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
The monster begins that 150 years ago, the country was a place of industry, and towns and cities had begun to spring up “like weeds.” The monster conjures another mist, showing a field overlooking a valley taken over by industrial houses and factories. At the edge of the field, the monster goes on, lived a man called the Apothecary, who was a pharmacist that dealt in “the old ways of medicine.”
As the first tale illustrated the complexity of human nature and life, it’s likely that this story is meant to do the same thing. Even though the monster assures Conor that it is not “a cheating story,” it will still surprise the boy because there is no clear-cut lesson; there is no “good guy” or “bad guy.”
Themes
The Apothecary, the monster says, had a harder and harder time finding the leaves and berries and herbs that he used as the years passed, because the factories and roads overtook the fields and forests. The Apothecary grew bitter at these changes, though he had always been bitter. He was greedy and charged too much money, and his unpleasant attitude caused many people to seek other, more modern remedies.
Even though the Apothecary is bitter and mean, the monster doesn’t necessarily paint him as the “bad guy” in the story. He certainly antagonizes others through high prices and an abrasive attitude, but he’s also a victim, as industry has begun to encroach on his livelihood as an apothecary.
Themes
The monster then shows Conor a hill with a church and a great yew tree next to it, which Conor recognizes as the hill behind his house. The monster introduces another character: the parson, who had two daughters that were “the light of his life.” The Apothecary wanted the yew tree in the parsonage, because it was “the most important of all the healing trees,” according to the monster. The Apothecary wanted to cut down the tree to harvest it, but the parson refused, because the yew tree protected the church. The parson then preached against the Apothecary’s use of the old ways, and the Apothecary’s business shrank even more.
The monster’s description of the yew tree foreshadows the fact that it will play a role in Conor’s mother’s treatment, which causes Conor to believe that she will be able to be cured by it. However, as the novel continues to unfold, it becomes increasingly clear that the yew tree is not a symbol of healing for his mother—it is really a symbol of healing for Conor, as the monster (in the form of a yew tree) tries to help Conor accept and heal from his own pain and grief.
Themes
One day, the parson’s two beloved daughters fell sick with an infection. Nothing the parson did (praying, going to modern doctors) helped, so he begged the Apothecary to help his daughters. The Apothecary refused, citing the fact that the parson hadn’t allowed him to harvest the yew tree and that the preacher had turned the village against him. The parson assured the Apothecary that he would allow him to take the yew tree and would preach sermons in the Apothecary’s favor—thus giving up everything he believed in—to save his daughters. The Apothecary said that there was nothing he could 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.
The parson is connected to Conor’s father most explicitly here. Like the parson, Conor’s father is good-hearted, but wrong-headed. The parson selfishly kept the yew tree for himself but then gave up everything he claimed to believe in when it was convenient for him. Likewise, Conor’s father has largely left Conor alone to take care of his mother, and now believes that she is going to die but still refuses to help his own son.
Themes
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