster appears in A Monster Calls. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

The monster arrives just after midnight. Meanwhile, Conor has just woken up from a nightmare. He’s been... (full context)

...again, the yew tree is standing in the middle of Conor’s backyard. This is the monster: the branches of the tree twisting into a “great and terrible face,” with a powerful... (full context)

Conor isn’t scared, however: “this wasn’t the monster he was expecting.” He says, “come and get me then.” The monster roars and pounds... (full context)

...the clock tick to 12:07 a.m., gets up, and goes over to the window. The monster is waiting there, and tells him to come outside. Once Conor comes out to his... (full context)

The monster lifts Conor up, who asks what the monster wants from him, dreading the answer. The... (full context)

The monster then says that Conor will tell a fourth story, that the story will be his... (full context)

...clock: 12:07 a.m. He goes into the kitchen, looks out the window, and sees the monster in his yard. Conor goes outside, and the monster tells him that it is time... (full context)

Conor looks away from the monster, feeling “the nightmare feeling” return to him, “making everything seem heavy and impossible.” Conor says... (full context)

Conor’s town was once a kingdom, the monster begins. The king and his wife had four sons, but over the course of the... (full context)

...be put to death for his crime and she could rule freely. He asked the monster for help, and told the villagers that the queen murdered the farmer’s daughter. The prince... (full context)

...his grandmother is sleeping. He doesn’t want to burn her alive, but wonders if the monster could help him deal with her. The monster says that his story is not yet... (full context)

The monster explains that when the people tried to burn the queen at the stake, the monster... (full context)

The monster gathers a mist to show Conor what happened. Where his backyard once was, Conor sees... (full context)

The monster goes on, saying that when the prince asked for help, he told the monster that... (full context)

Conor asks if the prince got caught; the monster explains that the prince became a beloved king and ruled happily for the rest of... (full context)

The monster then explains that the queen was a witch and might have done great evil. But... (full context)

...cheated by the story, wondering how it’s supposed to save him from his grandmother. The monster emphasizes that it is not his grandmother that Conor needs saving from. Then Conor wakes... (full context)

The next morning, Conor is walking to school, still frustrated with the monster’s story. His morning was frustrating, too: he spent half an hour sawing the sapling out... (full context)

Conor is now staying at his grandmother’s house, and the monster hasn’t visited him in five days. He wonders if his grandmother lives too far away... (full context)

...the time that the clock now reads: 12:07 a.m. When he turns back around, the monster is there, sitting in his grandmother’s living room—though the room is far too small to... (full context)

The monster begins that 150 years ago, the country was a place of industry, and towns and... (full context)

The Apothecary, the monster says, had a harder and harder time finding the leaves and berries and herbs that... (full context)

The monster then shows Conor a hill with a church and a great yew tree next to... (full context)

...do to help the parson, and the parson’s daughters died that evening. That night, the monster says, it tore down the parson’s house. (full context)

Conor is stunned that the monster destroyed the parson’s house, because he believes that the Apothecary is the bad guy. The... (full context)

Conor is angry that the monster’s story had tricks again. He watches as the monster’s mist shows the monster destroying the... (full context)

...the frenzy of destruction.” Conor screams and smashes until he falls down in exhaustion. The monster commends him on destruction “properly done.” Conor is suddenly back in his grandmother’s sitting room—and... (full context)

...looks at his hands, which are covered in scratches and blood. He turns around: the monster is gone. He doesn’t know how he could have done all of this by himself. (full context)

...late.” Conor’s mother assures him that she believes it’s not too late. Conor remembers the monster’s story: that “belief is half of all healing.” (full context)

Conor thinks to himself that perhaps this is why the monster has come: to cure his mother. Conor walks down the corridor and sees his grandmother... (full context)

...father, he is certain that the treatment work—it has to be the reason that the monster is coming. (full context)

...off, she then turns around and goes back to the hospital. At 12:07 a.m., the monster appears, and Conor asks if it can heal his mother. The monster says that if... (full context)

The monster leans forward, asking Conor, “you still do not know why you called me, do you?”... (full context)

A mist gathers around Conor and the monster, and Conor realizes that he is inside his nightmare. Conor begs to leave, and the... (full context)

...Conor. The clock on the wall of the dining hall ticks to 12:07 p.m. The monster arrives, saying that it is time for the third tale. (full context)

The monster begins a tale about an invisible man as Conor starts to walk after Harry. The... (full context)

...silent. Conor grabs Harry and twists him around. Harry pretends not to see Conor. The monster continues, saying that one day the invisible man decided to make other people see him.... (full context)

The monster reaches its hand past Conor and knocks Harry across the floor. Harry gets up, his... (full context)

...badly. But, Harry continues, when he looks at Conor, he sees nothing. Conor asks the monster what it did to help the invisible man. The monster says that it made others... (full context)

Conor thinks about how he had felt what the monster was doing to Harry in his own hands—could feel Harry resisting as the monster twisted... (full context)

...Conor what he has to say for himself. Conor says it wasn’t him—it was the monster who did it. Miss Kwan says that an entire dining hall saw Conor beat Harry... (full context)

...door. No one speaks to him for the rest of the day. Conor realizes the monster was right: there are worse things than being invisible. Conor is no longer invisible, but... (full context)

...talk to him. His father calls occasionally, but he never has anything to say. The monster hasn’t returned since the attack on Harry. (full context)

...the graveyard behind the church. He kicks the yew tree several times, yelling at the monster to “WAKE UP.” (full context)

The monster wakes, stepping out of the way of Conor’s kicks. Conor asks the monster why the... (full context)

...is dying—even though he knew all along that it would happen and denied it. The monster says that it is time for the fourth tale, and conjures a mist around them. (full context)

...how sick she felt, even before she was officially diagnosed with cancer. He begs the monster to get him out of the nightmare, but the monster insists that Conor must tell... (full context)

...let her go, but she starts to slip. He turns back to the yew tree monster, which stands there not moving. Her hands continue to slip, and she gets heavier and... (full context)

Conor usually wakes up from his nightmare right about now—but he doesn’t. Conor asks the monster to take him back to reality; he needs to see his mother. The monster replies... (full context)

The monster tells Conor to “speak the truth.” Conor knows the truth, “he ha[s] always known,” but... (full context)

Conor insists it’ll “kill [him]’ if he tells the truth. The monster says that it will kill him if he does not tell the truth. Conor feels... (full context)

...opens his eyes. He is lying on the hill above his house. He asks the monster why the fire didn’t kill him; he believes that he deserves the worst. Conor admits... (full context)

...his mother go, and that now she’s going to die and it’s his fault. The monster comforts Conor, taking him into its arms and forming a little nest to hold him.... (full context)

Conor repeats that he didn’t mean it; the monster says that Conor did and did not mean it. Conor asks how both things can... (full context)

Conor asks how a person can combat their internal conflict. The monster replies that all one has to do is speak the truth. The monster then tells... (full context)

...eyes are closed, and she is breathing heavily. They take her hands: behind Conor, the monster places its hands on Conor to help hold him up, and tells him that all... (full context)

...terrible, and he also knows that he will survive. “It was for this that the monster came,” Conor realizes. The monster assures Conor that it will stay with Conor until the... (full context)

...end will come soon, maybe even in a few minutes. “But not this moment,” the monster whispers. Conor holds tightly onto his mother, “and by doing so, he could finally let... (full context)

A Monster Calls

The Monster Character Analysis

The Monster Quotes in A Monster Calls

A Monster Calls Quotes

Breakfast Quotes

Three Stories Quotes

The Wildness of Stories Quotes

The Rest of the First Tale Quotes

The Second Tale Quotes

Destruction Quotes

Could It Be? Quotes

The Third Tale Quotes

Punishment Quotes

Life After Death Quotes

The Truth Quotes

The Monster Character Timeline in A Monster Calls