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
In his notes, Steve writes about how much he hates jail. The movie helps him to not go crazy, but it’s hard to think about. All the other inmates talk about is hurting each other. They’ll beat someone up for looking at them, for making a weird noise, for anything. One of them has a makeshift knife: “a blade glued onto a toothbrush handle.” Steve hates jail more than anything.
Steve’s observation about the unnecessary violence of jail, directly following the unnecessary violence inflicted against Tony, suggests that jail does not rehabilitate men out of their violent demeanors, but amplifies violence by placing many violent and frightened people within a contained environment.
Themes
The screenplay resumes in the courtroom. Bolden is on the stand, questioned by Petrocelli. Bolden testifies that he’s been arrested in the past for breaking and entering, assault, and drug dealing. Before he’d been arrested for the assault charge, which was eventually dropped, Bolden had bought cigarettes from Bobo Evans, who told him that they’d come from a robbery. Bolden knew someone was killed in that robbery, and intended to call up a detective he knew to tell him about it until Zinzi did so first.
Bobo’s admission that he’d gotten the cigarettes from a robbery (which was apparently known to have gone bad and resulted in a murder) suggests that he is not a terribly clever figure. However, the fact that Bolden only decided to report his knowledge to the police after he was arrested suggests that he has no concern for justice or the truth, only for personal benefit and reducing his sentence.
Themes
The screenplay cuts briefly to a trash-filled Harlem street. A woman, a man, King, and Steve are sitting on the step. King complains about not having money, and says that, with the right crew, he could get paid. The woman and the man discuss whether it is better to rob banks, which have more money, or immigrants, who are unlikely to report the theft. King asks Steve what he thinks of all this, but Steve has no answer.
Once again, the casual discussion of robbery and violence suggests that such violence and criminality are common occurrences in Steve’s Harlem neighborhood. In light of this, it is no surprise that Steve is somehow drawn into or implicated in such a crime, even if he himself does not behave in such a manner.
Themes
Back in the courtroom, Briggs questions Bolden, pointing out that it seems strange that Bobo Evans would just admit to being part of a botched robbery that ended in a murder. He also points out that Bolden appears to simply have been trying to avoid a heavy jail sentence. Bolden claims he was only trying to be a good citizen, but Briggs angrily finds this absurd, given all of his past arrests. The judge decides that things are getting too heated and decides they will adjourn until tomorrow so that he can get some paperwork done.
Again, Briggs’s accusation suggests that Bolden’s testimony, being obviously self-serving and only made for a reward, is thus subjective and completely unreliable. This again points to the fact that, in a trial such as this, most participants have some sort of outcome they are aiming for beyond just uncovering the truth, whether it be personal freedom, reward, or career victory.
Themes
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The screenplay cuts to the detention center that evening. The lights are out and Steve lies in his cot, listening to two men “methodically” beating a third. After some time, the sounds of punching become the sounds of a gang-rape, and Steve closes his eyes and the scene fades, giving way to a flashback of Steve sitting at home with his younger brother Jerry. Jerry says he wishes Steve were Batman so he could be Robin. Steve wishes that, too, so he could fight back whenever someone messed with him.
The sounds that Steve hears as he tries to sleep depict jail as a nightmarish place to be, especially for a young kid like Steve. It’s worth noting that Steve tells Jerry he’d like to be a superhero so he could protect himself, not so that he could fight bad guys or save people, which suggests that in his violent neighborhood, Steve often feels powerless and under threat.
Themes
