Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Monster, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Dehumanization and Racism
Lies and Self-Interest
Endemic Violence
Injustice
Summary
Analysis
Steve was afraid to sleep the night before, as if he’d die in his sleep. His case consumes him, but he knows there is nothing left to do. He used to feel sorry for his mother, who was crying in desperation as Steve was led out of the courtroom yesterday, but now all he can think of is his appeal, just like all the other guys in jail. Steve thinks about Petrocelli’s claim that he made a “moral decision” and he wonders what decision he made that day, or didn’t make. The world feels unreal to Steve, except for his sense of “panic” and the movie he keeps rewriting and re-editing in his mind. In the movie, he proudly tells King that he doesn’t do robberies, that he knows what is right and true. He sets the scene to music.
Steve’s inability to even think of his mother’s pain anymore since his case consumes all of his mental energy again points to the dehumanizing effect of being in jail, since the people and relationships that once mattered to Steve are being pushed out of his mind as he is consumed by his fate. However, in rewriting the scene in his movie so that he nobly rejects King’s offer to participate in the robbery, Steve is attempting to rewrite his own view of himself in his mind and reassert his humanity.
Themes
At the courthouse, in the screenplay, a guard tells Steve that the jury has reached a verdict. Steve asks O’Brien if it will be a good one, and she says she doesn’t know, but if not they’ll appeal the case and keep fighting. They enter the courtroom, and as the judge orders the jury to enter, a title card rolls over the screen: “This is the true story of Steve Harmon. This is the story of his life and trial.” The jury sits as the title card states that the trial changes Steve’s view of the meaning of life.
O’Brien’s affirmation that even if they lose the case, they can appeal together and keep fighting for Steve’s innocence suggests that she still values him as a person and wants to give him his future, even if she does not necessarily believe in his innocence. This once again creates a complex relationship between truth and justice, since uncovering the truth will not necessarily lead to the most just outcome.
Themes
The head juror reads his verdict for King and a guard puts handcuffs on him and leads him out of the courtroom: guilty. The juror reads his verdict for Steve. Mrs. Harmon listens with clasped hands before she throws them in the air and closes her eyes. Steve is found not guilty. He spreads his arms to hug O’Brien, but she turns away stiffly to collect her papers. She moves away while Steve still has his arms stretched out, and he turns towards the camera as the image turns to black and white, grainy, and blurs until Steve’s silhouette looks like “some strange beast, a monster.”
Although O’Brien arguably still values Steve as a human being, her stiffness towards his suggests that she does not think he is completely innocent nor does she respect him. Steve’s frozen position, with his arms outstretched in an unrequited show of human affection as his silhouette takes a monstrous shape, suggests that this rejection from O’Brien is also a rejection of him as a person now that their case is over, which makes him feel like a monster.
Themes
