When state prosecutor Sandra Petrocelli labels Steve (and alleged criminals like him) a “monster,” Steve starts obsessing over the word, wondering whether it applies to him. This label comes to represent Steve’s dehumanization during his criminal trial. For Steve, the label reflects the prejudice and rejection he feels from the prosecutor and the jury, who assume he is an evil, violent figure without actually trying to know him—thus dehumanizing him. As the trials goes on, Steve continues to internalize the image of himself as a monster, and even his own father struggles not to attribute it to him. After Mr. Harmon visits Steve and expresses his heartache and disappointment that this is what his son has made of his life, Steve realizes that their relationship is broken: instead of a father-son relationshisp, Mr. Harmon seems to wonder if it is a father-monster relationship. Even his attorney Kathy O’Brien, who makes the greatest attempts of any character to recognize and understand Steve as a human being, ultimately contributes to Steve’s self-conception as a monster. Although O’Brien defends Steve in court and wins his freedom for him, when he tries to embrace her at the end of the novel, she stiffly refuses and walks away, signaling that—although she has defended his innocence—she does not truly believe he is innocent and does not think well of him, just as the jury and the prosecutor did not. Steve is left standing alone with his arms outstretched, while his image blurs until it forms the silhouette of a “strange beast, like a monster,” suggesting that O’Brien’s rejection confirmed Steve’s image of himself as a monster in his own mind.
Monster Quotes in Monster
Most people in our community are decent, hardworking citizens who pursue their own interests legally and without infringing on the rights of others. But there are also monsters in our communities—people who are willing to steal and to kill, people who disregard the rights of others.
[Steve] is writing the word Monster over and over again. A white hand (O’BRIEN’s) takes the pencil from his hand and crosses out all the Monsters.
I want to look like 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 being different. We look about the same, and though I’m younger than they are, it’s hard not to notice that we are all pretty young.
STEVE: I thought you’re supposed to be innocent until proven guilty?
O’BRIEN: That’s true, but in reality it depends on how the jury sees the case. If they see it as a contest between the defense and the prosecution as to who’s lying, they’ll vote for the prosecution. The prosecutor walks around looking very important. No one is accusing her of being a bad person. They’re accusing you of being a monster.
Miss O’Brien looked at me—I didn’t see her looking at me but I knew she was. She wanted to know who I was. Who was Steve Harmon? I wanted to open my shirt and tell her to look into my heart and see who I really was, who the real Steve Harmon was.
Seeing my dad cry like that was just so terrible. What was going on between us, me being his son and him being my dad, is pushed down and something else is moving up in its place. It’s like a man looking down to see his son and seeing a monster instead.
I think I finally understand why there are so many fights. In here all you have going for you is the little surface stuff, how people look at you and what they say. And if that’s all you have, then you have to protect that. Maybe that’s right.
[O’BRIEN’s] lips tense; she is pensive. She gathers her papers and moves away as STEVE, arms still outstretched, turns toward the camera. His image is in black and white, and the grain is nearly broken. It looks like one of the pictures they use for psychological testing, or some strange beast, a monster.
Monster Symbol Timeline in Monster
